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Northern California Traffic Shows Lingering Viral Pall on Demand

Northern California Traffic Shows Lingering Viral Pall on Demand

San Francisco spot gasoline prices fell to a three-month low as ongoing lockdowns helped drive a 10% decline in traffic on Bay Area toll bridges in the last month.

California has been among the states hardest hit by the pandemic and has had some of the strictest lockdowns, forcing more motorists to stay at home. Slower fuel consumption is starting to ripple through the market. Spot gasoline fell to a 1 cent below Nymex Rbob futures Tuesday, the first discount since October, before edging forward again Wednesday.

Traffic on seven San Francisco-area toll bridges is 23% to 28% below the same time last year, Bay Area Toll Authority data show. ​Area prices at the pump fell a fraction of a cent Wednesday to $3.53 a gallon, auto club AAA data show.

Northern California Traffic Shows Lingering Viral Pall on Demand

Retail prices across the country have been rising along with the recovery in global oil prices, and are now at their highest since March 6, AAA data show. Still, national gasoline demand fell to the weakest since June, according to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration.​

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.