By this time tomorrow, I’ll be somewhere on a major highway, midway through a 1,300-mile drive from Alabama to Colorado to visit family.
And let me tell you… it’s not a cheap drive.
I keep hearing the headlines saying gas prices are down for this year’s summer travel season. But when I actually looked at the numbers, I had to laugh.
Gasoline is up 8.8% year-to-date.
And diesel — the real lifeblood of freight, farming, and long-haul travel — is sitting at its highest levels since August 2024.
So what’s going on here? Because the problem’s not crude oil.
Crude’s actually down around 7% on the year.
The issue is further down the supply chain: refining capacity is tight, and transportation costs are still high.
In other words — we’ve got the raw material, but processing it and getting it where it needs to go is still expensive.
It’s a good reminder that headlines don’t always tell the full story.
And it’s also why I always look at markets a few layers deeper than what’s scrolling across CNBC.
I’ll be on the road for the next couple of days, but I didn’t want to leave you empty-handed.
Tomorrow, I’ll show you the simple playbook I use whenever I step away from the screens — so you’ll know exactly what I’d be watching while I’m out.
Stay sharp,
— Geof
