Dallas-based Rave Restaurant Group, the parent company of Pizza Inn and Pie Five, suffered an ill-timed precipitous dip in its stock value last week, dropping 7 cents over the week's trading to nearly 57 cents on Friday. A month ago, the company learned that it was in danger of being delisted from the Nasdaq due to failure to meeting the listing standard for minimum stockholders' equity of at least $2.5 million.

Rave Restaurant Group has until Aug. 14 to share a plan with Nasdaq to get back to the listing standard's value. Then, the company has 180 days to actually get its value back into compliance.

Negative value moves, however, were not the sole domain of that company, as both Domino's Pizza and Pizza Hut parent, Yum Brands, took steps back in their stock prices over last week's trading. Domino's inched back 30 cents close Friday at $386.61. Yum Brands took a bit steeper step down the value scale, losing $2.09 on the week to close Friday at $91.05.

The big winner over the week's trading was Louisville, Kentucky-based Papa John's, which climbed another $1.62 in value to close Friday at $94.67. That is another all-time high for the company, which last had stock values approaching the current range on Dec. 1, 2016, when it hit its previous high-mark territory of $85.68. The company plans to release its latest quarterly financial report Thursday.

Cheese

In trading last week on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, barrels closed at $2.24, while 40-pound blocks hitting $2.25. Weekly average prices, however, fell for both barrels and blocks, with blocks down 26 cents to an average of $2.36, while barrels dropped 7 cents to an average of $2.39, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Cheese production remains stable to strong with widely available milk supplies, the U.S.D.A. said. As far as orders are concerned, the U.S.D.A.'s eastern and western U.S. contacts report that orders are tapering some.

Since block prices reached a $3 peak on July 13, those prices have fallen and even converged with barrel prices early in the week, then fell below them later this week. The U.S.D.A. said the prices are currently too high to compete internationally.

Wheat

Wheat prices were mostly up slightly, beginning with Kansas City hard red winter cash bids that rose nearly 3 cents on the week to range from $5.28 to $5.38 per bushel, according to the U.S.D.A. Kansas City soft red winter wheat truck bids were up nearly 2 cents to $5.31 to $5.46 a bushel.

In St. Louis, the price of U.S. No. 2 soft red winter wheat was up a cent to $5.46 to $5.51 a bushel. Kansas City wheat futures for September, however, fell more than 6 cents to just over $4.36 a bushel.

Auto fuel

The demand for gas is weakening nationally as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb, according to The U.S. Energy Information Administration which found that demand is down about 11% from last year, coming in this year at 8.5 million barrels per day.

That reduced demand is helping prices fall for the first time since late April, according to the American Automobile Association. Some of the biggest weekly drops were in Michigan (-5 cents), as well as Indiana and North Carolina, which were both down 4 cents.

This morning, the national average for a gallon of unleaded regular was $2.18, even with last week and last month, but a hefty 54 cents below what we paid last year at this time. Mid-grade ($2.53) was similar in price, though up about a cent from last month, while premium ($2.80) was 2 cents higher than last month. Diesel ($2.43) and E85 ($1.97) were both down a cent from last month.

Natural gas

Natural gas spot prices rose at most locations for the seven days that ended on July 29. The Henry Hub spot price rose from a low of $1.64 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $1.75/MMBtu over that period.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, the August 2020 contract expired yesterday at $1.85/MMBtu, up 17 cents/MMBtu for the period. The September 2020 contract price increased to $1.93/MMBtu, up 21 cents/MMBtu, while the price of the 12-month strip (averaging September 2020 through August 2021) futures contracts climbed 18 cents/MMBtu to $2.62/MMBtu.

The natural gas plant liquids composite price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, rose by 22 cents/MMBtu, averaging $4.88/MMBtu for the seven days, ending July 29. The prices of natural gasoline, propane, ethane, butane, and isobutane all rose, by 14%, 5%, 2%, 2% and 1%, respectively.

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