Liz Peek joined Dagen McDowell and Brian Brenberg on Fox Business’s The Bottom Line to break down President Trump’s threat to sic the DOJ on oil companies over alleged gas-price “gouging.”
Peek dismissed the threat as jawboning — “his best impression of Joe Biden,” she said, noting Biden floated the same idea. She walked through the “rockets and feathers” phenomenon in the oil business: crude prices shoot up like a rocket but gasoline prices drift down like a feather, because gas stations are still selling inventory they bought months ago at higher prices and can’t slash the price without wiping out their margins. Trump, she argued, can’t really fix that — it’s the kind of statement he makes without much follow-through, a signal to Americans that he cares about affordability and wants prices lower.
The bigger story, Peek said, is that oil has already fallen further and faster than almost anyone forecast. Crude has dropped into the $60s — a level she said virtually no oil experts were predicting for June, with some banks still carrying full-year average estimates near $90. With a torrent of oil now moving through the Strait of Hormuz and Abu Dhabi ramping exports, parts of the market are even talking about surpluses, echoing the COVID-era glut when prices briefly went negative and tankers were used for storage.
On whether the U.S. paid too high a price to secure lower oil by easing pressure on Iran, Peek said the story isn’t finished: the deal is being crafted day by day. If it removes the nuclear threat, she said, it was a reasonable price; if Iran’s proxies stay armed and funded, that’s a different outcome. Bottom line for drivers: she thinks gas prices could be back in the mid-$3 range, possibly by the end of the month.
Source: foxbusiness.com
