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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Smiling Bob who wrote (88239)	12/13/2007 2:17:17 PM
From: Smiling Bob	Respond to of 93284

Gasoline demand down post-Thanksgiving-MasterCard Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:00pm EST NEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline demand slumped last week as demand slowed after the peak travel period during the Thanksgiving holiday, MasterCard Advisors said on Tuesday. American motorists pumped 9.302 million barrels of gasoline per day on average in the week that ended December 7, down 0.9 percent from the previous week, according to the weekly SpendingPulse report. "Normally you see a seasonal peak in the weeks around Thanksgiving and usually you see a retraction after that," said Michael McNamara, vice president of MasterCard Advisors. However, this year's post-Thanksgiving demand decrease appears larger than usual because this year's Thanksgiving holiday gasoline demand was lower than last year's, McNamara said. Last week's retail gasoline buying was down 2.7 percent from the same time last year. "The story that started at the second half of October is still holding. Prices are up significantly and demand has eroded significantly since then," said McNamara. U.S. retail gasoline prices were down 6 cents a gallon last week, but still 0.74 cents higher than last year, according to the report. "Even though prices are down, they are still showing an impressive run in year-over-year increases," McNamara said, noting that average gasoline prices have seen a year-over-year increase above 30 percent for six weeks running. The four-week moving average for gasoline purchases of 9.325 million barrels per day slipped 1.2 percent from a year ago, according to the report.