UPDATE 1-US gasoline demand down in July 4 week-MasterCard

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NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - Gasoline pumps were less busy during the Fourth of July holiday week, as the economy and unusually cool weather kept more Americans from taking their traditional summer road trip, according to a MasterCard SpendingPulse report released Tuesday.

Demand for gasoline during the July 4th holiday week, which ended on July 10, dropped 4.3 percent from year ago levels to about 9 million barrels per day.

"We are not necessarily seeing summer conditions from a weather standpoint, nor are we seeing summer conditions from a driving standpoint," said Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis at MasterCard Advisors.

The Fourth of July holiday is typically the peak of the U.S. summer driving season, but the drop in gasoline demand may be partly explained by the slight uptick in demand in the prior week.

During the week ending July 3, demand for gasoline was 2.1 percent over year ago levels.

"Traditionally, the Fourth itself is not necessarily a strong pumping day ... people anticipate and they pump before," McNamara said.

However, the combined gasoline demand for the week preceding the July 4th holiday and the week of the holiday is still about 1 percent lower than for the comparable period last year.

Despite the drop in Fourth of July gasoline demand, gasoline demand year-to-date is up 0.9 percent compared to last year, he said. And gasoline demand for the summer driving season, which traditionally begins on the Memorial holiday weekend, is about 1 percent over last year's levels.

Average U.S. gasoline prices dropped to $2.57 a gallon, 37.2 percent below last year's level. (Reporting by Rebekah Kebede; Editing by Christian Wiessner)