Diesel's street margin widened to $1.067 a gallon this month

The retail-to-wholesale spread on diesel is $1.067 a gallon right now, up 0.095 over the past 30 days. For a c-store or jobber, that is close to a dime more per gallon between what you pay for product and what you post at the pump, before card fees and freight. The gap has been growing, and it is worth pricing against today.

Both ends of that trade moved up, and the pump moved a little faster. Retail diesel is $5.257 a gallon, up 9.6% over 30 days, and it is at the 82 percent mark of its range. ULSD futures are $4.283, up 8.5%, sitting at the 93 percent mark, near the top of where they have traded this past month. So your wholesale cost climbed hard, but street prices climbed a touch harder, which is what pushed the spread wider. Refiner economics went the other way over the same stretch. The 3:2:1 crack spread is 66.72, down 1.38, so the margin on turning a barrel into product narrowed even as the margin at the pump grew.

Natural gas is the quiet contrast. Henry Hub is $2.733, down 6.5% over 30 days, and it is at just the 26 percent mark of its range, near the bottom. Storage is full, at the top of its own 30-day range. Gas could stay soft while diesel runs hot, which would keep the pressure on freight and refining costs pointed at the diesel side of your book. If wholesale diesel keeps pushing toward the top of its range, that street margin may give some of this back, so watch the futures number before you lean on today's spread.