- NEW YORK: US retail gasoline demand fell last week from year-earlier levels as a dip in pump prices failed to tamp worries over the economic recovery, MasterCard said in its SpendingPulse report.
Average gasoline demand in the week to Aug. 12 fell 4.6 percent year-on-year, though it rose slightly — by 0.3 percent — from the previous week, the data showed.
Over the latest four weeks, average US gasoline consumption fell 3.4 percent from year-earlier levels, its 21st straight decline.
The average price of gasoline fell 7 cents to $3.63 a gallon last week from the week before, as dipping futures prices translated into cheaper fuel at the pump.
Prices, however, were 31.5 percent higher than a year earlier, MasterCard said.
MasterCard Advisers, a unit of MasterCard, estimates retail gasoline demand based on aggregate sales in the MasterCard payments system coupled with estimates for other payment forms including cash and checks.