By Jill Mislinski
The Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration ((EIA)) monthly data on volume sales is several weeks old when it released. The latest numbers, through mid-January, are now available. Gasoline prices and increases in fuel efficiency are important factors, but there are also some significant demographic and cultural dynamics in this data series.
Because the sales data are highly volatile with some obvious seasonality, we've added a 12-month moving average ((MA)) to give a clearer indication of the long-term trends. The latest 12-month MA is 3.0% below its all-time high set in August