Oil's negative impact on the US economy could be finally waning

New York

ONE of the biggest surprises in economics has been how the world has responded to a period of lower energy prices.

In 2015, economists were nearly of one mind in declaring that lower energy prices were a net positive for the US economy. After the downturn in mining equipment and structures served as a major drag on growth without much in the way of a positive offset, they were forced to revisit this thesis.

Households - whether still scarred and looking to repair their balance sheets from the lingering damage of the financial crisis or unconvinced as to the durability of these windfall gains - largely socked the savings away rather than boosted their discretionary spending.

But oil's drag on real activity "in terms of it influencing the economic fundamentals could very well be over", according to RBC Capital Markets chief US economist Tom Porcelli and senior US economist J…