To put the current retail price in perspective: The all-time record high on July 11 was $2.19 higher; the February 8, 2008, price was $2.02 higher. The low price environment continues, encouraging demand.
Many retailers have yet to pass on stronger wholesale prices, so margin on average was thinner than a nickel on February 6, and negative in several markets; it will have to expand shortly. It would take dramatically higher crude oil prices, not likely in the short term, to hike retail enough to plunge demand back into its late 2008 despair.
Despite some interpretations to the contrary, gasoline demand's signs of returning life is good news for consumers: They are able, thanks to last year's deep price crash, to edge their use back up at least toward the level of this time last year, despite otherwise poor economic conditions. To see it as bad news is to condone curtailment of economic activity.
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