Give Saudi/Russians comfort that they can keep hiking.

And markets say Fed will keep ‘accommodating’.

So much for higher prices curbing demand!

DJ US Gasoline Demand +0.9% On Week – MasterCard SpendingPulse(DJ)

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–U.S. gasoline demand for the week ended Dec. 21, measured by purchases at the pump, rose 0.9% from a week earlier, according to a report by MasterCard Advisors LLC, a division of MasterCard Inc. (MA). Gasoline demand increased by 597,000 barrels, or 85,286 barrels a day, to 67.919 million barrels, or 9.703 million barrels a day, last week, according to the report, which is compiled by SpendingPulse, a retail data service of MasterCard Advisors. The four-week average demand level was 65.518 million barrels, or 9.36 million barrels a day, MasterCard said, up from 96,429 barrels a day from a week ago. Retail gasoline prices fell 1 cent to an average $2.98 a gallon over the week, the report said. That is 28.4% higher than a year ago.

SpendingPulse is a macroeconomic indicator that reports on national retail sales and is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with estimates for all other payment forms, including cash and check. MasterCard SpendingPulse doesn’t represent MasterCard financial performance. The Department of Energy is due to issue its weekly petroleum data, including gasoline demand, on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. EST.

The data, put out by the DOE’s Energy Information Administration statistics and analysis unit, doesn’t count how many gallons are sold. Instead, it offers a “Product Supplied,” or implied demand figure, in its weekly report. “Product Supplied” represents the total volume of gasoline that has moved on from refineries, pipelines, blending plants and terminals on its way to supplying retail stations.

-By Matt Chambers, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2062;
matt.chambers@dowjones.com
Dow Jones Newswires
December 26, 2007 14:00 ET (19:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. – – 02 00 PM EST

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