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Economy in Brief
U.S. Leading Indicators Rebounded in March
The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators rebounded in March, rising 1.3% m/m (+7.9% y/y)...
Chicago Fed National Activity Index Increases in March
The Chicago Fed's National Activity Index increased to 1.71 during March...
Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Activity Strengthens in April
The Kansas City Fed reported that its manufacturing sector business activity index rose to a record 31 in April...
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Fall Again to a New Pandemic-Period Low
Initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased again in the week ending April 17, reaching 547,000...
U.K. CBI Optimism Speaks Volumes
The U.K. CBI survey saw its order component backtrack in April...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller June 19, 2018
Retail gasoline prices slipped to $2.88 per gallon last week (+24.2% y/y) from $2.91 per gallon during the prior week. Prices stood at the lowest level in five weeks. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump prices. The seasonally-adjusted price was little changed at $2.73 per gallon.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices increased to an average of $66.21 (+46.2% y/y) per barrel last week. Prices remained lower than the $71.31 per barrel high four weeks ago. Yesterday, prices eased to $65.85 per barrel. Brent crude oil prices slipped last week to an average of $75.66 per barrel last week and were $75.30 yesterday.
Natural gas prices increased to an average of $2.95/mmbtu last week (-0.8% y/y) from $2.88/mmbtu and were $2.97 yesterday.
In the four-weeks ending June 8, gasoline demand improved 0.3% y/y, while total petroleum product demand gained 1.7% y/y. Gasoline inventories declined 2.3% y/y, while inventories of all petroleum products dropped 8.3% y/y. Crude oil input to refineries declined 0.9% y/y in the last four weeks.
These data are reported by the U.S. Department of Energy. The price data can be found in Haver's WEEKLY and DAILY databases. Greater detail on prices, as well as the demand, production and inventory data, along with regional breakdowns, are in OILWKLY.
Weekly Energy Prices | 06/18/18 | 06/11/18 | 06/04/18 | Y/Y % | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Retail Gasoline ($ per Gallon Regular, Monday Price) | 2.88 | 2.91 | 2.94 | 24.2 | 2.47 | 2.31 | 2.03 |
Light Sweet Crude Oil, WTI ($ per bbl, Previous Week's Average) | 66.21 | 65.35 | 66.97 | 46.2 | 50.87 | 43.22 | 48.90 |
Natural Gas ($/mmbtu, LA, Previous Week's Average) | 2.95 | 2.88 | 2.86 | -0.8 | 2.96 | 2.49 | 2.62 |