Markets, 12 November 2026
Thursday: oil slips again toward $91, copper flat near $13,766, Gulf stocks closed higher on Wednesday
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.