US consumers buying less gasoline

According to credit card company MasterCard, data collected since 2004 on the credit-card swipes and cash and check payments at about 140,000 US gasoline stations, consumers in America are reacting to record high gasoline prices. Drivers bought 8.01 million barrels a day in the seven days ended Feb. 10, down 3.1 percent from a week earlier. Gasoline use over the previous four weeks was 5.3 percent below the 2011 period, the 47th consecutive decline in that measure. John Gamel, a gasoline analyst and director of economic analysis for SpendingPulse, told businessweek: "We've been seeing 5 percent declines in demand for the last four consecutive weeks. This isn't weather-related. This is demand-related. Consumers are reacting to the highest prices we've ever seen."

In the US Midwest, gasoline is $3.42 a gallon, while on the West Coast a gallon of regular cost $3.71. Normally gasoline prices hit their loftiest levels when there is greater buying for travel, like during Memorial Day and the Fourth of July holiday weekends. At that time gasoline prices could go to $5 a barrel, if two international situations show no change: European sanctions against oil exports from Iran, and reduced refining capacity in the US and Europe.