Recent Updates
- US: Kansas City Fed Mfg Survey (May)
- US: Pending Home Sales Index (Apr)
- US: GDP and Corporate Profits (Q1, 2nd release)
- Canada: Retail Trade, Payroll Employment (Mar)
- South Africa: PPI (Apr) Government Debt (Apr-Prelim)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index Dips in May But Remains Strong
The Kansas City Fed reported that its manufacturing sector business activity index declined to 23 in May...
U.S. Pending Home Sales Decline Sharply in April
Home buying remains under pressure...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Eased Slightly in the Latest Week
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended May 21 were 210,000 (-52.4% y/y)...
U.S. Durable Goods Orders Increase Modestly in April
Manufacturers' new orders for durable goods increased 0.4% during April (12.2% y/y)...
U.S. Mortgage Applications Continue to Weaken
The MBA Loan Applications Index fell 1.2% (-54.5% y/y) in the week ended May 20...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
State Coincident Indexes in April 2022
State Labor Markets in April 2022
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
by Tom Moeller December 18, 2012
Petroleum prices continue under pressure. The pump price for a gallon of regular gasoline fell another ten cents last week (+0.8% y/y) to $3.25 per gallon. Since their September peak prices have fallen sixty three cents per gallon. The norm for this time of year of less driving is for prices to decline. Haver Analytics constructs seasonal factors to account for seasonal volatility and the adjusted price fell a lesser seven cents w/w to $3.65 per gallon. Since their October peak prices are down 21 cents per gallon.
The price for a barrel of light sweet crude oil also fell last week to $86.15 per barrel (-12.6% y/y) but yesterday prices ticked higher to $86.73. Brent crude oil prices nudged up last week to $109.05 per barrel but fell back yesterday to $108.67 .
Natural gas prices continued down last week to $3.30 per mmbtu (+6.8% y/y) and slipped further to $3.15 yesterday.
The demand for gasoline fell 1.3% y/y last week but the demand trend has firmed substantially. Residual fuel oil needs, used for heating, fell 14.1% y/y while distillate demand slipped 0.7% y/y. Inventories of crude oil & petroleum products rose 2.1% y/y.
The energy price data are reported by the U.S. Department of Energy and can be found in Haver's WEEKLY database. The daily figures are in DAILY and the gasoline demand figures are in OILWKLY.
Weekly Price | 12/17/12 | 12/10/12 | 12/03/12 | Y/Y% | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Retail Regular Gasoline ($ per Gallon, Regular) | 3.25 | 3.35 | 3.39 | 0.8 | 3.52 | 2.78 | 2.35 |
Light Sweet Crude Oil, WTI ($ per bbl.) | 86.15 | 87.53 | 87.68 | -10.1 | 95.14 | 79.51 | 61.39 |
Natural Gas ($/mmbtu) | 3.30 | 3.39 | 3.67 | 6.8 | 3.99 | 4.40 | 3.95 |