Rising gas prices over the past few weeks would lead you to believe that the recovery could be in danger. What people are missing is the mitigating factor in consumer spending. The winter that never happened. Last year it was Snowpacalypse or Armageddon. Some sort of cataclysmic winter weather even. So utility bills have been kept in check which offsets the rise. The question now is what happens now.

Spring is pretty much upon us along with the summer driving season. If gas prices continue to climb you have to expect some sort of consumer pullback. We saw it in 2008, and it stands to reason it will happen this year. Tensions with Iran and continued growth in the developing world will put constraints on supply leading speculators to juice the price of oil. We should soon find out in the coming weeks when new consumer data releases if the price at the pump is effecting spending. [Read more...]