Plunging oil prices "plus" for US economy - Yellen

Washington - Surging US oil production has contributed to the sharp drop in global oil prices since last year, but Federal Reserve Chairperson Janet Yellen has little doubt about the economy-wide benefits of cheaper energy.

Jobs in the Bakken oil fields have fuelled a boom in North Dakota and Montana, even as the rest of the US economy faced recession and sometimes halting recovery since 2007. Oil prices well above $100 a barrel brought prosperity to established oil states, too, including Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Alaska.

Now, the "plunge" in oil prices, as Yellen described it during her testimony Tuesday to the Senate Banking Committee, is being felt in those regions.