Israel and Iran have engaged in open conflict. Ukrainian drones have routinely targeted Russian oil refineries. And OPEC continues to restrict oil production.

These frightening occurrences sparked concerns about $4 gas, harming the US economy and exacerbating inflation.

However, this has not occurred, at least yet. Gas prices in the United States have stopped growing and dropped temporarily recently.

The national average was $3.66 per gallon on Monday, down from $3.68 a week ago, according to AAA.

There is growing anticipation that gas prices will peak in the spring, if not the entire year.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, predicts that drivers will find relief at the pump in the coming weeks.

“I’m hoping the worst is behind us,” De Haan told CNN. Unless something drastic happens, there are increasing odds the national average has hit the projected spring peak.”

Tom Kloza, worldwide head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service, believes gas prices will fall in the coming weeks.

“Most of the worries from the year’s first half have been resolved. “I think we’re safe until hurricane season,” Kloza remarked.

‘Could have been far worse.’

Of course, none of this implies that gas costs are cheap. They were lower in April 2021 and spring 2020, when Covid-19 kept many Americans off the roadways.

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The Worst Could Be Over For Gas Prices This Spring

Nonetheless, a springtime peak of less than $3.70 a gallon would be a win for consumers, considering the real risk of significantly higher gas costs.

“It could have been much worse,” said Andy Lipow, owner of the consultancy firm Lipow Oil Associates.

According to AAA, drivers in just seven US states pay $4 or more per gallon for gas. All those states are in the Western part of the country, followed by California, where the average is $5.40 per gallon, up from $4.88 last year.

The national average is nowhere near the record increase above $5 per gallon in June 2022.

“It seems evident that this will not be a record-setting year. “Filling your tank will feel much more normal this year,” said De Haan.

Economic and political ramifications.

Officials in Washington would most certainly breathe a sigh of relief.

Rising gasoline costs earlier this year led to lower-than-expected inflation readings, casting uncertainty on when the Federal Reserve will be able to decrease interest rates.

A rise in petrol prices is the last thing President Joe Biden wants as he works to persuade voters of his economic message before November. According to a new CNN poll, Biden’s support rating for the economy is 34%, and for inflation, it is even lower (29%).

The Biden administration backed off plans to buy crude oil for the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, an emergency oil stockpile, earlier this month, adding to White House concerns over petrol costs.

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Some economists expect gas prices to rise further.

Lipow believes the national average will reach $3.75 per gallon this year.

Still, that would be lower than last year’s top of $3.88 per gallon in September.

“I’m not expecting a spike in gasoline prices,” Lipow added.

There are several reasons why gas prices are now holding steady.

First, oil prices have stopped rising. On April 12, US crude oil nearly reached $88 per barrel as investors braced for Iran’s reprisal against Israel over a suspected attack on an Iranian diplomatic complex in Syria.

However, oil prices fell when Israel and its allies effectively averted the reprisal. For now, fears of a larger confrontation in the Middle East have subsided, albeit this might alter quickly. US crude fell below $83 a barrel on Monday.

There are other seasonal aspects to consider.

The transition to more expensive summer-grade gasoline at US refineries is now complete. Similarly, the reopening of refineries that had been closed for normal maintenance has aided gasoline supplies.

Record-breaking US crude output continues to increase the oil supply. All of that US oil, headed by the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico, is countering OPEC+’s production cuts, which Saudi Arabia and Russia lead.

Meanwhile, gasoline demand has remained relatively low despite other indications that American consumers are spending rapidly.

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The Worst Could Be Over For Gas Prices This Spring

The hurricane season looms.

Gas prices are at risk of reaching a double peak. That’s what happened last year, when gas prices peaked in April, fell, and then returned late in the summer as excessive heat hampered US refineries.

“Weather can wreak havoc,” said Kloza, an OPIS analyst.

A major hurricane that destroys oil facilities along the US Gulf Coast is the greater risk.

Forecasters warn that the hurricane season (which normally begins on June 1) will be extremely active. Colorado State University predicts more hurricanes and named storms than ever before.

“Hurricane season is the next major hurdle,” Kloza stated.

SOURCE – (CNN)

With the cost of living consistently on the rise, more Canadians are continually turning to credit. Canadian’s owe more debt relative to their income than they did before Justin Trudeau and his liberals came to power in 2015.

Many Canadians are on the verge of going bankrupt due to increased debt carrying costs, living expenses, and concerns about the possibility of further interest rate and price increases.

Higher interest rates may have deterred Canadians from borrowing, but they remain optimistic. I’m hoping that interest rates will be reduced and the debt they’re collecting will become more affordable.

According to Bank of Canada data, household credit increased in February and has accelerated slightly since then. This raises some concerns for the country, which is already experiencing slowing economic growth as a result of its enormous debt levels.

Canadian households have recently reduced their borrowing, yet they have nonetheless accrued a significant amount of debt. Household debt increased by 0.3% (+$10.1 billion) to $2.94 trillion in February.

This boosted yearly growth to 3.4% (+$96.1 billion), marking the fourth consecutive month of acceleration.

Canadians Under Mountains of Household Debt

The roughly $3 trillion in debt sounds monstrous, and it is. Between March 2020 and the most recent figures, consumers added $541 billion to their debt load. After just under four years, accumulation was 50% faster than in the years prior rate reduction.

According to the most recent data, Canada’s household debt-to-GDP ratio was around 132% in February. Statistics Canada announced Wednesday that Canada has the highest household debt-to-disposable income ratio of any G7 countries.

According to Canada’s 2023 Financial Stress Index, money is the top stressor for Canadians, with 40% citing it as their primary source of stress, surpassing personal health, relationships, and job for the sixth year in a row.

And financial problems are affecting people’s quality of life and sleep.

Leger’s poll of more than 2,000 Canadians discovered that 48% of adults had lost sleep and 36% have experienced mental health issues as a result of financial stress. Nearly half of poll respondents (48%) reported having less disposable income than a year ago.

According to writer and political commentator David Moscrop, Canada’s housing problem is unprecedented, and half the country lives paycheck to paycheck.

In a classic example of disconnect, some Trudeau Liberals believe the party’s biggest problem is that people don’t realize how terrific a job they’re doing.

According to Moscrop, half of the country is living paycheck to paycheck, suffering from crippling debt, and dealing with a housing and homelessness crisis, while working families are increasingly reliant on food banks to get by.

Inflation and Interest Rates Rising

More than half of Canadians feel their personal finances are worse now than they were in 2015, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned on a promise to support the middle class and those aspiring to it.

A jump in inflation, and the interest-rate hikes intended to combat it, have pinched deeply indebted Canadians, who have also stated that the high cost of living is the most important factor influencing how they intend to vote.

According to a Nanos Research study for Bloomberg News, 53% of people say their personal finances are worse now than they were eight years ago, while 24% say they are better off and 21% say nothing has changed.

Those aged 35 to 54 were the most likely to be experiencing financial difficulties, with 61% reporting a worsening situation.

The poll explains why Trudeau’s government is finishing the year with low ratings. “When the economy is flat and people are concerned about paying their bills, they become agitated and seek to punish the incumbent government,” said Nik Nanos, the polling firm’s chief data scientist. “If you are struggling to pay for housing or the groceries, you might think, ‘What do I have to lose with a change in government?'”

If an election were conducted today, over 45% of Canadians indicated the cost of living, including housing, groceries, and energy costs, would be the most important factor influencing their vote. The environment (14%) and health care (12%) are next on the list.

Between November 30 and December 2, Nanos conducted a telephone and online poll of 1,069 Canadians. The margin of error is 3 percentage points (19 times out of 20).

Soaring Inflation in Canada

In Canada, inflation is certainly easing. It remained constant at 3.1% annually in November, down from 8.1% in June 2022. While this is improvement, it is cold consolation for some Canadian households, which have experienced one of the most precipitous declines in purchasing power in history.

According to Bloomberg calculations, Canada’s consumer price index is 10% higher than it would have been if inflation had remained at its pre-pandemic pace. Shelter and food inflation are both roughly 14% higher.

Prices rose at an annual rate of roughly 1.8% during the time the Bank of Canada introduced inflation targeting in the early 1990s and 2020.

According to the central bank, property prices in Canada have not been this high since the early 1980s.

Though an election isn’t due until 2025, Trudeau’s biggest adversary, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, has launched campaign-style advertising attacking the prime minister for rising housing, food, and energy costs. “After eight years, Justin Trudeau is not worth the cost,” Poilievre frequently states.

Majority of Canadians Can’t Afford a Home

Despite a rush of affordability announcements from Trudeau’s Liberals, including a $4-billion fund for cities to develop housing and competition-law revisions aimed at decreasing supermarket prices, most polls place the Tories roughly 10 points ahead.

“The Conservative party continues to vote against funding for housing,” Trudeau said Thursday in Toronto, where he unveiled $471 million to accelerate home building. “If it were up to them, we wouldn’t be here today.” But our Liberal strategy is to collaborate with municipalities. Our strategy is to invest in individuals. It is to invest for the future.”

Trudeau is not alone in facing an angry electorate frustrated by the loss of purchasing power. Many US voters do not appear to be buying President Joe Biden’s economic message, despite the fact that price rises have slowed since last year.

“Inflation kills governments,” said Mike Moffatt, senior policy director at the Smart Prosperity Institute and Trudeau’s former economic adviser from 2013 to 2015.

Moffatt stated in an interview that U.S. President Jimmy Carter lost his campaign for a second term by a landslide in 1980 when the Federal Reserve aggressively raised interest rates to combat inflation.

In the midst of recent price increases, voters in Australia and New Zealand ousted their incumbent administrations, and the ruling Conservative Party in the United Kingdom is now polling poorly.

“There is unrest. “People see costs going up and up, but they don’t see their paychecks going up,” he said. “It’s going to be a very difficult thing for the federal government to deal with because so many of these factors are global in nature.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the Philippines to deactivate Binance from their app stores. A press release on Tuesday stated that the regulator had written to Google and Apple requesting that Binance-controlled applications be removed from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

According to Emilio Aquino, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the public’s continued access to Binance’s websites and apps “threatens the security of Filipino investors’ funds.”

According to the agency, Binance operated as an unregistered broker and offered unregistered securities to Filipinos, violating Philippine securities laws. As of the time of this writing, neither nor Google nor Apple could be reached for comment.

According to Aquino, blocking from the Apple and Google app stores would help prevent “further proliferation of its illegal activities in the country and to protect investors from its negative economic effects.”

The National Telecommunications Commission of the Philippines has previously blocked access to website in the country.

Earlier this year, the SEC warned the public against using in the Philippines, and began examining the possibility of blocking Binance’s services there. According to the SEC, Binance has actively promoted its services on social media to attract funds from Filipinos, despite the fact that it is not licensed.

As a result, the watchdog is urging Filipinos who have invested to close their positions as soon as possible, or to transfer their crypto holdings to their own crypto wallets or exchanges registered in the country.

Richard Teng, formerly CEO of UAE regulator Abu Dhabi Global Markets, was appointed as Binance’s CEO following a settlement with the U.S. government that involves a $4.3 billion fine for alleged money laundering violations. In addition to the action,

Binance has been witness to a litany of woes recently.

Former CEO Changpeng Zhao has been charged with violating the Bank Secrecy Act and has agreed to step down. Zhao’s sentencing is scheduled for April 30.

Several lawsuits have been filed against by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regarding alleged mismanagement of customer assets and the operation of an illegal, unregistered exchange.