see on memorial day weekend itself. aaa predicts 37 million of those 42 million people will travel by car. that number up about 1% from what we saw last year. really only off 1% from pre-pandemic figures. really helped by that is the fact that gas priceser lower. it s $3.54 right now. it was $4.47 this time last year. the worst times to travel according to aaa, boris, 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on the friday before memorial day. then everybody coming back all at once, noon to 3:00 p.m. on monday. but we also have to talk about flying. those numbers are going to be up above pre-pandemic levels. aaa anticipates up by about 11% compared to the same period over 2019. the big tip, try and book the
consumer sentiment hit six-month lows since friday. and debt ceiling drama is unresolved. the nasdaq finished higher. inflation rose $3.54 a gallon. retail sales, existing home sales, weekly jobless claims but really, the most important thing is getting the debt ceiling fixed. the end of the month, that s when the u.s. could run outside of money if the agreement isn t found to raise the debt limit. talks are set to continue. no end in sight. joining me gene marks, president of the marks group. excited to have you on this morning. we re running out of time to fix this. you advocate specifically for small business, how concerned are you that congress won t be able to do this, to avoid a default, at least in the very near term? and what will that do to small businesses? hey, christine, thanks for having me on. it s obviously a big concern for
the vast majority of people will drive 50 miles or more, 37 million of that 42 million people expected to travel during the aaa holiday travel period over memorial day. the good news is that gas price right side down pretty significantly compared to where we were back just this time last year. $3.54 is the average price for a gallon of regular, compared to a year ago when it was $4.47. we ve gone down nearly a dollar a gallon. the worst times to travel, and this is the thing you should really listen to, 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. on friday before memorial day, then coming home, 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m. on monday, memorial day itself. the real thing here, and you can really tweak your schedule, if you have the ability to work from home aaa says if you come home on tuesday that might be better, even stretch your trip into wednesday, that might be even better because that is when
we ll likely see numbers this summer exceed pre-pandemic levels. of course the vast majority of people will drive. 37 million people forecasted by aaa to drive 50 miles or more out of that 42 million people expected to travel in total. that total number, only 1% up from what we saw back in 2019 before the pandemic, likely helped out by gas prices nearly $1 a gallon lower than they were this time last year. $3.54 is the current average. it was $4.47 this time a year ago. here are the worst times to travel. friday between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. before memorial day. and then monday coming back, when everyone begins coming pack home all at once between noon and 3:00 p.m. aaa says this is really the time to take advantage for work from home. try to tweak your trip to avoid some of this traffic. listen. so if you can extend that
we need it. but it s not enough just to fill up the reserves. we do not have enough refineries. the last one we built, louisiana, 1977, old technology. time to get off our duffs and this is bipartisan, and do what the chinese are doing. they are building $14 billion refineries. they are making sure they never have an energy problem and saw what happened in europe, we are watching it too. we have got to not just solve the reserves, we have to solve for actually refining what we need for energy. 100%. we have to get this done in the next 36 months. sandra: it is still painful prices when it comes to gas, the average price of a gallon of gasoline, 3.54 a gallon. much higher than when the president took office and we ll see what happens next with all this. kevin, great to have you here today, thank you. john. john: sandra, potential breakthrough in the treatment of parkinson s disease. it comes as actor and philanthropist michael j. fox stars in a new documentary