Even before Hurricane Ike smashed into the US Gulf Coast it had already made an economic landfall, sending wholesale gasoline prices soaring Friday and straining the nation's fuel supply chain.Wholesale gasoline prices on the Gulf Coast moved even further into uncharted territory to around $$4.85 a gallon on fears of vast fuel shortages as the hurricane honed in on the mass of refineries that line the upper Texas coast.
Hurricane Ike makes economic landfall