Chattanooga gas prices rise 8.4 cents a gallon in the past week and other business news | Chattanooga Times Free Press

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Local gas prices continue to rise

Gas prices continued to rise last week in Chattanooga, and diesel fuel prices continued to decline, according to surveys by GasBuddy.com

The average price of regular unleaded gas in Chattanooga increased by 8.4 cents a gallon in the past week to $3.30 a gallon. Prices in Chattanooga are 12.4 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and 48.8 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

“The national average price of gasoline has continued its relatively slow climb,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a report Monday. “Expect the upward trend to continue through much of the rest of spring, but once the transition to summer gasoline and refinery maintenance are behind us, April and May jumps could bring June slumps.”

The good news, De Haan said, is that diesel prices continue to decline, dropping another 1.6 cents per gallon in the past week to $4.15 per gallon.

In a separate survey released Monday, AAA said the average price of gas per gallon across all of Tennessee was up 9 cents in the past week and 15 cents in the past month to an average $3.30 per gallon.

“Last week’s expected jump at the pump came after OPEC’s announcement of oil production cuts starting next month that immediately caused oil prices to surge,” said Megan Cooper, spokeswoman, AAA – The Auto Club Group.

Tesla to build China factory

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced on Twitter on Sunday that his company would build a factory in Shanghai with the aim to assemble 10,000 giant batteries annually for electric producers and distributors.

The batteries, which Tesla calls Megapacks, are designed to store large amounts of electricity — a single Megapack can power 3,600 homes for one hour, according to Tesla. The batteries, which are roughly the length and height of an international shipping container, can discharge electricity to run factories or homes when demand from the local power grid is high, or during a blackout.

The capacity to store electricity when it isn’t in demand is critical as electric utilities move toward wind and solar energy to replace power generated by fossil fuels. In China, demand for grid-storage batteries is especially strong. Many provinces now require new solar and wind farms to have enough batteries to hold 10% to 20% of the electricity they generate.

China has also been liberalizing its power markets in response to waves of blackouts in autumn 2021, when demand overwhelmed the country’s power suppliers. Many factories were closed for days, and some office towers had to be evacuated before their elevators lost power. Part of a chemical factory exploded, injuring dozens of workers, when it suddenly lost the electricity necessary to maintain the mix of temperature, pressure and other variables needed for its processes.

Bank of Japan keeps rates low

The new governor of Japan’s central bank signaled Monday that he plans no drastic changes in its ultra-low interest rate policy, sticking to earlier messaging on the topic.

Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda said Japan’s financial institutions are not facing the sorts of turmoil seen recently with bank failures in the U.S. and Europe. He pledged to do his utmost to maintain stability in both prices and financial systems in the world’s third-largest economy.

“Markets have calmed and, as far as the impact on the Japanese system, we have maintained the easy monetary policy, and there is ample capital and fluidity,” Ueda said.

Japan’s central bank is seeing its first leadership change in a decade, at a time when inflationary pressures around the world remain a risk and central banks are fighting back with big interest rate increases meant to slow economic activity.

Arkansas to cut income tax rate

Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday signed into law a measure cutting individual and corporate income taxes in Arkansas by $124 million a year.

Sanders signed the bill she and legislative leaders backed that will cut the top individual income tax rate to 4.7% from 4.9%. The law also cuts the top corporate income tax rate to 5.1% from 5.3%.

State finance officials said that under the proposal, 1.1 million taxpayers who make more than $24,300 a year will receive a cut. Sanders, who took office in January, has called for phasing out the state’s income tax. Over the past several years, Sanders’ Republican predecessor, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and the majority-GOP Legislature enacted a series of cuts.

— Compiled by Dave Flessner

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