The U.S. national average for regular gas could top $6.00 per gallon in the coming months, J.P. Morgan predicted this week in a report titled “Cruel Summer.”

The national average for regular gas has continued to climb for ten consecutive days, standing at $4.589 on Thursday. That reflects a 2 cent increase over the last day, 17 cent increase over the last week, and a nearly 49 cent increase over the last month. What is more, J.P. Morgan predicts that it will only worsen in the coming months, topping $6.00 per gallon nationally.

“With expectations of strong driving demand … US retail price could surge another 37% by August to a $6.20/gal national average,” J.P. Morgan’s commodities research head, Natasha Kaneva, said this week.

According to Business Insider:

 The outlook arrived days ahead of the Memorial Day holiday, the traditional start of the summer driving season that runs until Labor Day in early September.

The 37% figure stems from the national average retail price of gas topping $4.50 a gallon for the first time on Tuesday.  That price was up about $0.50 from a month ago, and marked a “massive jump” from $3.04 a gallon on the same day in 2021, said Kaneva.

https://twitter.com/FerroTV/status/1526627754548117510

No state in the country is seeing the average price of gas under $4.00, and California is the one state with an average well over $6.00 — $6.061 as of Thursday. Other states, including Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada, are seeing prices above $5.00 per gallon.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) also predicted this week that gas prices could top $6.00 under President Joe Biden’s leadership. 

“They’re canceling oil and gas leases in places like Alaska and the people, the people that have to fill up their gas tanks are the ones that are paying the price for those bad policies,” he said during Wednesday’s press conference, predicting worsening prices down the road. 

“I think you’re gonna see it, you know, unless they reverse course, you’re gonna see it over $5 a gallon for unleaded, and in places like California, it’ll probably like $7.00 or $8.00 because of all the taxes they have. That is gonna be a huge, huge hit to a lot of working people,” he said, adding that it is “very possible that Biden plunges this country into a recession” due to the Biden administration’s continual mismanagement.