Average Cost

Retail gasoline and diesel prices continued to rise in California and across much of the nation over the last week. Analysts are concerned that rising energy costs would be bad for the economy because more expensive gasoline affects how much Americans have left over to spend on other products, and higher diesel prices could boost the price of other items that are produced or transported using diesel. In California, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline climbed 1.8 cents to $4.376, an increase of 42.2 cents a gallon since the same time last year.

Retail gasoline prices are on the rise again after five straight weeks of decline. The new increases are adding to the pain of historically high fuel costs for this time of year. In California, which has returned to its customary position as the most expensive state for fuel in the 48 contiguous states, the average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline rose 4.9 cents over the last week to $3.864. The numbers are from the Energy Department, which conducts a weekly survey of service stations around the U.S. A year earlier, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in California was $3.147, the Energy Department said.

California's average pump price has fallen below the driver-irritating $4-a-gallon mark for the first time since March 21, the Energy Department said. The average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline in California was $3.994 on Monday, down 6.2 cents from a week earlier, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of service stations. That's still 92.6 cents higher than at the same time last year. But it was down more than 26 cents from the May 2 peak of $4.257, leaving California in the rare position of not having the most expensive gas in the continental U.S. "It's looking like a pretty good drop in prices in California at the moment.

Before Joanna Joshua and Kyle Winning started a family, they hunted for health insurance to cover the increasingly high cost of having a baby. The Valencia couple checked out nearly a dozen policies but came up empty, finally settling on a Blue Shield of California plan with a $5,000 deductible. Money was tight, with her finishing her education and him starting his own appraisal business. So when their son Dylan arrived prematurely in 2007, the couple had to scramble. They took a cash advance on a credit card to cover the deductible and $5,000 more for their share of an emergency cesarean section.

Apartment rents are expected to fall as much as 3.5% in Los Angeles County this year, according to a study released Wednesday, as landlords compete for tenants in a market battered by stubborn joblessness and saturated with freshly constructed housing units. For apartment dwellers, falling rents have been the housing bust's thin silver lining: During the boom, rents had climbed in tandem with housing prices. Southern California's high number of foreclosures and the rampant overbuilding during the housing bubble has resulted in a glut of rentals as demand has slackened with high unemployment, according to the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast.

Gasoline prices at the pump rose slightly last week, the Energy Department said Monday, as oil futures fell to their lowest levels in March. The average price of a gallon of regular in California rose 1.5 cents to $3.061, according to the agency's weekly telephone survey of filling stations. Nationally, prices rose 3.7 cents to an average of $2.788 a gallon. In some potentially good news for motorists, analyst Tom Kloza said that prices nationally were already within 25 cents of their likely peak for the year, with the summer driving season yet to come.

Retail gasoline prices have jumped sharply over the last week, prompting worries that a surge in energy prices could slow the economic recovery. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in California climbed 5.9 cents to $3.046, the biggest rise in 16 weeks. Nationally, the price jumped 8.6 cents to $2.751 a gallon, according to the U.S. government's weekly survey of filling stations. Analysts said gasoline prices were rising sharply while most indicators of supply and demand were headed in the opposite direction.

Analysts said Monday that the month-old rally in retail gasoline prices across the U.S. had fizzled. "There was a point in September when refineries were making as much as $20 to $25 on a barrel of product," said Tom Kloza, senior oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service in New Jersey. "Now, the average profit is about $2.50 a barrel. It's going to be a very challenging next few months for refiners." The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in California edged lower by 0.6 of a cent to $2.981 over the last week, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of filling stations.

Gasoline prices slowed their decline in California and jumped by 10 cents nationwide, as oil companies continued to reduce the amount of fuel they are refining. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in California fell by just 0.3 cents to $2.985. It was the sixth straight week of declines in the state, but also the smallest drop since the record high for 2009 was reached Sept. 14. Nationally, prices rose 10 cents to an average of $2.674 a gallon. Oil industry analyst Patrick DeHaan said refineries around the nation have cut way back in an effort to raise prices at a time when they say their profit margins are low. Refiners typically cut back production in the fall, said DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for gasbuddy.