The national average price of regular gasoline reached $4.48 per gallon on Monday. That is up from $4.32 per gallon a week earlier, according to auto club AAA. US diesel prices have hit a new all-time record as fuel costs continue to rise. Gasoline prices are also climbing across the country, adding to concerns about higher costs for consumers and businesses.
The $4.48 gasoline price is the highest average recorded for September. However, gasoline is still below its all-time national record of $5.01 per gallon, which was reached in June 2022. The national average price of diesel is now $6.51 per gallon, making it the highest diesel price ever recorded, according to The Motley Fool.
Diesel prices have gone even higher and have broken their previous record. Commercial trucks, freight trains, construction equipment and farm machinery all rely heavily on diesel fuel. Higher diesel costs can increase the price of many other goods and services. When it becomes more expensive to transport products or operate machinery, those higher costs can eventually move through the economy. Rising fuel costs have already been linked to pressure on major US stock indexes . The Motley Fool raises the possibility that extremely high diesel prices could contribute to a stock market crash. However, a crash is not presented as a certainty; it is a potential risk if fuel costs contribute to a much deeper economic downturn. That raises the question of what investors should do if the stock market suffers a major sell-off. The article points to longtime investor Warren Buffett’s approach to previous market crashes. The key point for investors is that a record diesel price does not automatically mean a stock market crash will happen. The bigger risk would come if high fuel costs spread through the economy and contribute to a significant slowdown.
Because diesel is used across large parts of the US economy, the record diesel price is a major concern.
During the first half of September, concerns about fuel costs were among the factors weighing on the stock market, according to The Motley Fool.
