Refineries are the new drama club
Diesel is doing what diesel hates to do: getting expensive enough to make everybody nervous. U.S. truckers are now paying an average of $5.85 a gallon, up nearly 60% from $3.71 a year ago, while California has sprinted all the way to $7.70.
Why you should care
This isn’t just a headache for long-haul drivers and their accountants. Diesel is the workhorse fuel of the economy, so when it spikes, the bill can boomerang into shipping costs, grocery prices, and other inflation-sensitive corners of the market.
What’s behind the jump?
The culprit cocktail here is geopolitical chaos. Wars in Ukraine and Iran have taken refineries offline and tightened supplies, which is basically the oil market’s version of someone yanking the Wi‑Fi router during a Zoom call.
Big picture
If diesel stays this hot, inflation could get another annoying little sidekick just when investors were hoping for a breather. The punchline: when the fuel that moves the economy gets pricier, the whole economy tends to feel it.