Let’s review the main changes in major energy commodities market and precious metals for February 18th:
Oil and Gas prices:
Crude oil price (WTI spot) continue its rally, after rising on Wednesday by 2.24%, yesterday it inclined by 1.61% as it settled on 86.36$/b. With this recent rise, WTI spot reached its level from the beginning of last week. Nonetheless, up to date, WTI spot price decline during February by 3.6%.
Brent spot price on the other hand, declined by 1.22% to reach 102.46$/b.
As a result the spread between the Brent oil and WTI has declined to 16.1$/b.
During the month of February, Brent spot price inclined by 2.1%.
Natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) continue to fall, as it did for most of the last couple of week: yesterday it declined by 1.02%, to reach 3.89$/mmbtu; as the cold harsh condition of the winter season will subsides, we will probably see an ongoing fall in natural gas prices.
Furthermore, NY City gate price declined yesterday by 1.19% to reach 4.16$/mmbtu.
Up to date, Henry Hub spot price declined during February by 12%, and the Henry Hub future (short term) price decreased by 11%.
Precious Metals prices:
Gold price inclined yesterday by 0.73%, as it reached 1,385 $/t oz.
Silver prices, much like gold prices, inclined yesterday by 3.07% and reached 31.57$/t oz.
Up to date, gold completed a 3.3% rise during February, and silver completed a 10.7%.
EURO/ USD inclined moderately yesterday by 0.29%, the USD also depreciated against the YEN, as the USD/YEN declined by 0.44%. For a more detailed report on major currencies, check out Forex crunch.
A summary of yesterday’s Prices Changes:
The following table presents the main descriptive data from last business day – February 17th, for precious metals, energy commodities and exchange rates. The table includes: settled prices, daily percent change, and quantitative change in US dollars (except for USD/CAD, in which the change is in Canadian dollars):
For further reading (in this site):
- Weekly outlook for Crude oil, Natural gas and Gold 14-18 February
- Oil prices continue descending – Weekly recap 7-11 February
- Examining the Fed’s policy and its potential effect on oil prices
Yearly Analysis and Outlook: