Afternoon Coffee: Hurricane Harvey Sends Gasoline Prices Soaring, Amazon to Lower Prices at Whole Foods

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Energy companies are about to feel the pain of Texas’ worst storm in decades. As Bloomberg reports, Hurricane Harvey, which could make landfall as a Category 3 storm, is set to hit a cluster of oil refineries that process almost 5 million barrels a day. Gasoline futures have risen to their highest point in four months, hitting $1.7303 a gallon.

Whole Foods Prices

Whole Foods customers, rejoice! Amazon takes control over the grocer Monday, and the new owner’s first move will be to slash prices the same day, according to the New York Times. The tactic is the same one Amazon has employed in several other industries, and share prices for competitors such as Kroger and Wal-Mart dropped in response.

Volkswagen Fiat

Volkswagen and Fiat Chrysler have held talks over possible joint production of light-utility vehicles, the Wall Street Journal reports. While the discussions are still in early stages, the collaboration could include jointly building two of Volkswagen’s popular mid-size vehicles.

Intermodal Traffic

And finally, a logistics update: U.S. intermodal rail traffic rose 8.2% and carloads held steady at an 0.8% increase for the week ending Aug. 19, Progressive Railroading reports.