Recent Updates
- Bangladesh: BOP (Nov), Stock Exchange Indicators (Jan)
- Philippines: CPI (Feb)
- Thailand: International Trade by Region (Jan)
- Japan: First 20 Days Trade, Bank of Japan's Transactions (Feb)
- India: Mutual Funds (Feb)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Rise Just 9,000
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose modestly by 9,000 to 745,000 in the week ended February 27...
U.S. Productivity's Decline Lessened in Q4'20; Reverses Q3 Increase
Revisions to nonfarm business sector productivity indicated a 4.2% decline during Q4'20...
EMU Unemployment Rate Steadies in January
The overall EMU unemployment rate was steady in January, off peak, but still elevated...
U.S. ADP Nonfarm Private Payroll Increase Disappoints in February
Job market strength moderated last month....
U.S. ISM Services Index Weakens in February
The ISM Composite Index of Services Activity declined to 55.3 during February...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller September 18, 2018
Gasoline prices were $2.84 per gallon last week (7.9% y/y) and have been little changed since May. Haver Analytics constructs factors to adjust for the marked seasonal variation in prices. The seasonally-adjusted gasoline price rose w/w to $2.73 per gallon from $2.69.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices held fairly steady last week at $68.95 per barrel (40.5% y/y). WTI prices remained lower than the $73.71 peak early in July. Yesterday, the price was $67.91. Brent crude oil prices strengthened to $78.54 per barrel last week from $77.29 during the prior week. The price was $77.94 yesterday.
Natural gas prices were $2.89/mmbtu (-2.1% y/y) last week, roughly unchanged w/w. They remained lower than last month's high of $2.98. The price was $2.90 yesterday.
In the four-weeks ending September 14, gasoline demand increased 1.3% y/y; total petroleum product demand rose 5.1% y/y. Gasoline inventories surged 8.0% y/y, but inventories of all petroleum products declined 4.6% y/y. Crude oil input to refineries surged 11.3% y/y in the last four weeks.
These data are reported by the U.S. Department of Energy. The price data can be found in Haver's WEEKLY and DAILY databases. Greater detail on prices, as well as the demand, production and inventory data, along with regional breakdowns, are in OILWKLY.
Weekly Energy Prices | 09/17/18 | 09/10/18 | 09/03/18 | Y/Y % | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Retail Gasoline ($ per Gallon Regular, Monday Price) | 2.84 | 2.83 | 2.82 | 7.9 | 2.47 | 2.31 | 2.03 |
Light Sweet Crude Oil, WTI ($ per bbl, Previous Week's Average) | 68.95 | 68.52 | 69.62 | 40.5 | 50.87 | 43.22 | 48.90 |
Natural Gas ($/mmbtu, LA, Previous Week's Average) | 2.89 | 2.90 | 2.93 | -2.1 | 2.96 | 2.49 | 2.62 |