Energy Prices

Energy prices increased 3.4% month on month in October, following September’s 7.4% fall.

After declining for two months, energy prices picked up in October. All of the fuels tracked by our report posted gains, with crude reversing some of its recent losses as investors fretted about a potential wider war in the Middle East, the world’s top oil-producing region. In the natural gas market, U.S. prices rose for the second consecutive month, as supply continued to shrink, weighed on by extreme weather and one of the lowest rig counts in series history, and European prices rebounded from the prior month on rising supply risks. In the coal market, coking and thermal prices broadly erased the prior month’s drop after China unveiled new stimulus. Finally, uranium prices rose for the first time in five months after Amazon and Google revealed plans to invest in nuclear energy.