Motorists take an oil hit

Gasoline shipments to the U.S. from Europe are poised to drop in April to the lowest in four months, reinforcing speculation that a surge in pump prices is hurting consumption in the world’s biggest oil user.

At least 15 tankers were scheduled to ship 570,000 metric tons of the fuel to the U.S. Atlantic Coast from Europe as of April 20, the least for a comparable period since December, according to Clarkson Research Services Ltd., a unit of the world’s biggest shipbroker.

“The main downside risk on gasoline remains the demand erosion or destruction risk as gasoline prices at the pump are starting to average $4 a gallon before the start of the driving season,” Olivier Jakob, managing director of Switzerland-based consultant Petromatrix GmbH, said on April 25. “The U.S. driving budget is double what it was in the spring of 2009.” Newsmax

If history repeats itself. First a reported drop in bookings for domestic tourism, then a reported drop in gasoline imports. The next report should be slower automobile sales. Airline manufacturing reports greater order volume but I am looking for cancellations of some of those orders next month.

But consider this alternative report from Nevada where tourism is the business:

With the national economy picking up steam, the Nevada economy is showing modest signs of recovery. UNLV

But when I dig into the spreadsheet, the author is showing a recent 5.5% decline in visitors, vs a YoY increase of .6%. This tells me the author is more about happy talk than realism.