Primary Commodities Report for May 6 – 10
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.
During the week spanning May 6th to May 10th, Nickel, Natural Gas, and Gold all experienced notable increases in prices. Natural Gas (green) continued its upward trajectory following a significant spike last week. Although this week's increase was not as pronounced, prices rose by 5.1% by the week's end. Prices initially decreased at the start of the week, but the second half saw a steady ascent. Nickel (red) experienced the second-largest increase for the week, totaling 3.3%. Similarly, Gold (yellow) also saw a price increase, totaling 3.0%. Brent Oil (black) was the only commodity that did not follow this trend, experiencing a decrease of 0.2%.
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.
As the second week of May draws to a close, commodity prices for Gold, Natural Gas, and Nickel all remain above the three-month rolling average. Gold prices continued their upward climb this week, reflecting a trend similar to what we observed throughout April and the early days of May. Natural Gas prices also continued to ascend, marking a recent trend that is worth watching. Nickel prices have remained relatively high, which is a more surprising trend compared to the recent volatility of Brent Oil. Speaking of which, Brent Oil prices continued to fall this week, marking a significant reversal from what was observed over the past three months.
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