gas prices – News Stories About gas prices - Page 15

Apr 5, 2008 5:37 AM CDT

Skybus Airlines Goes Bust

Low-cost Ohio carrier with $10 fares is airline industry's third casualty in a week

(Newser) - Anybody who wondered how Skybus could make money with its famous $10 airfares can stop: they didn't. The Ohio-based airline has become the latest US carrier to go bankrupt in the face of soaring fuel costs and a sluggish economy, the Columbus Dispatch reports. It made its last flight yesterday...

Northwest Hikes Fares,
Cuts Flights

Apr 4, 2008 2:38 AM CDT

Northwest Hikes Fares, Cuts Flights

Big carriers scurry to boost bottom line as small airlines go bust

(Newser) - Northwest Airlines is jacking up fares and fees and scaling back domestic operations, the Wall Street Journal reports. The airline, trying to deal with soaring fuel costs and a slowing economy without instituting pay cuts, also plans to freeze hiring. Northwest will keep adding international flights, but will add fuel...

March Auto Sales
Hit the Skids

Apr 2, 2008 4:00 AM CDT

March Auto Sales Hit the Skids

GM, Chrysler Down 19%, Toyota, Ford Dip 10%

(Newser) - US auto sales plummeted last month, with GM and Chrysler's March sales diving 19%, and Ford and Toyota's down 10%, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rising gas prices, the credit crisis and fear of the future are blamed for the troubling trend. Detroit is bracing for even more bad news...

Congress Grills Oil Execs Over Skyrocketing Prices

Apr 1, 2008 5:21 PM CDT

Congress Grills Oil Execs Over Skyrocketing Prices

Honchos place some blame at legislators' feet

(Newser) - Top oil executives faced a panel of angry lawmakers on Capitol Hill today, as Congress fumed over the disparity between the companies’ hefty profits and soaring prices, the Washington Post reports. Said one rep, “I believe the laws of supply and demand when it comes to oil and gas...

Aloha Airlines Shuts Down

Mar 31, 2008 7:11 AM CDT

Aloha Airlines Shuts Down

Fierce competition and rising fuel costs push carrier over the edge

(Newser) - Unable to find a buyer and running out of cash, Hawaii’s ubiquitous Aloha Airlines is shutting down operations after today, idling 1,900 workers and ending more than six decades of island-hopping and transpacific flights, the Honolulu Advertiser reports. The airline filed for bankruptcy March 20 because of rising...

Record 28 Million Americans to Get Food Stamps

Mar 31, 2008 4:20 AM CDT

Record 28 Million Americans to Get Food Stamps

Slip into poverty a grim economic indicator

(Newser) - In an economic indicator that paints a grim future for swaths of the US population, an all-time record 28 million Americans are expected to be close enough to poverty to receive $36 billion in food stamps in the coming fiscal year, reports the New York Times. There is a surge...

Rising Cost of Essentials
Slams Poor Families

Mar 21, 2008 1:35 PM CDT

Rising Cost of Essentials Slams Poor Families

Prices of "core" items are rising twice as fast as wages

(Newser) - The rising price of essentials and sluggish growth in wages mean that inflation is hitting low- to middle-income families hardest, the Washington Post reports. Americans are paying 9.2% more for staples—groceries, gas, health care, etc.— than they did in 2006, nearly twice the pace of the growth...

Wowie! Maui Gas Hits $4

Mar 14, 2008 9:45 AM CDT

Wowie! Maui Gas Hits $4

Hawaii is especially hard hit by rising oil prices

(Newser) - The price of gas in the US hit another record this morning of $3.28 a gallon, CNN reports, but at least one part of the nation thinks that would be a great bargain. On Maui, $4 gas has already arrived in many places, and the island is on the...

Consumer Prices Flat in Feb.

Mar 14, 2008 8:41 AM CDT

Consumer Prices Flat in Feb.

Lack of increase means Fed has an open door to a big rate cute next week

(Newser) - Consumer prices were flat for February, pleasantly surprising economists who expected a 0.2% increase, reports the Wall Street Journal. This morning’s consumer price index eases concerns that inflation is accelerating as the economy slows, and it gives the Federal Reserve more reason to float a large interest rate...

Retail Sales
Sank in
February

Mar 13, 2008 9:15 AM CDT

Retail Sales Sank in February

Surprise drop, after January rise, stokes slowdown fears

(Newser) - Stoking fears of recession, US retail sales fell in February by .6%, the Wall Street Journal reports, despite economists' predictions of a 0.1% increase. Sales had been up a revised 0.4% in January. Factors cited in the decline include rising gas prices, falling home values, the credit crunch,...

$4 Gas Expected This Spring

Mar 12, 2008 4:40 AM CDT

$4 Gas Expected This Spring

Energy Department predicts gas prices to peak soon

(Newser) - Skyrocketing gas prices could hit $4 a gallon as early as this spring, predict government analysts. A new Energy Department report estimates prices will peak at close to $3.50 in most of the nation in May and June, but the $4 barrier could be broken in some regions, and...

Dollar Hit
as Emerging Economies
Fight Inflation

Mar 11, 2008 7:32 AM CDT

Dollar Hit as Emerging Economies Fight Inflation

$108 oil pushes gas prices higher

(Newser) - A weak US dollar continued to fuel surging commodity prices today, keeping oil near $108 a barrel and moving a gallon of gas to $3.225, with analysts predicting near $4 prices by spring, the Wall Street Journal reports. Stress on the greenback is coming from not only major but...

Shops Shut
as Wind Goes Out of Sales

Mar 11, 2008 3:59 AM CDT

Shops Shut as Wind Goes Out of Sales

Store closings rise along with gas prices, foreclosures

(Newser) - Soaring gas prices and a still-boiling housing crisis are taking their toll on America's smaller retailers, with store bankruptcies and vacancy rates rising steadily as customers avoid impulse-buys that once fueled the industry's rapid expansion, reports AP. Vacancies hover between 7% and 8%, up from 5% just six months ago—...

Gas Prices Hit Record High

Mar 10, 2008 8:50 AM CDT

Gas Prices Hit Record High

$4 gallon of gas around the corner, experts warn

(Newser) - Gas prices rocketed 64 cents in the last year to a national average of $3.20 per gallon of regular, CNN reports. A survey of prices at 5,000 gas stations found the highest price, $3.58, in San Francisco and the lowest, $2.99, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The...

US Car Sales Sink in Slow Economy

Mar 3, 2008 9:45 PM CST

US Car Sales Sink in Slow Economy

GM, Ford, Chrysler, and Toyota saw sales fall last month

(Newser) - A tumbling US economy hit Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, and Toyota today as all four posted declining sales for last month, Bloomberg reports. Chrysler fell 14% as Ford dropped nearly 7% and GM suffered almost a 20% drop in light truck sales. "Primarily it's driven by the weak economy,...

Beer and Pizza Getting Pricey

Mar 1, 2008 3:58 PM CST

Beer and Pizza Getting Pricey

Rising fuel and ingredient costs affect traditional cheap eats

(Newser) - Even cheap foods like pizza and bagels are getting pricey these days over a mix of inflationary pressures, MSNBC reports. Last year's shocking 4% food price hike was driven by more than gas prices, one analyst says: It's diesel that fuels the trucks and trains that transport goods. "It's...

Dollar's Slide Pushing Oil Prices Higher

Feb 29, 2008 7:21 AM CST

Dollar's Slide Pushing Oil Prices Higher

Economic data hammers the greenback as worries about US economy deepen

(Newser) - The dollar continued its fall as unrelentingly dismal economic data eroded confidence in the US economy, Bloomberg reports. The greenback set a new low of $1.52 against the euro this morning and hit a three-year bottom against the Japanese yen. Oil surged more than $2 a barrel to $103....

House Passes Bill to Halt Big Oil Tax Breaks

Feb 28, 2008 5:36 AM CST

House Passes Bill to Halt Big Oil Tax Breaks

Veto threat as Republicans call it industry discrimination

(Newser) - Millions of dollars in tax breaks enjoyed by the top five oil companies would be rescinded under an $18 billion tax package which cleared the House of Representatives yesterday. The money saved would be plowed into creating alternative sustainable energy sources. It represents just a penny a gallon to the...

$100 Oil Fuels Recession Fears

Feb 21, 2008 12:47 PM CST

$100 Oil Fuels Recession Fears

Speculation is driving oil up, and that's a concern for consumers, economists

(Newser) - Oil prices have jumped 16% in two weeks, and analysts tell the Christian Science Monitor the run-up couldn't come at a worse time. As the US economy flirts with recession, beleaguered consumers could end up spending their economic stimulus checks to cover even higher gas prices. The $101.32 per...

Shell Profits Spike to a Record $27.6B

Jan 31, 2008 7:55 AM CST

Shell Profits Spike to a Record $27.6B

Critics say the oil giant's earnings are 'obscene' and want a windfall tax

(Newser) - Soaring crude prices and new oil and gas projects drove Royal Dutch Shell to 2007 profits of $27.6 billion—a new record for a British corporation—despite declining production. While critics branded the results “obscene” and called for a windfall tax, Shell’s CEO called them “satisfactory”...