Recent Updates
- Bangladesh: BOP (Nov), Stock Exchange Indicators (Jan), Reserve Money (Dec)
- Philippines: CPI (Feb)
- Thailand: International Trade by Region (Jan)
- Japan: First 20 Days Trade, Bank of Japan's Transactions (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 October 10, 2018
Gasoline prices increased to $2.90 per gallon last week (15.9% y/y), up three cents from the prior week. Haver Analytics constructs factors to adjust for the marked seasonal variation in prices. The seasonally-adjusted gasoline price rose w/w to $2.85 per gallon from $2.80.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices strengthened last week to $75.12 per barrel (49.6% y/y), the highest level since November 2014. Yesterday, the price eased to $74.96. Brent crude oil prices increased to $85.52 (40.4% y/y) per barrel last week. The price was $85.16 yesterday.
Natural gas prices rose to $3.06/mmbtu (3.4% y/y) last week. The price was $3.13 on Monday.
During the latest four weeks, gasoline demand decreased 1.5% y/y; total petroleum product demand rose 1.1% y/y. Gasoline inventories strengthened 7.4% y/y, but inventories of all petroleum products declined 3.0% y/y as residual fuel oil inventories fell 23.5% y/y. Crude oil input to refineries strengthened 11.3% y/y in the last four weeks.
These data are reported by the U.S. Department of Energy. The price data can be found in Haver's WEEKLY and DAILY databases. Greater detail on prices, as well as the demand, production and inventory data, along with regional breakdowns, are in OILWKLY.
Weekly Energy Prices | 10/08/18 | 10/01/18 | 09/24/18 | Y/Y % | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Retail Gasoline ($ per Gallon Regular, Monday Price) | 2.90 | 2.87 | 2.84 | 15.9 | 2.47 | 2.31 | 2.03 |
Light Sweet Crude Oil, WTI ($ per bbl, Previous Week's Average) | 75.12 | 72.70 | 70.29 | 49.6 | 50.87 | 43.22 | 48.90 |
Natural Gas ($/mmbtu, LA, Previous Week's Average) | 3.06 | 3.03 | 2.93 | 3.4 | 2.99 | 2.51 | 2.64 |