Rising fuel prices are taking a larger bite out of everyone’s budget but are increasingly a problem for small business owners who may not have the reserve to absorb higher expenses without passing on much of the costs to the customer. Yet they are the first to feel the crunch.

A small business owner may be less inclined to increase prices in response to higher fuel costs. Customers may go elsewhere for that product or service. But the bottom line is that some way must be found to offset the increased cost of doing business without losing business as a result.

Customers are already paying for the jump in fuel prices; at the gas pump, at the supermarket, in their heating and cooling bills. Being charged a surcharge for delivery when delivery used to be free, for instance, may cause that customer to go elsewhere.

Holding prices down for now may retain some business but eventually, if the future holds no relief from climbing fuel costs, the future of the small business owner may reside in his ability to offset these increases without losing cutomers.

When the market opened this morning to news of terrorist attack plots, stocks slipped in the jittery atmosphere of uncertainty. But they rallied and fought back as oil prices began to tumble.

Analysts did not agree on the reason for the $2.35 per barrel decline. Some opined that it was as a result of the terrorist plot and the possibility of reduced airline flights while others felt that other factors such as the slowing economy played the major roles in the plummeting oil prices.