Thursday, June 25, 2015; Breaking News -- Families Will Save $7.30 This Holiday Weekend On Gasoline Prices (Compared To Last Year)

Thursdays are my busiest days -- there is always so much news coming out on Thursdays.

For newbies, I post and update, post and update. There will be factual and typographical errors, but as the posts are updated, hopefully there are fewer errors.

So, let's get started. The best story of the day was sent to me by a reader. I will probably post it as a stand-alone post -- it's on Russia and oil.

Spending. Reuters is reporting:  U.S. consumer spending posts largest gain in nearly six years.

U.S. consumer spending recorded its largest increase in nearly six years in May on strong demand for automobiles and other big-ticket items, further evidence that economic growth was gathering momentum in the second quarter.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday consumer spending increased 0.9 percent last month, the biggest gain since August 2009, after an upwardly revised 0.1 percent rise in April.

Jobs.

This is always my favorite because the stories are all boiler-plate; they've been written in advance with only the data waiting to be filled in. The best part is the spin. Today, the initial jobless claims over at Seeking Alpha without commentary: it appears that both the revised number for last week and the number for this week have increased. Last week's number was revised upward by 1,000; this week's number is up 3,000 to 271,000. That is slightly better than the consensus.

Most interesting: continuing claims up 22,000 vs 2.25 million prior.

The four-week average fell 3,250 to 273,750.

Active rigs:

	6/25/2015	06/25/2014	06/25/2013	06/25/2012	06/25/2011
Active Rigs	76	193	187	213	170

This is about as low as the rig count has ever gotten; I believe the post-boom low is 75.

RBN Energy: Canadian natural gas struggling.

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Gasoline demand. The AP is reporting:  Stronger economy, cheap gas expected to spur holiday travel.

An estimated 41.9 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home during the holiday weekend, up 0.7 percent from last year and the most since 2007, right before the recession, according to travel agency and car lobbying group AAA.

More spin.  From the linked article:

As usual, the vast majority of travelers will be using their cars: about 85 percent. Gas currently costs $2.78 a gallon, down 88 cents from the same time last year. That means a family driving 200 miles on highways will save about $7.30 for their holiday gas this year.

LOL. Does one really think this is newsworthy? A family of four will save $7.30 over the four-day weekend (longer for some) because of lower gasoline prices. Hello. With crude oil at record lows, gasoline is still higher than it should be, and unfortunately the price of gasoline is trending up. Gasoline was nearing the $2.00 mark earlier this spring in our neighborhood, and is now back up to nearly $3.00 ($2.79, to be exact). A coffee and croissant at Starbucks will cost about $7.30.