Primary Commodities Report for May 27 – 31
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 27th to May 31st, the prices of Natural Gas, Nickel, Gold, and Brent Oil were all highly volatile. Natural Gas (green) saw a price increase at the beginning of the week, followed by a sharp decline on May 29th. However, prices surged in the last two days, ending the week up 2.7%. Nickel (red) experienced a modest rise of 1.3%, making it the last commodity to see a price uptick. Despite early rises to start the week, both Brent Oil (black) and Gold (yellow) saw a decrease in price by week’s end. Brent Oil fell the most at 0.6%, while Gold decreased by 0.4%.
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.
As we head into June, several key commodity trends are emerging. Brent Oil is currently declining rapidly, falling significantly below its three-month rolling average, making it the only commodity currently below this threshold. Despite an overall decrease in May, Gold prices remain relatively high. Whether Gold prices will drop to levels seen back in March remains a trend to watch. Natural Gas and Nickel both saw substantial price increases throughout May, with notable spikes in mid-May. Observing these two commodities heading into the summer months will be particularly interesting.
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