by Calculated Risk on 10/04/2012 09:15:00 PM

Gasoline prices in California are up 21 cents from one week ago. From the O.C. Register: O.C. gas prices jump 9 cents overnight

A series of problems at some of the state's most important refineries has tightened supplies and driven up prices, the analysts said. In Orange County, that contributed to an overnight jump of 9 cents in the cost of an average gallon of regular unleaded, to $4.33 on Thursday.

That was 21 cents more than it cost one week earlier, according to the AAA auto club.
...
The trouble began in August, when fire broke out at one of the biggest refineries in the state, a Chevron facility in the bay area; its production still has not fully recovered. Then, earlier this week, a power outage slowed production at an Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance that, though smaller, produces 10 percent of the state's gasoline.

A pipeline that carries oil through the Central Valley also shut down when contaminants were found in it, further crimping gasoline inventories, experts said.

We could see $5 per gallon. Ouch!

On Friday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, the BLS will release the Employment Report for September. The consensus is for an increase of 113,000 non-farm payroll jobs in September; there were 96,000 jobs added in August. The consensus is for the unemployment rate to be unchanged at 8.1% in September.

• At 3:00 PM, Consumer Credit for August will be released by the Federal Reserve. The consensus is for credit to increase $7.8 billion in August.

Two more questions for the October economic prediction contest (Note: You can now use Facebook, Twitter, or OpenID to log in).