Oil traders might see the 27 percent slide in global prices as a bear market . For U.S. consumers, it’s more like an early holiday gift. The drop in crude has pulled retail gasoline down more than 50 cents a gallon from the year’s high in April. That means annual savings of $500 for the average U.S. household, which consumes about 1,000 gallons of fuel a year, according to data from the Federal Highway Administration and Energy Information Administration. “That’s like somebody putting dollars right in your pocket,” David Hackett , the president of Stillwater Associates, an energy consultant in Irvine , California , said by phone on Oct. 14. “That sounds like Christmas presents, going out to dinner, being able to do something.” Gasoline’s slide represents the biggest benefit that U.S. consumers have seen to date from a record boom in domestic oil production, a surge that’s contributing […]