Article

Friday's Brexit left most pizza stocks relatively unchanged

The week that ended with the market-shaking news of Brexit, seems to have left pizza stocks relatively unchanged, though wheat commodity prices dropped sharply on the week.

June 27, 2016 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Last week ended on a wild note when it comes to trading, thanks to the Brexit-inspired sell-off that caused markets to fall all over the globe.The good news is that trading on pizza stocks remained relatively flat, with only Yum! Brands dropping slightly for the week, while the rest of the major stocks we watch remained flat. Among other major pizza commodity trading, there was little movement over the course of the week, except in wheat prices, which fell sharply Friday. 

Cheese
Cheese prices have held relatively steady over the last part of June. In fact, the price last week remained the same from Monday through Friday's close at $1.51 all week. That's down slightly from the previous week, when the price started at $1.52 on Monday and Tuesday, rose to $1.54, then dropped back down to $1.51 where it has remained for more than a week.  
 

Wheat
Wheat prices were down sharply at the close of business on Friday, ending the week at $5.18 a bushel. That's down from $5.40 the previous week. 

Gasoline and diesel fuel
Monday's nationwide average for regular unleaded gasoline was $2.31, down two cents from a week ago, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
Prices are down a cent a month ago, but still significantly lower than this time last year, when consumers were paying $2.78 at the pump.
Mid-range unleaded is down two cents from last week to $2.57, while Monday's premium unleaded price was down two cents to $2.80. 
The nationwide average for diesel fuel is $2.37, the same as one week and one month ago. Diesel prices are substantially down from a year ago, when the price of a gallon was 48 cents higher at $2.85.  

Natural gas
Demand for natural gas remains robust during the 2016 refill season. Total natural gas consumption during this period has exceeded both year-ago and 2012 levels, a trend driven by growth in power-sector consumption. At 26 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), power burn is at a record high for this time of year, 10 percent greater than year-ago levels and 5 percent above the level reported in 2012. 

Natural gas spot prices at the Henry Hub have risen from $1.79 per million British thermal unit (MMBtu) on May 27, 2016, to $2.78/MMBtu as of June 22. Concurrently, the New York Mercantile Exchange futures contract for January 2017 delivery at the Henry Hub increased from $3.10/MMBtu to $3.35/MMBtu. Although the premium of the January contract over the spot price has narrowed considerably to 59 cents/MMBtu from $1.31/MMBtu on May 27, incentive to inject natural gas into storage remains high. Moreover, the higher price levels will improve the economics for increasing production, particularly if they climb further above $2.75/MMBtu for a sustained period.
So far, injections into working gas are about 15 percent ahead of the pace set in 2012 because of the growth in natural gas supply compared with demand since then. The EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook forecasts that working gas stocks will continue to follow the path set in 2012, reaching a record 4,161 Bcf by the end of the refill season. This would be 96 percent of total demonstrated storage capacity.

Pizza company stocks
Shares in Pizza Hut parent Yum! Brands Inc. closed Friday at $82.15 down almost four cents from the previous close of $85.90.  
Domino's was unchanged at $124.97.
Likewise, Papa John's and Papa Murphy's were both also unchanged. Papa John ended the week at $66.69, while Papa Murphy’s remained at $6.85. 

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.