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Commodities: Election rocks nation, not pizza stocks

With the big question answered on the next U.S. president, the good news is the pizza commodities market remained relatively stable. Most prices for commodities dropped slightly over the week, while pizza stock prices were mostly up.

November 14, 2016 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

With the big question answered with the election of Donald Trump, the good news is the pizza commodities market remained relatively intact. Most prices for commodities dropped slightly over the week, while pizza stock prices were mostly up. The exception in stocks this week was in the value of Domino's, which just came out of a very nice bump in value over the course of October, but finally dropped by Friday's closing bell. 

Cheese
Cheese prices looked like they were going to remain steady or slightly higher until Friday, when after weeks of rising prices, the commodity began to fall in value. The price at the close of business Friday fell to $1.89, down a little more than a cent from the previous week's close. 

Wheat
Wheat was mostly steady to 7 cents lower last week, with Minneapolis 6 to 16 cents higher. Kansas City US No. 1 Hard Red Winter, ordinary protein rail bid was 1 3/4 to 3 1/4 cents lower, from $4.23 3/4 to $44.98 3/4 per bushel. Kansas City US No. 2 Soft Red winter rail bid was not quoted. St. Louis truck US No. 2 Soft Red Winter terminal bid was steady at $44.06 per bushel. Minneapolis and Duluth US No. 1 Dark Northern Spring, 14.0 to 14.5 percent protein rail, was 6 to 16 cents higher from $6.25 3/4 to $6.30 3/4 per bushel. Portland US Soft White wheat rail was 5 to 7 1/4 cents lower from $4.65 to $4.69 3/4 per bushel.

Gasoline and diesel fuel
National average gas prices began slowly dropping this week on just about all grades and diesel as well. Premium gas, however, is slightly higher than last year, but down a good deal from last month.

The average price for regular this morning was $2.17, that's down a cent from a year ago and 8 cents from last month. Mid-grade had the same story to tell, at essentially the same price as this time last year, but about 6 cents under the price we paid last month. 

Premium fuel remained at slightly higher prices than last year, though still down from a peak of $2.75 a gallon last month. And unlike last week, diesel fuel this week was lower than last month and last year, coming in this morning at an average of $2.40 a gallon, or 2 cents lower than last month and 8 cents lower than a year ago. 

Natural gas
Natural gas spot prices were mixed this report week (Wednesday, Nov. 2 to Wednesday, Nov. 9). The Henry Hub spot price fell from $2.27 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $2.22/MMBtu yesterday. At the New York Mercantile Exchange, the price of the December 2016 contract decreased 10 cents to $2.69. 

Net injections to working gas in storage totaled 54 Bcf for the week ending Nov. 4. Working natural gas stocks levels are 4,017 Bcf, which is 1 percent greater than the year-ago level and 5 percent greater than the five-year (2011–15) average for this week. The natural gas plant liquids composite price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, fell by 35 cents, closing at $5.85/MMBtu for the week ending Nov. 4. The price of natural gasoline and isobutane fell by 7 percent, the price of propane and butane fell by 4 percent, and the price of ethane fell by 6 percent.

Price movements were mixed for the report week, ending Nov. 9. The Henry Hub spot price fell 5 cents from $2.27/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.22/MMBtu yesterday. Many other Wednesday-to-Wednesday decreases were of similar magnitude, and they mostly occurred in the middle of the country. At the Chicago Citygate, prices decreased 2 cents from $2.17/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.15/MMBtu yesterday. Prices at PG&E Citygate in Northern California lost 4 cents, down from $2.58/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.54/MMBtu yesterday. 

Demand is up though, with total U.S. consumption of natural gas rising by 3 percent compared with the previous report week, according to data from PointLogic. This increase was driven by a 22 percent increase in residential and commercial consumption as temperatures cooled. The temperature change also affected power burn, which declined by 7 percent week over week. Industrial sector consumption increased, rising 2 percent week over week. Natural gas exports to Mexico increased 2 percent.

Pizza company stocks
On the pizza brands stock market, Domino's month-long trip up in value, began to stall last week, while smaller brands tended to remain steady or grow slightly in value on the week. 

After a nice October, Domino's dropped in  value over the course of the week, ending at $159.62 Friday, down from $169.39 when markets opened last Monday. At competitor, Pizza Hut's parent, Yum Brands, the news was not as bad, with the stock's value over the course of the week staying at or slightly below the previous week's value, to finish Friday at $60.70.

Papa John's had a nice bounce in value last week, growing $2.97 to end the week up at $84.24 on Friday at the close. 

Papa Murphy's, which had been dropping in value, also took a nice bounce last week, up from $3.87 at the open last Monday to $4.43 at the closing bell on Friday. 

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.