Carpool Anyone?

Gas prices have been rising like crazy lately, so naturally, driving seems to look less and less appealing to people across America. Oil prices jumped to a new high today which led Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to say that the U.S. economy is nearing a recovery and that other economic data backed him up. The news of the price rise in oil came after the financial information company Markit said its composite purchasing managers index showed the European economy was stabilizing. The European recession seems to be coming to an end, which means that the euro could become even stronger, so more demand for oil. Because the weeks end showed the dollar falling to the euro, dollar-based oil was made cheaper across the world. Therefore, investments went into oil, which sets up the prices for gasoline and other fuels to rise even more. While gas prices show about a 16 cent rise from last month, there is still good news. Our prices are $1.077 cheaper than last year! With all of this talk about gas prices, new housing data has shown that people are buying. The National Association of Realtors has stated that home re-sales posted the largest monthly increase in at least 10 years, which may have had a hand in the higher energy prices. It is not clear where our oil prices are headed next, but it is almost funny to reminisce about the days when we were shocked that gas prices were about to hit two dollars.