Monthly Archives: November 2020

Happy Thanksgiving

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Good morning,

I just wanted to take a moment and wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving.  I know the holidays are going to be very different and difficult for many people.  I am optimistic that better times are coming sooner than later.  We have already experienced so much hardship and change this past year.  I am looking forward to pausing and reflecting back on this year over the next month while preparing for a brighter future in 2021.

I wanted to thank all of you, our customers, for your business this past year.  I never could have imagined 2020 turning out the way it unfolded.  I appreciate all your patience, understanding, and kind words as we navigated and continue to manage the current crisis in our communities and state.

I also wanted to say a big thank you to all our front line workers in health care and essential industries like grocery stores and others.  The bravery and self-sacrifice I have witnessed is truly inspiring and honorable.  Talking with many in the health care and front-line industries gives me hope that as Americans we will come through the other side of this pandemic stronger and hopefully with more compassion towards each other.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to give us a call.

Best regards,

Jon Crawford

Post Election and COVID Surge Into Winter

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Good morning,

I hope this message finds you well.  As our country and the world is coming to terms with Biden as President-Elect, the markets have been behaving very bullish.  On Monday of this week, Pfizer announced that their vaccine is 90% in efficacy and will be distributed to 50M  Americans by the end of the year.  Dr. Fauci is also confident that the worst of the pandemic will be over by Q2 of next year following his belief that all Americans will have access to vaccines by the end of April 2021.  The news sent all markets on a rocket ship higher.  As the Republicans continue to hold control in the Senate, many believe that President-Elect Biden will not be able to achieve much success in very progressive agendas.  Therefore, many feel that the next four years will be steady with more balance back to the middle instead of a push to far left agendas.  But the vaccine party fizzled as the realty of over 120k+ cases of COVID/day plague our nation.  Markets took a breather to end the week and are starting to accept that although the vaccine news is some welcomed positive news, the next two months are going to be a lot of sickness and a lot of death.  The upcoming holiday season will probably be one of the most painful in our lifetimes.  But for the first time since the pandemic started, we are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.

In local news, Chicago differentials finally released their grip on cash spot pricing as harvest is coming to an end.  I don’t expect to see much price movement lower at the retail level, but at least the moves higher will likely stop.  I expect to see current retail prices hold through Thanksgiving unless something drastic happens.

Propane prices continue to hold strong even though inventories are robust.  If Wisconsin does not experience cold winter conditions by Christmas, I could see propane prices dropping in January of 2021 just like they did in 2020.  But a lot can happen between now and then.  Regardless, when looking at historical pricing, propane prices are still very low and competitive when comparing to natural gas or oil heat.  So the good news is that no matter what, whether you contracted or are riding the cash market, the heating costs for propane this coming season are a good value.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to give us a call.

Best regards,

Jon Crawford