An oil shock is coming, but the US may have already paid for it: Analysts

The gusher of money the U.S. government poured into family bank accounts during the coronavirus pandemic, credited with speeding the rebound from the health crisis, may now help limit the economic damage from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

As analysts have begun parsing what sky-high oil prices and new uncertainty might mean, a common theme has emerged: U.S. consumers may get gouged at the gas pump but will likely be able to maintain much of their expected spending on other goods and services because of the savings accumulated during the last two years thanks to emergency federal programs totaling about $5 trillion since the spring of 2020.