Business Briefing: Local gas prices still hovering below $2

Although recent gains have pushed metro-east gas prices back up, most of the prices at the local gas pumps remain below $2 a gallon.

According to the latest figures from online gas price tracker GasBuddy.com, average retail gasoline prices in the St. Louis area have risen 2.6 cents per gallon in the past week. Regular unleaded gas in the metro-east is currently selling for between $1.93 and $1.99 a gallon.

GasBuddy.com has also reported that St. Louis-area gas prices are 48.5 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

***

The Dow Jones industrial average has dropped 56 points, or 0.3 percent, in early trading Monday as oil and gas companies are leading an early decline. Consol Energy and Chesapeake Energy have each fallen 9 percent. Read more here.

***

Single-cup coffee machine maker Keurig is being sold. Private equity firm JAB Holding Co. has purchased the business for almost $14 billion. The sale comes as Keurig has witnessed slow sales and falling stock, which has dropped by almost 61 percent since the beginning of the year. Learn more here.

***

Business economists anticipate the nation’s unemployment rate to drop by the end of next year, but their expectations for economic expansion is not as optimistic. According to the National Association for Business Economics, the economy is expected to grow by 2.6 percent in 2016, lower than the 2.7 percent economic growth forecast from a survey conducted in September. Economists also said the unemployment rate should drop from its current 5 percent rate to 4.7 percent by the end of next year. Find out more here.

-Will Buss, BND business writer

This story was originally published December 7, 2015 at 9:19 AM with the headline "Business Briefing: Local gas prices still hovering below $2."