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Commodities: Mostly positive week for all but Papa Murphy's

Last week's stock market and commodities trading action was relatively positive for most pizza brands, which grew in value in overall trading and had some good news in the price paid for oft-used commodities like cheese.

February 20, 2017 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Last week's stock market and commodities trading action was relatively positive for most pizza brands, which grew in value in overall trading and had some good news in the price paid for oft-used commodities like cheese, while fuel prices flattened out or even dropped a bit.

Cheese:
Cheese prices continued their free fall, down to levels not seen since late September of last year. The commodity closed last Friday at $1.58, down 3 cents from the  previous week's close at $1.61. 
 

Wheat
Compared to last week, winter wheat remained in an upward trend and the southwestern Plains are expecting warmer temperatures over the next several days causing winter wheat crops to be at risk of a late freeze. Likewise, it is still unclear as to how trade relations will change with China and others or how those countries might retaliate and possibly affect the prices paid for this commodity. 

Overall last week, wheat was mostly 1 to 11 cents higher, with Kansas City U.S. No. 1 Hard Red Winter, ordinary protein rail bid 3 3/4 to 11 3/4 cents higher from $4.73 to $5.53 per bushel. Kansas City U.S. No. 2 Soft Red winter rail bid was not quoted.  

St. Louis truck U.S. No. 2 Soft Red winter terminal bid was 3 to 4 cents higher from $4.42 to $4.52 per bushel. Minneapolis and Duluth U.S. No. 1 Dark Northern Spring, 14.0 to 14.5 percent protein rail, was 24 1/2 to 35 1/2 cents lower from $6.36 to $6.46 per bushel. Portland U.S. Soft White wheat rail was 1 1/2 to 2 3/4 cents higher from $4.82 3/4 to $4.85 per bushel.

Gasoline and diesel fuel
Vehicle fuel is flattening out and even dropping a little in price, according to the latest national averages. Regular this morning was $2.28, the same as last week and down 4 cents from a month ago, but still substantially more than last year at this time when we paid just $1.72 a gallon. 

The same trend occurred for mid-grade and premium fuels, which this morning sold for $2.56 and $2.80 respectively. Diesel fuel remains even with last month's price and more than 50 cents higher than it was last year at this time. 
 

Natural gas
Natural gas spot prices fell across the country from Feb. 8 through Feb. 15. The Henry Hub spot price fell from $3.05 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $2.92/MMBtu yesterday. At the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the March 2017 contract fell 20 cents from $3.126/MMBtu Feb/ 8 to $2.925/MMBtu Feb. 15.

Net withdrawals from working gas totaled 114 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ending Feb. 10. Working natural gas stocks are 2,445 Bcf, which is 11 percent less than the year-ago level and 4 percent more than the five-year (2012–16) average for this week.

The natural gas plant liquids composite price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, rose by 1 cent, closing at $7.70/MMBtu for the week ending Feb. 10. Spot prices for propane, butane, and isobutane fell by 3, 2, and 10 percent, respectively. Spot prices for natural gasoline and ethane rose by 9 and 11 percent, respectively.

According to Baker Hughes, for the week ending Friday, Feb. 10, the natural gas rig count increased by 4 to 149. The number of oil-directed rigs rose by 8 to 591. The total rig count increased by 12, and it now stands at 741.

Pizza company stocks
Most of the pizza brands monitored by Pizza Marketplace reported forward movement in their stock prices this past week, aside from Papa Murphy's which suffered quite a decline in its value over the week.

Domino's was the big winner of the week, growing in value from $187.05 at the opening bell on Monday morning, to $187.93 at the close Friday. Competitor Pizza Hut, at Yum Brands, saw that company's overall stock value only slightly grow in value over the week, from $68.37 Monday to $68.40 at Friday's closing bell. Papa John's also had a nice lift over the trading week, from $85.30 on Monday morning to $86.01 Friday at the close of trading. 

Papa Murphy's took a painful hit in value last week, falling from $4.72 Monday at the opening of business, to $4.15 Friday at the close.

Photo: iStock

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.