Article

Commodities: Pizza stocks up + gas prices down = Frown inversion

Fuel prices are finally falling,  while all four stocks monitored here are gaining.

May 8, 2017 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Fuel prices are finally falling,  while all four stocks monitored here are gaining.

Cheese

The price of cheese shot up Friday before the close of trading to finish the week up11 cents higher than just the day before to close the week at $1.60 Friday. That's a 12-cent increase from the previous Friday when cheese fetched an average of $1.48.

Wheat:
Compared to last week, grain prices were mixed. Weekly export sales for wheat were bearish coming in at 30.2 mb (821,800 mt) with 9.5 mb (358,400 mt) for the 2016-2017 marketing year. Wheat was mixed from 3/4 cent lower to 44 cents higher.

Kansas City U.S. No. 1 Hard Red Winter, ordinary protein rail bid was 20 3/4 to 44 3/4 cents higher from $4.39 1/2-$5.29 1/2 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 20 cents lower to 5 cents higher from $4.02-$4.27 per bushel.  

Minneapolis and Duluth U.S. No. 1 Dark Northern Spring, 14.0 to 14.5 percent protein rail, was 17 3/4 to 20 3/4 cents lower from $6.47 1/2-$6.57 1/2 per bushel. Portland U.S. Soft White wheat rail was 3/4 cent lower to 15 cents higher from $4.57 3/4-$4.85 per bushel.

Gasoline and diesel fuel
Who knows how long it will last, but the great news is that the price of vehicle fuel is finally beginning to show signs of decreasing, or at the very least, leveling off. 

At the pump this morning, we paid $2.35 for a gallon of regular, down 4 cents from last week and last month, but still 14 cents higher than this time last year when we paid just $2.21. Fluctuations for better grades of gas, like medium and high, were even more pronounced, but still followed the same course as regular-grade. 

Medium-grade gas was $2.63, down 3 cents from the week before and 1 cent from a month earlier, but still 20 cents higher than last year. Meanwhile, premium was down 3 cents from last week to $2.88, which is even with the price from a month ago, but still 20 cents higher than what we paid last year at the same time. 

Finally, diesel prices have not fluctuated as greatly as the gasoline grades recently, but are still 29 cents higher than last year at this time, when we paid, $2.22. This morning, that same product is $2.51. 

Natural gas
For the week ending on Wednesday, May 3, natural gas spot prices rose at most locations with the Henry Hub spot price rising from $3.02 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) the previous week, to $3.09/MMBtu. At the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the May 2017 contract expired last Wednesday at $3.142/MMBtu. The June 2017 contract price decreased to $3.228/MMBtu, down 4 cents. 

Temperatures in the Lower 48 states averaged 2 degrees warmer than the normal and one degree lower than last year at this time. This pattern prevailed in all regions of the Lower 48 states except the West North Central and South Central Census Divisions.

Pizza company stocks
Pizza company stocks had an extraordinary week in trading with every brand monitored by this site taking flights up in overall value. Domino's Pizza, for instance, jumped from $181.39 at the close of trading on April 28 to $193.12 at the close last Friday. Pizza Hut parent, Yum Brands, had increased from $65.75 on April 28 at the close to $69.30 last Friday at the end of business. 

Meanwhile, on the NASDAQ, Papa John's closed Friday at $81.13, up a healthy $2.07 from the previous Friday's close of $79.06. Take-and-bake chain, Papa Murphy's rounded out the successful trading week to close at $5.18 Friday, up from $4.88 a week earlier. 

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.