The recent drop in WTI crude oil prices has brought out the ubiquitous "well, that's a tax cut for the US consumer" recency-biased talking-heads always looking for a silver-lining to justify something. What they fail to notice, is at $103.57, this is the highest price WTI crude oil has ever been at the end of September. The reason timing is important is the annual cycle of oil prices means comparing Summer with Winter and so on is misleading. So is the highest price ever for oil in the Fall still a positive for the economy?
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Of course, gas prices have fallen recently - helped by the collapse in the duopolized RINs market - tracking oddly close to 2011's pattern... but once again 2013's gas price is still massively more expensive than 2010's...
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Charts: Bloomberg