Recent Updates
- US: GDP (Q1-3rd Estimate), GDP by Industry (Q1)
- Qatar: PPI (May)
- Chile: Employment (May)
- Namibia: Central Bank Survey (May)
- Turkey: Foreign Exchange Position (May)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Mortgage Applications Continued to Rise, but only Slightly
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage applications edged up 0.7% w/w...
Globally Money Supply Slows or Contracts in Real Terms
Money supply trends show that slowing is widespread across the major monetary center countries...
U.S. Consumer Confidence Deteriorates Further in June
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index weakened 4.4% (-23.4% y/y) in June...
U.S. FHFA House Prices Continued to Rise in April
The FHFA House Price Index increased 1.6% during April...
U.S. Advance Trade Deficit Narrowed Slightly in May
The advance estimate of the U.S. international trade deficit in goods narrowed to $104.3 billion in May...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller March 17, 2020
Less travel helped lower retail gasoline prices to $2.25 per gallon (-11.8% y/y) in the week ended March 16 versus $2.38 per gallon in the previous week. Prices remained below an early-May peak of $2.90 per gallon. Haver Analytics adjusts prices for seasonal variation. The seasonally adjusted gasoline price fell to $2.30 per gallon.
The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil remains under pressure as the coronavirus reduces demand. It declined to $28.70 per barrel yesterday after falling to an average $32.35 (-44.0% y/y) last week. Prices have fallen from $61.75 averaged in the first week of January. The price of Brent crude oil weakened to $30.10 per barrel yesterday from an average of $34.97 last week, down from $50.04 in the prior week.
The average price of natural gas improved to $1.87/mmbtu (-35.2% y/y) last week from $1.80 in the prior week. The price rose to $1.89/mmbtu yesterday but remained below the peak of $2.81/mmbtu early in November.
In the four weeks ending March 6, gasoline demand increased 1.7% y/y, while total petroleum product demand declined 1.1% y/y. Gasoline inventories increased 0.4% y/y and inventories of all petroleum products increased 1.2% y/y. Crude oil input to refineries held steady y/y in the past four weeks.
These data are reported by the U.S. Department of Energy. The price data can be found in Haver's WEEKLY and DAILY databases. Greater detail on prices, as well as the demand, production and inventory data, along with regional breakdowns, are in OILWKLY.
Weekly Energy Prices | 03/16/20 | 03/09/20 | 03/02/20 | Y/Y % | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Retail Gasoline ($ per Gallon Regular, Monday Price, End of Period) | 2.25 | 2.38 | 2.42 | -11.8 | 2.57 | 2.27 | 2.47 |
Light Sweet Crude Oil, WTI ($ per bbl, Previous Week's Average) | 32.35 | 45.55 | 48.34 | -44.0 | 56.91 | 64.95 | 50.87 |
Natural Gas ($/mmbtu, LA, Previous Week's Average) | 1.87 | 1.80 | 1.90 | -35.2 | 2.57 | 3.18 | 2.99 |