Barry Ritholtz notes in his blog post on Wed. that when the Dow Transports head down, the price of crude will follow. That also means the price of gasoline will go down. Per Barry’s nice graph, we are due!

A 70-mile per day driver will save $1,500 annually for every dollar the price of gas goes down. You do the math for fractions.

Gas prices keep going up at the pump & no relief in sight. If you thought the average price last summer was high, it’s even higher now.

This from Phil Flynn:

“The cost of oil has come back up and Brent crude, the European benchmark in stock market trading, is very high. That’s the primary reason,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst with PFGBest Research in Chicago. “Refineries reached their highest production rates of the year last week, but it’s been a bad year for them until now, with storm damage, floods, power outages and pipeline problems. That has also had an impact.”

per Fadal Gheit of Oppenheimer:

said he was expecting the oil industry as a whole to report its highest second-quarter earnings since 2008. “It’s a rising tide that raises all boats,” Gheit said in a note to investors.

Sure does not float mine.

Does that scare you? Civil unrest, a faltering US economy and Saudi troops taking on the protesters in Bahrain could mean some sparks.

Oil experts expect little change in the output policies which means little change in the price of crude.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of theatrics, but beyond that I don’t think it affects the outcome,” said Frank Verrastro, director of the energy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “If OPEC becomes less cohesive, that means each country goes its own way on production.”

“All these countries need money,” said Fadel Gheit, oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. “They will produce as much as they can get away with without destroying demand.”

A new term for us: demand destruction.

It happens when high prices make consumers (the golden geese) change their habits and use less gas.

Oh yes! In case the question is on your inquiring mind, according to a Deutsche Bank analysis every one cent increase retail gas prices, reduces annual non-energy consumer spending by about $1 billion

Doesn’t seem a good way to get the economy back on track.

On the plus side,

Deutsche Bank’s optimistic view is that since gas prices are now receding (slowly, from very high levels) that growth will rebound in the second half.

For bulls/economic optimists out there, it’s this view on gas, combined with the presumed snapback in Japan that offer the best hope right now.

Reuters reports that in light of record high prices and a mounting EU debt crisis, European demand for oil is quickly deteriorating. Here in the United States, consumer demand for oil is also falling for the first time in months.

Prices have been driving ever higher after months of turmoil in the Middle East have consistently constricted the supply of oil. The military operations in Libya alone are preventing over a million barrels of oil from reaching international markets every day. Industrialized nations are already experiencing slowed growth as a result of energy concerns, prompting OPEC to seriously consider releasing more of its emergency reserves in order to boost supply.

As we begin to enter the summer driving season, we should expect the cyclical rise in crude oil prices. Amidst growing uncertainty and rising prices, now would be an ideal time to take advantage of fuel price protection programs.