Oil stuck below $76, gasoline prices slide lower

Gasoline prices are now a penny below where they were a week ago and could head lower after a retreat in oil prices over the past few days.

The national average for a gallon of unleaded gasoline was $2.770 on Friday, compared with $2.776 on Thursday and $2.779 a week ago, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.

Oil prices continued slipping after falling more than $5 in the first four trading sessions of the week. Benchmark crude for September delivery fell 35 cents to settle at $75.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its lowest level in a month.

The rally in early August that pushed prices above $82 has been reversed. Investors appear to be giving into fears that second-half global economic growth will be slower than previously expected.

Andrew Lebow, an oil trader with MF Global in New York, investors have been discouraged by lower-than-expected oil imports in China and the disappointing growth in the U.S. economy.

“A lot of optimism that we had a few weeks ago has been dashed,” Lebow said.

On Friday, the Commerce Department reported that, excluding autos and gasoline sales — which accounted for one-fourth of the July figures — retail sales fell 0.1 percent in July, continuing a recent weak trend.

“The ghosts of a global economic slowdown are back and haunting the oil market again,” Barclays Capital said in a report. “No doubt, like China, the growth in U.S. oil demand is likely to slow down as the months progress.”