Markets, 26 October 2026
Monday open: oil lower, metals and steel flat on Friday, and a correction to Friday's data
What moved
Corrected 26 October: the board’s day changes were measured against bad Friday figures. The numbers below come from the rebuilt board.
- A data correction first. The free feed’s daily figures for Friday 23 October didn’t match its own trades. The Friday closes that do match are Brent $111.7 a barrel, aluminium about $3,137 a tonne and US hot-rolled coil about $1,482 a tonne, and today’s changes are now measured against those. The earlier “Brent down 6%” and “aluminium down 4%” were artefacts of the bad figures, not real moves.
- Oil is lower in Monday’s futures session. Brent is around $109.9, down about 1.6% from Friday, and WTI around $101.3, down about 1.9%. Over a month Brent shows about +13% and WTI about +10%, but Brent’s monthly figure spans a contract roll in late September, so I wouldn’t lean on it.
- Metals. COMEX copper is about $14,310 a tonne, down 0.3% on the day and about 4% in a month. Aluminium is around $3,140, flat on Friday and down about 9% in a month. Zinc is unchanged at $3,944 (23 October).
- Steel. US Midwest HRC is about $1,482 a tonne, unchanged from Friday’s close and up about 1.7% in a month. Shanghai rebar was 3,051 yuan a tonne (23 October), with no weekly history yet.
- Rates, dollar, gold and stocks. The 2-year Treasury was 4.65% and the 10-year 4.96% (22 October). The dollar index is about 101.7 and gold about $4,025, down about 7% in a month. Stocks haven’t traded since Friday: the S&P 500 was 7,624, the DFM 5,734 and the ADX 9,588.
- Slow-moving indexes (September, unchanged): the US PPIs for copper wire and cable (+0.8%), steel wire drawing (+0.6%) and cement (flat).
The truth: For UAE cable, electrical and construction suppliers, this morning is quieter than the first numbers made it look. Copper is steady near $14,300, so conductor costs aren’t moving under you today. Aluminium is flat on Friday and is still the cheap one, about 9% below a month ago. Steel is flat on the day and up a little on the month, near $1,480 a tonne, which is what matters for wire, mesh, fencing, tray and tower quotes. Oil is down a little from Friday, a small relief for freight and energy, and at around $110 Brent the Gulf budget picture is still comfortable. Rates and the pegged dirham haven’t changed since Thursday’s drop in yields. My read: don’t reprice anything off one session. Wait for proper Monday closes, keep metal escalation clauses in, and keep quote validity short on steel-heavy work.
Sources and as-of dates for every number are on the Markets board.