Before I get too far this morning, I need to step back just a bit, just before this past three-day weekend.

  • Memorial Day weekend is poised to be the busiest in a decade. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA) and IHS Global Insight, about 37.2 million travelers are forecasted to travel by air and road during the weekend. This would be the highest travel volume since 2005.

I don’t know if it actually panned out the way, but I suspect it did, as nobody has their finger on the pulse of travel like AAA and IHS Global Insight. My point being that nothing says good economy like, “Hey honey, let’s take a trip.”

And nothing helps people take a trip like cheaper fuel and cheaper airline tickets. Now, if only trains could get in on the act in America …

  • Budget airline tickets aren’t exactly expensive right now thanks to low oil prices, but Ryanair thinks the cost of flying could fall even further.

Fall even further you say, and that because of a pending airline price war? At least this is the thinking of Ryan Air’s CEO who said after his company’s revenue jumped and profit soared this past quarter.

  • While our traffic growth this year will be strong, (up 10%), it would be foolish not to expect some irrational pricing response from competitors who cannot compete with our lowest costs and fares. 

One could think the above is designed to protect the company’s stock price after such a robust quarter, but there is more to the story than that.

  • Europe’s leading budget airline Ryanair has beaten forecasts again, reporting full-year net profits of 867 million euros ($949 million), 66 percent higher than the year before.

True, the game is to set expectations lower, especially after a blockbuster beat such as Ryan Air just announced, but several factors suggest Ryan Air might actually be on to something with its suggestion that an airline price war is coming.

First, go back to this past weekend – when lots of folks fly, they look for the cheapest fare, and airlines like to accommodate because they have to fill seats.

Second, look to the price of oil, which seems to have hit a roadblock in its attempt to regain its former price glory. Brent cannot seem to crack $70 and for Crude, it is the $60 level that is difficult to break through and hold. Sure, the recent US Dollar surge hurts oil prices, but more than that, it is still the economic basics of supply and demand that is hurting the price of oil – there is just too dang much of it.

Third, denying the fact that more folks in Europe and the US have more money to spend is akin to burying one’s head in the sand – the two largest economies on the planet are synching up. Europe is now following the US lead and its recovery is becoming more entrenched. Simply stated, more money means more travel by air and that produces competition for seats. Worldwide travel this summer will follow the Memorial weekend lead …

Cheaper oil also means more folks will drive, which will put some strain on the supply side of the oil equation, but there is nothing out there that suggests producers will cut back on production for the summer driving season. Oh, and speaking of driving …

  • Announced almost exactly one year ago, Android Auto is Google’s attempt to bring the smartphone’s capabilities to a car while minimizing driver distraction. The system has been available on third-party navigation systems since earlier this year, but starting today, it is available for the first time in a production vehicle, the 2015 Hyundai Sonata.

The above tells me we just moved one step closer to cars going on automatic pilot. And Japanese carmakers are not alone in refining the computer capabilities of cars. Germany is coming to the party as well.

  • Mercedes-Benz is partnering with Chinese tech company Baidu. Baidu software will now be integrated into its cars.

Planes, trains, and automobiles are now the realm of computer technology, but so is everything else. “Technology,” the word that now means anything computer, is transforming our social/commercial world oh-so quickly as well.

  • The social e-commerce space is heating up: Facebook, Twitter and Google are all messing around with buy buttons, and Facebook hired David Marcus away from PayPal, which signals that payments could be in the company’s future.

Go onto Facebook to like your friend’s latest photo of the kids and you too, with the click of a button, can instantly fulfill your Christmas shopping list. Did I just mention “Christmas?”

Trade in the day; invest in your life …

Trader Ed