Diesel, Lumber, And Staffing News – January 8, 2019

National Average Diesel Price Per Gallon: $3.01

Fears over crude oil oversupply have lowered analysts’ price expectations for 2019.

Goldman Sachs downgraded its expectations for the Brent Crude average from a previous forecast of $70 to $62.50.

The West Texas Intermediate benchmark also fell, from $64.50 to $55.50.

“We expect that the oil market will balance at a lower marginal cost in 2019 given…higher inventory levels to start the year,” said analysts Damien Courvalin and Jeffrey Currie.

Framing lumber: $329

Panels/plywood: $365

Slow lumber trading that started in December continued into the first week of January due to the New Year’s holiday. Traders are anticipating that it will take a full week for activity to show any gains.

According to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job openings are on the decline. However, job openings still outnumber available workers.

The number of job openings fell by 243,000. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to 3.9%, largely due to an increase in labor force participation.

Transportation, warehousing and utilities saw the biggest increases in job openings (40,000). Meanwhile, job vacancies declined in construction (45,000).

Sources: Random Lengths, EIA, CNBC (1), CNBC (2)

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