We’re back to traveling like it’s 2019. Thanksgiving flight bookings are just 1% below 2019 levels, and up 70% from a year ago. 53.4 million people will travel for Thanksgiving. That’s within 5% of pre-pandemic levels for this time of year. Of the more than 53 million people expected to be traveling for Turkey Day, over 48 million are predicted to hit the roads.
The U.S. is expected to announce today a loan of crude oil from its emergency stockpile as part of a plan it hashed out with major Asian energy consumers to lower energy prices. The move is designed to tame soaring energy prices after the OPEC producer group and its allies rebuffed repeated requests from Washington and other consumer nations to pump more quickly to match rising demand. A so-called "swap" from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve will be announced today in a move coordinated with several countries.
