Recent Updates
- Flash PMIs: Japan, France, Germany, Euro Area, UK (May)
- Sudan: Trade (Mar)
- South Africa: Leading Indicators (Mar)
- Hungary: Employment of Fostered Workers (Mar)
- Denmark: Central Government Finance (Apr)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
Chicago Fed National Activity Index Improves in April
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) rose to 0.47 during April...
IFO Registers Small Rebound on the Month
Germany's IFO index has rebounded on the month...
FIBER: Industrial Commodity Prices Continue to Decline
Despite the recent improvement in U.S. factory output, many industrial commodity prices have weakened...
U.K. Consumer Sentiment Hits Lowest Reading since 1996
Of these 13 readings eight of them declined on the month in May three of them improved and two of them were unchanged...
U.S. Existing Home Sales Continue to Fall in April as Houses Become Less Affordable
The combination of soaring home prices across the nation and rising interest rates is making homes less affordable...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
Profits & Margins Plunge In Q1: Expect More Margin Contraction As Fed Squeezes Inflation
The Many Links of Inflation Cycle: Hard Landing Is Needed to Crack Them
Peak Inflation and Fed Policy: A Relationship which Should Worry the Fed and Scare Investors
Why Have the Yields on TIPS Been Negative in the Past Two Years?
by Tom Moeller May 8, 2012
The pump price of regular gasoline fell another four cents last week to $3.79 per gallon, down for the fifth straight week. Haver Analytics' seasonally-adjusted price for regular declined twelve cents to $3.58 per gallon, also the fifth consecutive week down. Yesterday, the wholesale price for a gallon of unleaded was $2.89 versus $3.01 averaged last week.
The price for a barrel of light sweet crude oil declined last week to $103.46 but remained up sharply versus the low of $79.71 this past October. Yesterday, the cost of crude fell sharply to $97.94 per barrel. Prices peaked at $113.93 last April. Brent crude declined last week to $116.73 per barrel and fell further to $111.61 yesterday.
Natural gas prices rebounded again last week to $2.25 per mmbtu but were still down 49.8% y/y. Yesterday, prices rose further to $2.30 but remained off from the early-January 2010 peak of $6.50.
Reduced driving and improved fuel economy lowered the demand for gasoline by 4.7% y/y last week. The demand for residual fuel oil demand, used for heating, fell 5.1% y/y and distillate demand declined 1.6% y/y. Inventories of crude oil and petroleum products slipped 0.1% year-to-year. That comparison was improved versus the 5.0% decline this past fall.
The energy price data are reported by the U.S. EIA, Department of Energy and can be found in Haver's WEEKLY database. The daily figures are in DAILY and the gasoline demand figures are in OILWKLY.
Weekly Price | 05/07/12 | 04/30/12 | 04/23/12 | Y/Y% | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Retail Regular Gasoline ($ per Gallon, Regular) | 3.79 | 3.83 | 3.87 | -4.4 | 3.52 | 2.78 | 2.35 |
Light Sweet Crude Oil, WTI ($ per bbl.) | 103.46 | 103.97 | 103.02 | -2.5 | 95.14 | 79.51 | 61.39 |
Natural Gas ($/mmbtu) | 2.25 | 2.00 | 1.86 | -49.8 | 3.99 | 4.40 | 3.95 |