Article

Commodities: Wheat up, gasoline continues to drop

The price of wheat increased 23 cents last week, while prices at the pump continued to drop.

September 21, 2015 by Travis Wagoner — Editor, Networld Media Group

The price of wheat increased 23 cents last week, while prices at the pump continued to drop. Here'a look at the rest of the markets.

Cheese

Average block cheese fluctuated last week on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, dropping 9 cents in mid-week before increasing to its original price. The prices were $1.70 Monday, $1.70 Tuesday, $1.61 Wednesday, $1.66 Thursday and $1.69 Friday.

Wheat

Wheat prices increased 23 cents last week, hitting $5.11 on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, up from $4.88.

Gasoline and diesel fuel

Monday's nationwide average for regular unleaded gasoline was $2.29, down 4 cents from $2.33 the previous week, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.

Prices are also down from $2.63 a month ago, and are significantly lower than this time last year, when consumers were paying $3.43 at the pump.

Mid-range unleaded is down 5 cents to $2.58, while Monday's premium unleaded price was $2.80, down 5 cents from last week.

The nationwide average for diesel fuel is $2.51, a drop of 3 cents from a week ago. Diesel prices are also down from $2.64 a month ago, and are more than $1 down from a year ago, when prices were $3.76.

Natural gas

Natural gas prices declined in most market locations across the country over the report week (Wednesday, Sept. 9, through Wednesday, Sept. 16), and remained relatively low. The Henry Hub spot price began the week at $2.73 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday and ended the week at $2.68/MMBtu.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the price of the near-month futures contract (October 2015) began the week at $2.651/MMBtu and ended the report week up slightly, at $2.660/MMBtu Sept. 15.

Working natural gas in storage increased to 3,334 Bcf as of Friday, Sept. 11. A net injection into storage of 73 Bcf for the week resulted in storage levels 16 percent above a year ago and 4 percent above the five-year average for this week.

The total oil and natural gas rig count fell by 16 from the previous week, with 848 units in service for the week ending Friday, Sept.11, and was 1,083 rigs below the same week in 2014, according to data from Baker Hughes Incorporated. The oil rig count decreased by 10 units to 652, and the natural gas rig count declined by 6 to 196 units.

The natural gas plant liquids composite price at Mont Belvieu increased slightly, by 4 cents (0.7 percent) to $4.79/MMBtu for the week ending Sept. 11. Natural gasoline prices declined by 7 cents (0.7 percent), while prices of ethane remained unchanged, and prices of propane, butane and isobutane increased moderately, by 1.7 percent, 0.6 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

Pizza company stocks

Shares in Pizza Hut parent Yum! Brands Inc closed Friday at $80.15, a drop from last Friday’s $81.43.

Domino's finished last week at $111.70, up nearly $1.50 from last week’s $110.22.

Papa John's decreased to $69.00, from last week’s $69.71.

Shares in Papa Murphy’s closed at $17.51, up from last week’s last week’s $16.61. Three weeks ago it closed at $15.13.

About Travis Wagoner

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Travis Wagoner spent nearly 18 years in education as an alumni relations and communications director, coordinating numerous annual events and writing, editing and producing a quarterly, 72-plus-page magazine. Travis also was a ghostwriter for an insurance firm, writing about the Affordable Care Act. He holds a BA degree in communications/public relations from Xavier University.