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Prices hold for the first part of the week, and then the trap door opens and the market goes free-fallin'.

Raw materials see opposite action again this week, but it flips as food raw materials climb and weapon raw materials take a dive. The doubling+ of food raw materials from .03 to .07 cannot offset the sharp drop in weapon raw material prices as more raw material companies come on line to feed the market. The Raw Material Index drops to 62.22, down 28.89.

Food prices hold the line for a few days as Q1 struggles to maintain a .30/unit point. Then the trap door flings open mid-week and prices go into retreat mode hitting .20 before regaining some composure. The low-end and mid-range decline, on average, 22% during the week, with only Q6 holding onto some value, dropping 6%. Q7 is still finding its value and drops 62% from its introductory highs. The Food Index sags to 45.31, shedding nearly 11 points for the week.

Weapons hold the line for a few days as Q1 struggles to maintain a 3.18/unit price point. Yada, yada, trap door, free-fall, hits 2.50 before regaining some composure. Much like food, weapons from Q1-Q5 lose, on average 17% value during the week while Q6 loses a bit less (8😵 and Q7 looks for its floor down 40% off its introduction prices. The Weapon Index gets tramped dropping to 49.63, down 9 for the week.

Wages have no trap door. They just continue a steady drop each and every day, down 41% for the week. The streak of down days is now at 10 straight days where the market wage is less than the day before. Wages are looking at the next barrier, the $100 point. Will we see $99 wages next week? The Wage Index hits another all-time low and stands at 36.61. Wages are barely a third of the wage of Day 1600.

Gold is riding its own 10-day down streak as gold prices push past 1,300cc, a level not seen February. Gold drops 12% for the week pushing the Gold Index to its all-time low of 77.89, down 11 for the week.

The Big Graph:


Raw materials gives back the top position to gold and the drop in wages (black line) is stark.

The 1600 AU Index
Based off of the amount of gold a player could earn in a year by working at market wage, selling 20 weapons, 200 food (both Q6) and 1750 raw materials (split 50/50 food/weapons) the 1600 AU Index surrenders gains during the week. Softness in Q6 prices coupled with the sharp decline in wages offset some of the weakness in gold prices. The 1600 AU Index stands at 302.84, down 24 for the week.
The graph:




Self-supply profits

Another look at self-supply profits. The following shows the profit a player can make by selling items they produce without employees. The slackening prices of weapon raw materials (WRM) -presumably as more raw materials flood the market driven by the high price - means it is once again profitable to make & sell weapons. The rising price of food raw material couples with the large drop in market price means that food isn't as profitable as it once was. Still, food makes more than weapons at every level.




Got employees? Where best to make a profit?
Weapons:

Nope. The drop in WRM almost brings Q6 & Q7 to a profit. The drop in wages helps, but not that much.

Food then?

Still profit to be made. Marginal Q3's profits dries up as food raw material prices climb, and Q4 is barely at breakeven, but Q6 is enjoying solid profits even with Q7 looming over them.

Moving Averages

For those unfamiliar with a "moving average", in the following charts, the blue line represents the market price at 3:00 eRep time. The red line in the 5-day moving average (average of the last 5-days) of market prices. What that tells us is whether prices are trending downward (the market price is below the moving average) or trending higher (the market price is above the moving average).

A look at raw material 5-days:
Weapons

Foo😛

WRM is below its 5-day average as prices are declining. Food, after a long moribund period, shows some life.

Gol😛

Pretty steady decline with only the jump at the beginning of the gold sale messing up the slope.

Wages:

Youch. That makes the drop hit home. Seems like we have a little moderation, though.

Q6s: been awhile since we looked at a Q-level

Perhaps Q6 weapons have found their new bottom? The 5-day and the market lines at met at last.


Doesn't drop by much, but its steady.


Note: prices are reflective of a percentage of Day 1600's price (Hence the "1600 Index"). In other words if an index is quoted at 88, that days price is 88% of the price on Day 1600. Except the 1600 AU Index which represents an amount of gold one can buy given market conditions as noted in that section.

Methodology on prices: prices are taken at 3:00 eRep time. The price is the average price of buying 1,000 Raw materials, 500 Food, 100 weapons (at each quality level), and 8 gold, plus the market wage less any fraction of cc (so 240, rather than 240.1). All qualities are standardized to Q1 (per hit or per health).

Sic transit gloria mundi