Primary Commodities Report for June 23rd – 27th

By: Isha Khan, 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 is measured in barrels. Natural Gas is measured in MMBtu (Million British Thermal Units), Gold is per troy ounce, and for Nickel the price reflects price per share of (NIKL) ETF. They are all indexed to be at 100 at the start of the period.

In the week from 6/23-6/27 all of the commodities other than Nickel (red) showed a decrease in price from the start of the period. Natural Gas (green) showed a steep decline throughout the week with an increase on the last day of the period ending at 2.8% below the baseline. Gold (yellow) also ended the period 2.8% below the baseline but with a slower and more gradual descent. Brent oil (black) maintained a strong decline over the week ending the week at 12% below the baseline. Nickel showed a slow and gradual increase ending at 2.6% above the baseline.

Commodities Historical Trend

Source: Yahoo Finance and own calculations. Rates are in United States dollars per one (1) unit of goods. Brent Crude Oil is measured in barrels. Natural Gas is measured in MMBtu (Million British Thermal Units), Gold is per troy ounce, and for Nickel the price reflects price per share of (NIKL) ETF. 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.

Of the commodities tracked Brent Oil (black) and Natural Gas (green) show the biggest fluctuations. Natural Gas price showed a sharp increase and decrease in the latter half of June continuing the volatile price fluctuations we have seen for the last three months. Brent Oil showed a sharp increase at the end of June ending at $67.77/barrel. Gold (yellow) continues the staggered increase it has shown over the last few months ending at $3294.4/troy oz. Finally Nickel (red) continues the strong increase in price ending at $11.72 per share.

Additional Reading

Gold price could surge 20% by 2026, says BofA — And it's not due to geopolitical conflicts - Gold Pulse News | The Financial Express

As the years go on and conflict is rising in different part of the world gold has taken its place as a safe haven asset. In the midst of overseas uncertainty and US trade policy shifts investors and people need somewhere ‘stable’ to invest their money with gold becoming a favorite. As more potential shocks arise the price of gold will continue to rise, due to it’s role as a safe storage of value.