by Calculated Risk on 5/30/2011 12:23:00 PM

Oil and gasoline prices are probably the biggest downside risk to the economy right now. Oil prices are off slightly today, from the WSJ: Oil Prices Ease

The front-month July Brent contract on London's ICE futures exchange was recently down 35 cents, or 0.3%, at $114.68 a barrel. The front-month July contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading lower 43 or 0.4%, at $100.16 per barrel.

Looking at the following graph, it appears that gasoline prices are off about 18 cents nationally from the peak. This graph suggests - with oil prices around $100 per barrel that gasoline prices will fall into the $3.50 - $3.60 per gallon range in the next few weeks.

However that just takes us back to March pricing - and that was already a drag on consumer spending. I'll have more on the overall economy later.

Orange County Historical Gas Price Charts Provided by GasBuddy.com