Primary Commodities Report for May 13 – 17

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 of May 13th to May 17th, the commodities of Natural Gas, Nickel, Gold, and Brent Oil all saw price increases. Natural Gas (green) experienced the most significant spike, rising early in the week and ending with a 16.6% increase. Nickel (red) had the second-largest surge; its prices stayed constant for most of the week before jumping by 7.6% in the final days. Gold (yellow) increased by 1.9%, while Brent Oil (black) rose slightly less with a 1.4% increase by the week’s conclusion.

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 move into mid-May, several commodity trends have emerged. Brent Oil prices continue to fall below the three-month rolling average. Prices have not yet increased following the decline in Brent Oil prices in late April. Gold prices remain slightly elevated as May continues. Natural Gas prices are well above the three-month rolling average, reaching a new three-month high this past week on May 17th. Nickel is following a similar trend, hitting its three-month high this past week as well. The dramatic rise in prices for Natural Gas and Nickel are trends to watch out for heading into late May and early June.

Further Reading

Oil Gains 1% on Hopes of Firmer Demand