NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices are falling for the first time in a week, even as heavy fighting in the Middle East again threatened to slow the global flow of oil. After shooting to $102 per barrel a day earlier, Brent crude fell 2.6%. Before the Iran war began in late February, it was trading around $72 per barrel.
U.S. benchmark crude slipped $2.43 to $89.76 per barrel. Even with Friday's decline, both standards are up more than 10% this week.
Attacks on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea threatened another avenue that oil companies use to move their crude from the Middle East to customers worldwide, along with the Strait of Hormuz.
Gasoline prices tend to follow oil prices higher, and the average cost for a gallon of regular gas surpassed $4.10 overnight, according to AAA. That's still lower than this spring as the conflict in Iran expanded, but it's almost a dollar higher than last year at this time.
Higher gas prices generally exacerbate broader inflation and could force the Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates, which would slow economies and undercut prices for stocks and other investments.
More immediately, those prices have changed the way that Americans behave as consumers attempt to offset the more substantial cost of filling up the car.
