As the chart above shows, the price of regular gasoline at the pump has rebounded about 30% in the past 3 ½ months, after dropping by almost half since last summer.
As the chart above shows, this has dampened consumers' enthusiasm a bit. Nevertheless, consumer confidence is still fairly close to its post-recession highs.
As the chart above shows, active oil and gas drilling rigs in the U.S. have plunged in response to the collapse in oil prices. But the decline in the rig count is slowing down, and this means that supply and demand are coming back into balance. The bounce in oil and gas prices may be a bit overdone (markets have a way of over-reacting), but nevertheless it's quite likely that gasoline prices will be substantially lower going forward than they have been in the recent past, and that augurs well for things in general. Energy is what makes the world go 'round, so cheaper energy should eventually translate into healthier economic growth.
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