Who is absorbing the oil shock?

Sunday 24 May 2026

In flying, the most elastic demand is in Asia, then Europe, LATAM, with the US barely affected despite having the largest price rises.

For trucking, US commercial vehicles are down hard year on year, but it is not clear whether it is due to diesel prices.

Everybody else looks neck and neck, and the demand is a lot less elastic

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific's leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.