Primary Commodities Report for May 20 – 24
By: Gabriel Kukulka, The Quinnipiac University Economics Research Team
Commodities Index
Source: Yahoo Finance and own calculations. Rates are in United States dollars per one (1) unit of goods. Brent Crude Oil and Natural Gas are measured in barrels, Gold is per ounce, and the ETF is per share. They are all indexed to be at 100 at the start of the period.
From May 20th to May 24th, the prices of natural gas, nickel, gold, and Brent oil all experienced slight declines. Natural gas (green) initially rose by just over 10% at the beginning of the week before witnessing a sharp drop in the final two days. Natural gas prices ultimately ended the week down 4.0%. Gold (yellow) steadily decreased throughout the week, finishing down by 3.3%. Nickel (red) followed the downward trend, seeing a 2.8% decrease. Brent oil (black) fell the least, declining 2.2%.
Commodities Historical Trends
Source: Yahoo Finance and own calculations. Rates are in United States dollars per one (1) unit of goods. Brent Crude Oil and Natural Gas are measured in barrels, Gold is per ounce, and the ETF is per share. The center line is a rolling three-month average. The upper and lower boundaries are the average plus and average minus one standard deviation, respectively, for the same three-month period.
This week's decrease in natural gas, gold, and nickel prices contrasts with the upward trends identified in April and May. Although all three commodities remain above their three-month rolling averages, they all experienced slight declines this week. Natural gas and nickel prices began to fall after reaching three-month highs just last week. Gold prices also fell after reaching a similar peak earlier in the month. Will the prices jump back up or continue to fall? This will be a trend worth watching heading into the final week of May. Brent oil remains the only commodity currently priced below its three-month rolling average.
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