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A daily board of the prices that move UAE cable, electrical and construction suppliers: copper, aluminium, zinc, steel, cement, oil, gold, stocks, Treasuries and the dollar.
Today's note: 12 Nov 2026
What moved
- Oil keeps sliding. Brent is around $91.58 and WTI around $85.54, each down about 1% on the day. Brent is down about 7.7% on the week and 13.8% on the month. WTI is down 6.2% on the week. Contract rolls can distort monthly figures, so treat those as rough. These are live quotes.
- Copper flat, aluminium unchanged. COMEX copper is around $13,766 a tonne, down 0.35% on the day, up 0.5% on the week and down 7.2% on the month. Aluminium is around $3,176 a tonne, unchanged on the day.
- Steel. US Midwest HRC is around $1,574 a tonne (11 November), up about 10% on the month. Shanghai rebar is at 3,030 yuan a tonne, down 0.3% on the day. Zinc is stale: the last update is 23 October ($3,944).
- Gold and the dollar. Gold is around $3,986 an ounce, down 0.2% on the day and 2.7% on the week. The dollar index is around 103.03, up 1.4% on the week.
- Stocks. On Wednesday the S&P 500 closed at about 7,619 (up 1.3%) and the Nasdaq at about 25,466 (up 1.6%). Emerging markets (EEM) rose 2.4% to 62.04. Dubai’s DFM closed at about 6,221 (up 0.8%, and up 3.0% on the week) and Abu Dhabi’s ADX at about 9,585 (up 0.3%).
- Rates. The latest Treasury yields are from 9 November: the 2-year at 4.56% and the 10-year at 4.88%, both down on the month. The monthly US PPIs for copper wire and cable, steel wire drawing and cement are still the September figures.
The truth: Oil is the story again. Brent down almost 8% in a week eases freight and energy costs, but it also trims Gulf budget expectations, and I wouldn’t call a trend yet. Copper is flat today and still well down on the month, so conductor buyers keep some relief and may keep waiting. HRC up about 10% on the month means steel-based lines like wire, mesh, fencing and rebar still need short quote validity. A stronger dollar week matters little for the pegged dirham but makes imported inputs from other currencies pricier. Gulf stocks are firm, and yields are well down on the month, so financing isn’t getting harder. Not investment advice.
Sources and as-of dates for every number are on the Markets board.
The board
| Instrument | Price | Unit | Day | Week | Month | Trend | Source · as of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metals | |||||||
| Copper (COMEX)COMEX front-month, converted from USD/lb | 13,766 | USD/t | -0.4% | +0.5% | -7.2% | Yahoo Finance · live | |
| Aluminium (COMEX)COMEX front-month; conductor and overhead-line metal | 3,176 | USD/t | 0.0% | -0.5% | +1.6% | Yahoo Finance · live | |
| Zinc (CME, LME-style)Galvanizing input for wire, mesh and steel structures | 3,944 | USD/t | 0.0% | 0.0% | -6.0% | Yahoo Finance · stale | |
| Copper wire & cable (US PPI)Monthly producer price index; no free daily copper rod feed | 607.7 | index | +0.8% | n/a | +0.8% | FRED (St. Louis Fed) · stale | |
| Steel | |||||||
| Steel wire drawing (US PPI)Monthly producer price index; proxy for wire rod, no free daily feed | 325.3 | index | +0.6% | n/a | +0.6% | FRED (St. Louis Fed) · stale | |
| Steel HRC (CME US Midwest)CME front-month, converted from USD/short ton | 1,574 | USD/t | +0.4% | +1.8% | +10.0% | Yahoo Finance · live | |
| Steel rebar (SHFE)Shanghai rebar futures, as quoted by Trading Economics | 3,030 | CNY/t | -0.3% | -0.5% | n/a | Trading Economics · | |
| Construction | |||||||
| Cement manufacturing (US PPI)Monthly producer price index; no free daily Gulf cement feed | 353.0 | index | +0.0% | n/a | +0.0% | FRED (St. Louis Fed) · stale | |
| Energy | |||||||
| Brent crudeICE front-month | 91.58 | USD/bbl | -1.1% | -7.7% | -13.8% | Yahoo Finance · live | |
| WTI crudeNYMEX front-month | 85.54 | USD/bbl | -1.0% | -6.2% | -9.6% | Yahoo Finance · live | |
| GoldCOMEX front-month | 3,986 | USD/oz | -0.2% | -2.7% | -4.8% | Yahoo Finance · live | |
| Equities | |||||||
| S&P 500 | 7,619 | points | +1.3% | -0.9% | -2.4% | Yahoo Finance · | |
| Nasdaq Composite | 25,466 | points | +1.6% | -1.1% | -6.6% | Yahoo Finance · | |
| DFM General IndexDubai Financial Market | 6,221 | points | +0.8% | +3.0% | +6.6% | Yahoo Finance · | |
| ADX General IndexAbu Dhabi Securities Exchange | 9,585 | points | +0.3% | +1.3% | -1.8% | Yahoo Finance · | |
| MSCI EM (EEM ETF proxy)iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF, used as a free proxy for the index | 62.04 | USD | +2.4% | +0.7% | -6.2% | Yahoo Finance · | |
| Rates & FX | |||||||
| US Treasury 2yDaily constant-maturity yield | 4.56 | % | +5 bp | -3 bp | -24 bp | FRED (St. Louis Fed) · | |
| US Treasury 10yDaily constant-maturity yield | 4.88 | % | +2 bp | -3 bp | -36 bp | FRED (St. Louis Fed) · | |
| US Dollar IndexICE DXY; the dirham is pegged to the dollar | 103.03 | index | +0.1% | +1.4% | +0.8% | Yahoo Finance · live | |
How this board works
I’m VikiD, and this is the short daily look at the numbers that sit underneath a cable drum, a coil of galvanised wire or a tonne of rebar on a Gulf site. Metals set the cost of the material. Oil and gas set the region’s budgets and its project pipeline. Rates and the dollar set the cost of money, and the dirham is pegged to the dollar.
Every number comes from a free public source and links to it, with the date it is as of. Futures prices are the latest quote when the board was refreshed, not an official settlement. Some things have no free daily feed: copper and steel wire rod, Gulf cement and Gulf rebar. For those I show the best public reference I can find, such as a monthly US producer price index or the Shanghai rebar contract, and I say so. If a number can’t be fetched, it says “unavailable”. I never fill the gap with a guess.
Each daily note covers what moved, then The truth: what it means for UAE cable, electrical and construction suppliers. It’s not investment advice.
Daily notes
Markets, 12 November 2026
Thursday: oil slips again toward $91, copper flat near $13,766, Gulf stocks closed higher on Wednesday
Markets, 11 November 2026
Wednesday: copper and aluminium edge up, oil steady near $92, Gulf stocks closed higher on Tuesday
Markets, 10 November 2026
Tuesday: oil sharply lower on the week, copper and gold slip, Gulf and US stocks closed higher on Monday
Markets, 9 November 2026
Monday: gold and copper bounce, oil quiet near $98, Gulf stocks still on Friday's closes
Markets, 8 November 2026
Sunday: Friday's final closes are in; oil still down about 13% on the week, copper soft, gold firm
Markets, 7 November 2026
Weekend pause after Friday's mild bounce; oil still down about 14% on the week, copper soft
Markets, 6 November 2026
US stocks drop 4–6% in a day, oil still down about 12% on the week, Dubai holds steady
Markets, 5 November 2026
Oil drops nearly 10% in a day, Dubai stocks jump 4%, gold back above $4,000
Markets, 4 November 2026
Copper drops again, oil drifts lower, steel holds its gains
Markets, 3 November 2026
Brent closed Monday down about 8%, copper slips, steel still firm
Markets, 2 November 2026
Monday open: oil gives back about 3%, metals mixed, steel holds its gains
Markets, 1 November 2026
Sunday board: Friday's closes firm up, oil a bit higher, steel still the story
Markets, 31 October 2026
Weekend board: gold drops almost 4%, US tech sells off, steel keeps climbing
Markets, 30 October 2026
Friday open: Abu Dhabi and the Nasdaq slip, metals ease, oil and steel hold firm
Markets, 29 October 2026
Thursday open: Abu Dhabi slips, oil and metals drift lower, steel firm
Markets, 28 October 2026
Wednesday open: UAE stocks bounce, oil edges up, metals flat
Markets, 27 October 2026
Tuesday open: a quiet session, with US steel up about 5% on the week
Markets, 26 October 2026
Monday open: oil lower, metals and steel flat on Friday, and a correction to Friday's data
Markets, 25 October 2026
Weekend check: Friday's closes revise oil down, steel jumps, copper firms
Markets, 24 October 2026
Oil keeps climbing, metals bounce, and Treasury yields drop sharply
Markets, 23 October 2026
Oil jumps, metals slip, HRC climbs: margins get squeezed from both ends