A few economic tidbits to give thanks for this season
-November 18,2021-
Oil prices dropping
WTI Oil prices today are down to $78 per barrel ($76 on 11/19) compared to $84 as of week earlier, a portend for lower gasoline prices at your local pump.Valley pumped oil -Midway Sunset crude as of 11/17 is $76 per barrel compared to $82 on 11/09. US oil prices slipped to their lowest in more than a month Wednesday amid a growing number of indications that could signal more supply says a news report.Maybe the high prices are having it effect.AAA spokesman says.”With global oil demand surging this year as the pandemic has eased, we find ourselves in unfamiliar territory – some of the highest Thanksgiving gas prices on record. Americans are responding to the prices by slamming the car door shut and staying off the road.”
Market is up – Gold not much
Glad you didn’t buy gold as of January 1 of this year? If you feared our economy would collapse in 2021 you might have been encouraged to buy the precious medal. But gold is down 2% this year to-date compared to the booming S&P – up 25%!
Chance for rain in mid-California after Thanksgiving
Forecast models are pointing to a wet period November 28 -December 1 with rain over much of the state including the Central Sierra. Lets hope.
Port congestion easing
The executive director of the Port of Los Angeles says there has been improvement in the last month, including a 29% drop in cargo sitting unloaded for nine days or more.
Powering up: Electric Vehicle sales top 1 million in California
Electric vehicles hit 1M sold says the chair off the California Energy Commission. EVs are now California’s top export as energy transition drives economy he says.
Kaweah Delta sees fewer Covid patients
Today, Kaweah Delta hospital is caring for 77 patients with COVID-19 in the Medical Center – a decrease of seven since yesterday, with 21 of those patients being cared for in our ICU (the same amount as yesterday). The 77 Covid patients compares to over 120 a few weeks ago when it was the busiest hospital in the state. The hospital occupancy is currently at 98 percent (not including Labor & Delivery, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or Mother-Baby beds). Since the began reporting our hospital occupancy on Sept. 16, we have only been under 100 percent capacity a total of nine days.
Baltic index points to lower shipping prices
Easing world shipping congestion is bring down prices on freight. The closely watched Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index fell for a fifth straight session on Wednesday to its lowest in more than five months, as rates slipped across all vessel segments.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, fell $2,653 to $25,406.
Easing congestion at Chinese ports and thin coal cargo flows out of the Pacific are weighing on capesizes, shipbroker Intermodal said in a weekly note dated Tuesday.
Home price escalation slows
California Association of Realtors reports that California home prices continued to level off as the market moved further into the off-season, dipping below the $800,000 benchmark for the first time in seven months. At $798,440 in October, the statewide median price was down 1.3 percent from September’s $808,890 and was up 12.3 percent from the $711,300 recorded in October 2020. The month-to-month price decline was the second in a row, and the price drop from September was on par with the long run average of -1.5 percent recorded between a September and an October in the past 42 years.