https://thevikidtruth.com/markets/Recent content in Markets on The VikiD TruthHugoenFri, 23 Oct 2026 05:00:00 +0400https://thevikidtruth.com/markets/2026-10-23/Fri, 23 Oct 2026 05:00:00 +0400https://thevikidtruth.com/markets/2026-10-23/<h2 id="what-moved">What moved</h2> <ul> <li><strong>Oil spiked.</strong> Brent rose about 4.5% to around $113.8 a barrel and WTI rose about 3% to about $100. Brent is up about 15% in a month.</li> <li><strong>Base metals fell.</strong> COMEX copper dropped about 2.4% to roughly $14,085 a tonne and aluminium fell about 2.7% to $3,092. Copper is down about 5% in a month and aluminium is down about 11%. Zinc was flat at $3,944 (as of 21 October).</li> <li><strong>Steel went the other way.</strong> US Midwest HRC futures rose about 4% to roughly $1,476 a metric tonne, up about 8% in a month. Shanghai rebar slipped to 3,056 yuan a tonne. This is the first day it&rsquo;s on the board, so there&rsquo;s no weekly change yet.</li> <li><strong>Risk off.</strong> The S&amp;P 500 fell 1.2% and the Nasdaq fell 2.6%. The EEM emerging-markets ETF fell 2.9%. Gold dropped about 3% to around $4,027. The DFM closed at 5,818 and the ADX at 9,702. Changes for those two will appear once the board has stored a few days of history.</li> <li><strong>Rates and the dollar.</strong> The 2-year Treasury was at 4.81% and the 10-year at 5.13% (21 October), with the 10-year up 17 basis points in a month. The dollar index eased 0.2% to 101.5.</li> <li><strong>Slow-moving indexes (September):</strong> the US PPIs for copper wire and cable (+0.8%), steel wire drawing (+0.6%) and cement (flat) all edged higher or held steady.</li> </ul> <p><strong>The truth:</strong> For UAE cable, electrical and construction suppliers, today&rsquo;s board pulls two ways. Cheaper copper and aluminium help anyone buying conductor metal for cable or overhead lines. A 5–11% monthly drop is real money on a tender priced a month ago. But the gain is uneven. Steel, the input for wire, mesh, fencing, towers and rebar, is getting more expensive, and HRC is up 8% in a month. Oil above $110 is good news for Gulf budgets and project pipelines, but it pushes up freight, energy and galvanising costs right now. A 5% US 10-year, with the dirham pegged to the dollar, keeps local financing expensive. The practical read is to lock in metal-price escalation clauses, quote steel-heavy work on short validity and not assume that cheaper copper means cheaper jobs.</p>