Gas prices fall since June

Gasoline prices are on the biggest streak of declines since 2015, a relief for both consumers and President Joe Biden who has made fighting inflation a central theme ahead of November midterm elections.

U.S. pump prices are averaging $3.892 a gallon after reaching a record high of $5.016 a gallon in mid-June and have fallen for 70 straight days, according to auto club AAA.

Prices haven’t fallen that many days since January 2015.

In Spokane, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline on Tuesday was $4.56 and $5.35 for a gallon of diesel.

In Coeur d’Alene, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline on Tuesday was $4.42 and $5.09 for a gallon of diesel.

The price drop is a welcome respite for consumers after fuel costs earlier this summer forced many to forgo driving vacations and change their lifestyles.

Biden has staked much of his political capital to bringing down energy costs, ordering the release of millions of barrels of crude from the nation’s strategic reserves and rallying other nations to do so.

Prices have fallen along with those of crude oil, the major component to the cost of gasoline.

New home sales fell in July

Sales of new U.S. homes fell in July for the sixth time this year to the slowest pace since early 2016, extending a months-long deterioration in the housing market fueled by high borrowing costs and a pullback in demand.

Purchases of new single-family homes decreased 12.6% to a 511,000 annualized pace from a revised 585,000 in June, government data showed Tuesday.

The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 575,000 rate.

The July sales slump is the latest example of how the housing market is buckling under the weight of high prices and elevated borrowing costs.

Construction has slowed, home purchase applications are falling, and more buyers are backing away from deals.

Inventory is burgeoning amid the slide in demand, which will likely put downward pressure on home prices in the months ahead.

There were 464,000 new homes for sale at the end of the month, the most since 2008.

However, 90% of those were either still under construction or not yet started.

Farmers triple unplanted acres

Acres that U.S. farmers were unable to plant have more than tripled from the same period last year as extreme weather wreaks havoc on fields.

Prevented planting acres – or insured crops that can’t be planted because of disasters including flooding and drought – were at 6.4 million, according to the USDA Farm Service Agency’s August report.

That’s up from 2.1 million in 2021.

The news comes at the start of the key U.S. crop tour, which will determine if the U.S. can produce enough corn and soybeans to revive supplies diminished by extreme weather and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

While the prevented planting acres trail behind 2020’s numbers, it comes at a time when the world is more reliant on U.S. crops.

From staff and wire reports