A mixed May bag in commodities: Of Presidents and Prices

The commodities price watch during President Donald Trump’s term continues. As part of this ongoing series, here are the price averages for some key S&P Global Platts commodity benchmarks since he became president on January 20, through May 31, 2017.

Of the 11 commodities tracked, six have lost value since he took the oath of office, and five have gained. The laggards are: thermal coal, -12.7%; natural gas, -6.2%; iron ore, -3.7%; fuel oil, -3.1%; Brent, -1.3%; and jet fuel, -1.1%.

Aluminum leads the gainers, up 7.9%, followed by gasoline, up 5.1%; ethanol up 4%; gold, up 3.6% and steel sheet up less than a percent since January 20.

Except for steel, the 10 other average commodity prices to date (still the very early stages of the Trump presidency) are all below the average prices during President Barack Obama’s two terms. Dated Brent at $52.60/b, in particular, is more than $31/b below the Obama two-term average of $83.63/b.

Read the last iteration of the Of Presidents and Prices series here.