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WASHINGTON — The gas price spike keeps getting worse.
The national average jumped to $4.87 a gallon on Monday, according to AAA. That's up 25 cents in the past week and 59 cents in the past month.
There are now 10 states where the average price of gasoline is $5 a gallon or higher, with the latest being Michigan and Indiana. Washington, DC, is also above $5.
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are just pennies away. Georgia is the only state with an average below $4.30 a gallon. Utah's average price is $4.83, according to AAA.
Unfortunately, prices could continue to climb.
Veteran oil analyst Andy Lipow told CNN he expects the national average to hit $5.05 a gallon in the next 10 days.
Oil, the biggest component of gasoline prices, continues to get more expensive — even after OPEC+ announced plans late last week to ramp up production.
Gas prices have been driven to record highs by a range of factors, including strong demand for energy as people drive and fly more.
Supply, on the other hand, has failed to keep up. The United States is pumping less oil than before COVID-19 began, and the market is signaling OPEC+'s increase is too little, too late. U.S. crude jumped to a fresh three-month high of $120.99 a barrel Monday morning.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, told CNN in a phone interview that he is feeling more optimistic about the ability of the U.S. economy to get inflation under control without causing a downturn. But Zandi said the one catch would be a further spike in oil prices.
"If oil prices go to $150, we are going into recession. There is no way out," Zandi said.
