Pump you up! Drivers see low gas prices as summer kicks off

Memorial Day is just a few days away, the traditional start to summer and the summer travel season. And drivers have something to celebrate this year. AAA points out we’re still feeling the effects of last year’s big drop in oil (OIL) prices and the corresponding decline at the pump. The organization notes that even though gas prices are up about 20% since the end of December, they’re still almost a dollar less than they were on Memorial Day, 2014.  And they're the lowest for the start-of-summer holiday since 2009.

But Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer says unfortunately, higher prices will be coming-- at least in the short-term.

“Gas prices do generally trend up and they peak in June, spike a little bit in July and then go down,” he notes. “But it’s nice to have this $1 a gallon bonus.”

However, Yahoo Finance’s Aaron Task feels drivers may not see it that way.

“It is a bonus, but people look at the price-- because it’s something you drive by every day-- and you say, it’s not as low as it used to be. So psychologically you don’t feel as good about it as you did six months ago when it looked like we were going to be below $2 a gallon for the foreseeable future.”

And Task wants to know the reason the economy hasn’t benefited that much from all the savings at the pump.

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“The unexplained story still is why lower gas prices haven’t resulted in more consumer spending in a much bigger way,” he says. “We have seen the retail results rolling in the past couple weeks-- they have not been good.”

But Serwer thinks it might be a positive sign that people aren’t blowing all those savings.

“Maybe people are being a little cautious and not spending all their money on stupid junk they don’t need, which they tend to do, or not spending their money on stupid mortgages, refinancings that they don’t need, which are going to get them into trouble in the next downturn,” he argues. “So keeping it close to the vest is alright.”

Task notes while that may be true, those cheaper prices did spur a great deal of spending in one segment of the economy.

“There was a lot of buying of big SUVs and trucks and gas guzzlers as oil prices went down,” he points out. “That’s where a lot of the money was spent-- good for the automobile industry, not so good for the environment.”

But whether it’s in gas guzzlers or fuel-efficient vehicles, Serwer knows a lot of us will be on the road, getting a jump on the new warm-weather season.

“33 million people are going to be driving this weekend,” he notes. “I like talking about the beginning of summer!”

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