Commodity Prices: Brent Tops $100, Gold Slips on 5.34% Yields
Oct. 7 commodity prices: Brent is back above $100 on reported Houthi strikes on Saudi sites, while gold sits near $4,158 as the 10-year yield touches 5.34%.
| Item | Level, Oct. 7 |
|---|---|
| Brent crude | $101.49 a barrel |
| WTI crude | $90.14 a barrel |
| API crude inventories, week to Oct. 2 | -2.09 million barrels |
| Gold futures | $4,157.70 (session range $4,153.25 to $4,197.22) |
| US 10-year Treasury yield | Recent high of 5.34% |
Oil and gold moved on different drivers on Wednesday. Brent climbed back above $100 on reports of fresh Houthi attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure, while gold slipped as high Treasury yields and a firmer dollar weighed on bullion.
Crude oil futures: Brent reclaims $100
Brent traded at $101.49 after dipping on Tuesday and reversing, with WTI at $90.14. Saudi air transport authorities confirmed attacks on two airports, including one at Jazan, where Aramco runs a 400,000-barrel-a-day refinery. Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Tuesday that flows through the kingdom’s east-west pipeline had recovered to 5.8 million barrels a day, countering reports of another pipeline shutdown.
Vitol, cited by Reuters, put exports from the Persian Gulf at about 12 million barrels a day of crude and 2 million of fuels. ING said supply from the region is improving but threats linger, and that prices are unlikely to trade sustainably lower until those risks are addressed. Freight is a further cost: Sparta Commodities’ June Goh said supertanker rates exceed $1 million a day, and the increase is spreading to smaller vessels.
US stockpiles
The American Petroleum Institute estimated that US crude inventories fell 2.09 million barrels in the week ending October 2, after a 1.019 million-barrel build the week before. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve drew 800,000 barrels and stands at 283 million. Gasoline stocks fell 1.37 million barrels, distillates rose 461,000 barrels and Cushing gained 866,000 barrels, while the latest EIA data put distillate inventories 14% below the five-year average. US crude output was 13.955 million barrels a day in the week to September 25.
Gold futures: yields and the dollar
Gold futures last traded at $4,157.70, within a $4,147 to $4,215 range that has held since September 29. Immediate support sits at $4,122.54, and a break below could invite heavier selling. The 10-year Treasury yield recently touched 5.34% and the 30-year reached 5.69% intraday.
Rate expectations are the swing factor. Market-implied odds of an October Fed hike fell from about 70% to just over 20% late last week after comments from New York Fed President John Williams and weaker September payrolls, following a September hike to a 3.75% to 4% range. UBS’s Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi said she does not expect the next meeting to start a sustained hiking cycle, and argued that long yields can stay elevated even if the Fed pauses because investors demand a higher term premium to absorb supply.
Q4 outlook for metals
A fourth-quarter forecast from Jeremy Wagner places heavy gold support near $3,500 to $3,600 and treats a rally toward $5,000 as the base case, while warning that a stall below $4,550 could send prices toward $3,600. For silver, he sees a possible July low at $54.77, with $71 as the first upside marker and $50.90 as the next support if that low breaks. Those are one analyst’s technical views, not forecasts we endorse.
Prepared with AI assistance from public sources and reviewed under our editorial policy. Not investment advice.
