Retail gas prices highest in a year
(AP) - Retail gasoline prices chugged higher Friday to a new peak for the year, forcing consumers to dig deeper into already-thin wallets to pay for fuel.
At the same time, natural gas prices also were moving up again and have now climbed 16 percent in the past two months - just in time for furnace season to kick in.
The worst part: Supplies of oil and gas are plentiful. In fact, storage points for gas are so jammed, producers are running out of places to put it and crude supplies are well above average levels. Gasoline prices are now up 17 straight days after climbing 0.4 cents overnight to $2.695 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Services. That is the highest price since Oct. 26, 2008.
Flat incomes, weak spending raise concern
WASHINGTON (AP) - Flat incomes suggest more weakness ahead in consumer spending, reinforcing concerns about a ho-hum holiday shopping season and a sluggish economic recovery.
The Commerce Department reported that personal incomes were stagnant in September while the all-important wage and salary category dropped 0.2 percent, as unemployment rose.
Consumer spending - which accounts for 70 percent of total economic activity - dropped 0.5 percent, the first decline in five months and the biggest since December.