The U.S. economy still has room to expand so long as gas doesn’t go much above $4 a gallon, according to Jeremy Siegel. “I don’t think it’s going to get much above $4.10, unless there’s some extreme measure going on,” the professor emeritus of finance at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business told CNBC’s ” Squawk on the Street ” on Wednesday. “And the economy can expand under that oil situation.” Investors have worried that higher prices at the pump will quickly raise costs for families, driving higher inflation at the same time as a weakening labor market that could result in a weaker economy. U.S. gasoline prices that have surged above $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022, spiking more than 30% since U.S. and Israel first attacked Iran in late February. Prices at the pump hit a nationwide average of $4.018, according to AAA. However, Siegel thinks those prices are nevertheless not very high on a historical basis when adjusted for inflation. He also noted there have been some encouraging signs the U.S.-Iran war may soon be over, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s saying he thinks Iran is no longer an existential threat , according to Haaretz, an Israeli news organization. “There is some feeling that this will wrap up,” Siegel said. “It is important to wrap up.”
