Oil prices increased for the second week in a row, keeping a barrel of oil above $80 after the Group-20 (G-20) and European leaders began discussion to draft a plan to resolve the European debt crisis. The new plan's completion date is set for the last week of October, with a review by the G-20 scheduled for the first of November.
The market reacted to talks of a plan to resolve Europe's debt issues and received additional upward momentum from a Commerce Department report that showed U.S. retail sales increased 1.1 percent last month. Crude oil settled Friday at $86.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange—$3.22 more than the week prior.
"The market has waited more than a month for a piece of positive news to latch onto and drive oil prices higher. Although the data caused investors to get bullish, it will be interesting to see if the increase in oil prices is sustainable," said Jessica Brady, spokesperson, AAA. "Retail gas prices already reacted to the two-week jump in oil prices and reversed the downward momentum reflected in September. We're likely to see gas prices continue to increase this week unless oil prices fall."
The national average price of regular unleaded gasoline is $3.45 per gallon, 6 cents more than last week. Florida’s average price of $3.42 increased 7 cents last week, while Georgia’s average price of $3.34 jumped 10 cents. Tennessee’s average price of $3.27 also increased 7 cents from last week, respectively.
Here in Murfreesboro, many discounters are offering regular unleaded gas for $3.15 per gallon. But the range between these so called bargain outlets varies dramatically, with one putting their figure at $3.35, which is above many non-discount locations.