Clayton News Daily

The average price of regular retail gasoline has stabilized in the U.S. — for now, said an AAA spokeswoman.

Angie LaPlant said the average price is $3.69 a gallon in Atlanta and in Georgia — a cent less than last week.

Florida’s average cost, she said, is $3.79 a gallon, unchanged from the week prior. Tennessee experienced an increase of 1 cent, leaving motorists to pay an average price of $3.60 a gallon at the pump.

The U.S. average price is $3.80 a gallon, a hike of 4 cents, said LaPlant.

“We have equal bullish and bearish pressures weighing on the market at this time from lagging demand numbers to U.S. job growth,” she said. “Consumers may get a brief break at the pump as gas prices are not expected to increase much ... this week.”

She explained that consumers could not catch a break at the pump for 39 days in a row, until costs stabilized last week.

Oil closed Friday at $107.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a 70-cent increase from the week prior, she said.

Dull demand figures affected the market after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries reduced its global oil demand prospect, she said. Oil prices slightly rose towards the end of last week, after the United States Department of Labor reported that 227,000 payrolls increased last month, said LaPlant. This number is higher than the initial forecast of 210,000.