Recent Updates
- US: Business Employment Dynamics (Q2), Advance Durable Goods (Dec)
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Economy in Brief
U.S. Mortgage Applications Tumble
The MBA Mortgage Loan Applications Index fell 4.1% w/w (+39.7% y/y) in the weekend January 22...
U.S. Consumer Confidence Recovers During January
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index increased 2.5% (-31.5% y/y) to 89.3 during January...
U.S. FHFA House Price Index Rose Further in November
The FHFA House Price Index increased 1.0% m/m in November...
U.S. Energy Prices Are Mixed
The price of regular gasoline rose to $2.39 per gallon (-4.5% y/y) in the week ended January 25...
U.K. Retail Survey Shows Extreme Weakness
The CBI U.K. retail volume survey shows dramatically weakened data for January and for the February outlook...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller March 5, 2019
The retail price for gasoline rose to $2.42 per gallon last week (-5.4% y/y), the fourth consecutive week of increase. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in gasoline pump prices. The seasonally-adjusted price eased one penny to $2.56 per gallon, but still was near the highest level in three months.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices eased to an average of $56.14 (-9.6% y/y) per barrel last week. Prices remained below the four-year high of $75.11 reached in early October 2018, but remained above the 18-month low of $44.45, touched in December. Yesterday, prices rose to $56.59 per barrel. Brent crude oil prices declined to an average of $65.55 per barrel last week, but have risen more than $10.00 per barrel during the last two months. Prices were stable at $65.57 yesterday.
Natural gas prices rose to an average of $2.97/mmbtu last week (12.5% y/y) from $2.72/mmbtu. They remained below the $4.67 high reached late in November. Prices were at $2.25/mmbtu yesterday.
In the four-weeks ending February 22, gasoline demand fell 1.5% y/y, but total petroleum product demand increased 2.1% y/y. Gasoline inventories improved 1.2% y/y in the week ending February 22 , while inventories of all petroleum products grew 2.6% y/y. Crude oil input to refineries declined 1.0% y/y in the last four weeks.
These data are reported by the U.S. Department of Energy. The price data can be found in Haver's WEEKLY and DAILY databases. Greater detail on prices, as well as the demand, production and inventory data, along with regional breakdowns, are in OILWKLY.
Weekly Energy Prices | 03/04/19 | 02/25/19 | 02/18/19 | Y/Y % | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Retail Gasoline ($ per Gallon Regular, Monday Price, End of Period) | 2.42 | 2.39 | 2.32 | -5.4 | 2.27 | 2.47 | 2.31 |
Light Sweet Crude Oil, WTI ($ per bbl, Previous Week's Average) | 56.14 | 56.75 | 53.89 | -9.6 | 64.95 | 50.87 | 43.22 |
Natural Gas ($/mmbtu, LA, Previous Week's Average) | 2.97 | 2.72 | 2.66 | 12.5 | 3.18 | 2.99 | 2.51 |