National Average Diesel Price Per Gallon: $3.26
According to Wells Fargo strategist Scott Wrenn, oil prices are approaching rock bottom.
“While it’s hard to say right now exactly where the bottom is going to be, we feel it’s pretty close to where we are right now,” he said.
Wrenn’s comments come as oil prices fell on November 23 to their lowest levels in more than a year.
Framing lumber: $342
Panels/plywood: $383
Framing lumber prices carried some upward momentum last week, pushing the price up by $2. However, traders kept new orders at a minimum as the holiday season got underway.
The holiday-shortened week also sapped energy from the structural panels market. Sales lacked urgency in most producing regions as buyers headed out of the office on Wednesday for the long Thanksgiving weekend.
General Motors made a bombshell announcement on Monday, November 26: the company plans to cut more than 14,000 jobs, or 15% of its salaried workforce.
The move comes after GM decided to cut (and essentially halt altogether) production at plants in Ohio, Michigan, and Maryland. The company also plans to halt production at plants in Canada and South Korea.
President Trump reacted negatively to the news. “I am not happy,” he told reporters on Monday afternoon.
The United Automobile Workers union (UAW) also criticized the move. “This callous decision by GM to reduce or cease operations in American plants, while opening or increasing production in Mexico and China plants for sales to American consumers, [is] profoundly damaging to our American workforce,” said Terry Dittes, a UAW vice president.