Gas prices spike in May, likely pushed up by maintenance

Gas prices have taken a sudden upswing in May, rising nearly 15 cents in two weeks.

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gas in Los Angeles County recorded its largest increase since Feb. 25, rising 2.2 cents to $5.919.

The average price has risen 16 consecutive days, increasing 14.7 cents, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. The streak follows a run of 28 decreases in 30 days totaling 29.6 cents.

“The Phillips 66 Wilmington refinery has been undergoing planned maintenance for nearly a month, keeping upward pressure on local prices, according to Oil Price Information Service,” said Doug Shupe, the Automobile Club of Southern California’s corporate communications manager.

The Orange County average price recorded its largest increase since Feb. 2, rising 3.2 cents to $5.874. It has risen 15 of the past 16 days, increasing 16.3 cents, including six-tenths of a cent Thursday.

In Riverside County, prices rose 1.4 cents Friday for the 16th consecutive day, the largest increase since April 30. The average price has increased 12.2 cents over the past 16 days to $5.827. The streak of rising prices follows a run of eight decreases in 10 days totaling 3.2 cents.

San Bernardino County prices are up 33 cents from a month ago. On Friday, prices hit $5.830 per gallon, up 5 cents in a week.

Stocks rally but still mark sixth losing week

Wall Street closed out another volatile week of trading with a broad rally Friday, though it wasn’t nearly enough to keep the market from its sixth straight weekly drop, the longest such streak since 2011.

The upbeat finish still left the indexes with weekly losses of more than 2.4% each, extending the string of weekly declines to six weeks for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, while the Dow registered its seventh straight weekly drop.

The S&P 500 rose 93.81 points to 4,023.89. The index is now down 15.6% for the year. The Dow gained 466.36 points to 32,196.66, while the Nasdaq rose 434.04 points to 11,805.

Smaller company stocks also staged a solid rally. The Russell 2000 gained 53.28 points, or 3.1%, to 1,792.67.

Twitter fell 9.7% after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he was putting his deal to acquire the social media company on hold. Tesla rose 5.7%.

The price of U.S. crude oil rose 4.1% to settle at $110.49 per barrel. It’s up about 50% for the year.

Recession odds within next year now 30%

The odds of a U.S. recession within the next year are steadily rising.

The probability of a recession over the next 12 months is now 30%, the highest since 2020, according to the latest Bloomberg monthly survey of economists. That’s up slightly from 27.5% in April and double the odds economists predicted just three months ago. The survey was conducted May 6-11 and included responses from 37 economists.

Recession fears have been growing in recent weeks. Inflation is hovering at its highest in decades, and prices are likely to remain elevated for quite some time. The Federal Reserve appears firmly committed to cooling inflation quickly with aggressive interest rate increases. However, the central bank faces a tough task: Cool the economy enough to temper price gains but not so much that the economy tips into recession.