The Pump
Wright spent Sunday saying the pump is fine. Labor Day is $4.15.
The energy secretary did four morning shows after a weekend of strikes. Brent was $96.28 on Friday. AAA did not watch the shows.
The Rocket News · Economy · WashingtonSeptember 7, 2026 · 4 min read
Energy Secretary Chris Wright went on four Sunday shows to downplay the price of gasoline after the United States and Iran traded shots again. The Hill timed the tour. Brent had printed $96.28 on Friday. AAA, on Sunday, still had regular at $4.15 and diesel at $5.88 — the first Labor Day above $4 on the American chart. The secretary has a podium. The pump has a number.
Wright is also carrying the administration’s Venezuela oil file, a second argument the Sunday shows wanted. The Economy desk files the holiday: airfare up about 20 percent year on year, California $5.78, a soybean farmer already counting extra diesel. A briefing does not harvest.
The holiday that used to get cheaper just got a war tax.
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Labor Day Monday is a travel day with a wreck in Miami and a strait that Iran now wants to draw a line around. The secretary can say small. The receipt is not.
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Prices
Wholesale prices rose 6.3 percent.
The producer-price index jumped 1.3 percent in September, the biggest monthly gain since March 2022. Energy prices for producers rose 10.8 percent. Economists had expected a much smaller move. Social Security’s cost-of-living raise for next year is 3.6 percent.
Prices
September prices rose 3.7 percent.
The Consumer Price Index gained 0.6 percent in the month, more than economists expected over the year. Gasoline did the lifting. Core inflation rose to 2.6 percent. The Fed meets again on Oct. 27.
Markets
Stocks were mixed at midday, and diesel was $6.27.
At 12:12 p.m. Eastern the Dow was up 228 points and the Nasdaq was down 0.2 percent. Energy shares rose with the oil price. AAA’s national diesel average on Monday was $6.27 a gallon.