Recent Updates
- US: Consumer Prices (Mar)
- Bangladesh: CPI (Mar)
- US: NFIB SMall Business Optimism (Mar)
- Egypt: Steel Sales and Production (Mar), BOP (Q4-Prelim)
- Slovenia: BOP, External Debt Liabilities (Feb)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Energy Prices Ease Broadly
The price of regular gasoline eased to $2.85 per gallon (+53.8% y/y) in the week ended April 12...
U.S. Government Budget Deficit Widens During March
The U.S. Treasury Department reported a federal budget deficit of $659.6 billion during March...
FIBER: Industrial Commodity Prices Improve Modestly
The FIBER Industrial Materials Price Index increased 0.9% during the four weeks ended April 9...
EMU Retail Sales Jump, Regaining Some of the January Drop
February finds EU retail sales and motor vehicle registration rebounding...
U.S. PPI Posts Broad-Based Strength in March
The Producer Price Index for final demand jumped 1.0% (4.2% y/y) during March...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
Monetary Policy Blunder: Not Managing Economic & Financial Outcomes Equally
Monetary Policy at a Crossroad: Policymakers Need to Break Promise of Easy Money to Avoid Boom-Bust
State Coincident Indexes in January
Data Surprises, Markets and COVID
by Tom Moeller October 20, 2015
Gasoline prices at the pump declined last week to $2.28 per gallon (-27.0% y/y), the lowest level since mid-February. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in pump prices. The seasonally adjusted price fell to $2.27 per gallon. The spot market gasoline price fell sharply w/w to $1.35 per gallon (-42.3% y/y).
WTI crude oil costs eased to $46.81 (-43.5% y/y) compared to $48.36 during the prior week. They remained down from a $107.23 high in June 2014. Prices declined yesterday to $45.89 per barrel. The seasonally adjusted price, generated by Haver Analytics, fell to $46.19 last week. Brent crude oil prices fell w/w to $48.99 per barrel but were stable at $48.89 yesterday.
Natural gas prices improved last week to $2.44 per mmbtu (-36.3% y/y), but remained near the lowest price since June 2012, and were $2.42 yesterday.
Gasoline demand rose 3.4% y/y last week and demand for all petroleum products gained 1.2% y/y. Gasoline inventories increased 7.6% y/y and inventories of all petroleum products rose 9.4% y/y. Crude oil production (input to refineries) increased 0.3% y/y during the last four weeks.
The energy price data are reported by the U.S. Department of Energy. The petroleum demand and inventory figures are from the Oil & Gas Journal Weekly. These data can be found in Haver's WEEKLY database. The daily figures are in DAILY and greater detail on prices, demand and production, along with regional breakdowns, are in OILWKLY.
Weekly Energy Prices | 10/19/15 | 10/13/15 | 10/5/15 | Y/Y% | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Retail Gasoline ($ per Gallon, Regular) | 2.28 | 2.34 | 2.32 | -27.0 | 2.30 | 3.33 | 3.30 |
Light Sweet Crude Oil, WTI ($ per bbl., WSJ) | 46.81 | 48.36 | 45.00 | -43.5 | 93.64 | 97.96 | 94.20 |
Natural Gas ($/mmbtu, LA, WSJ) | 2.44 | 2.39 | 2.45 | -36.3 | 4.37 | 3.73 | 2.75 |