President Barack Obama wants Congress to give oil-market regulators more power to keep speculators from manipulating oil prices, which can lead to higher costs at the pump, the Huffington Post reports. 

Obama is asking legislators to strengthen federal supervision of oil markets, increase penalties for market manipulation and empower regulators to increase the amount of money energy traders are required to put behind their transactions, the Huffington Post reports. 

"We can't afford a situation where some speculators can reap millions while millions of American families get the short end of the stick," Obama said Tuesday at the White House.

AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in New Jersey on Friday was $3.79, which was unchanged from last week, according to the Courier-Post. 

But that’s still nearly 5 percent higher than the average price a year ago, when motorists paid $3.61 per gallon.

Meanwhile, the national average price last week fell by 4 cents to $3.90 per gallon, the newspaper reports. That’s a 2.3 percent increase over the national average from a year ago, which was $3.81.

Before stabilizing last week, gas prices had risen for 18 straight weeks in New Jersey, according to AAA.