Commodities desk · Morning edition · Tuesday, October 13, 2026
Washington's bid to ease Russian diesel sanctions sent crude down over 1%, yet diesel itself rose 1.51%, a sign the fuel fight isn't settled at the pump.
Prices in this edition were taken live, not from stored closes. They were read at the Morning edition slot on Tuesday, October 13, 2026. Anything named as a cause may come from a headline the desk was given.
Energy swung backward today rather than forward, both WTI and Brent giving back the gains that defined the previous session, down 1.02% and 1.43%, as easing US sanctions on Russian diesel promised more barrels into a market that had been pricing scarcity. Oddly, diesel itself moved the other way, up 1.51% even as crude fell, a split that leaves the fuel at the center of the sanctions fight still climbing in price. Metals stayed calmer, gold up 0.48% and copper essentially flat, leaving energy the complex setting today's tone through its reversal rather than any fresh agricultural spike.
Cocoa did the loudest talking in agriculture, up 2.78% and extending a week-long climb that has now carried it well above its late-September lows near 5327. Cotton told the opposite story, slipping 0.24% after yesterday's 5.54% surge, a fast reminder that fiber-market rallies can unwind almost as quickly as they build. In the Corn Belt, USDA's own survey shows corn's good-to-excellent rating falling three points to 54%, six points below the five-year average for this week, even as the futures price ticked up 0.26% regardless of the softer condition read.
Al Jazeera's Sudan conflict monitor reported today that famine risk is rising across roughly half the country, a combination of El Nino drought and the ongoing three-year civil war squeezing food security for a population already enduring strikes on its gold-mining camps. No single futures line captures that kind of loss, but the broader real-asset read stays legible: gold's steady climb and China's reported record gold-buying both point toward savers treating the metal as insurance, even as oil's reversal on the Russian diesel news leaves no clean signal yet about which way growth itself is heading.
- WTI fell 1.02% and Brent fell 1.43%, reversing days of ceasefire-driven gains as Russian diesel sanctions relief promised more supply.
- Diesel rose 1.51% even as crude fell, widening the gap while distillate stocks sit essentially flat at 105,138 MBBL.
- Natural gas rose 0.88% with storage still 0.2% below the seasonal normal despite a 2.5% weekly build.
- Gold rose 0.48% today, with China's reported record gold imports adding another support under the metal's climb.
- Silver slipped 0.23%, lagging gold and narrowing the gap that had favored silver through last week.
- Copper was flat at -0.01%, a steady rather than rising growth signal across the metals complex.
- Cocoa jumped 2.78%, its sharpest move since early October, extending a climb that has run since late September.
- Cotton reversed hard, falling 0.24% today after surging 5.54% the previous session, the rally already fading.
- Corn edged up 0.26% even as its good-to-excellent rating fell 3 points to 54%, six points below the five-year average for this week.
- Brent and WTI fell together again, both down roughly 1 to 1.4%, keeping their recent moves aligned.
- Diesel's rise against crude's fall widens the refined-product gap further despite the Russian diesel relief news.
- Gold edged higher while silver slipped, narrowing the ratio that had favored silver through last week's rally.
- The eased to 15.34, down slightly from the 15.41 level first flagged on October 8, volatility still inside its recent range.
- The Fear and Greed Index reads 46, barely moved from a week ago, sentiment stuck in neutral territory even as the IMF warns of a K-shaped economy.
- Gold's climb and oil's reversal point in opposite directions this morning, leaving the real-asset case for holders mixed rather than clean.
Cocoa's 2.78% rise today extends its climb off the late-September low near 5327.
Gasoline's slide to 3.11 contrasts with diesel's rise, a split opened by the Russian diesel sanctions relief.
Coffee's 1.6% bounce today only partly recovers its sharp October 6 spike to 304.45.
The numbers behind it
Top to bottom: Upstream driver, Commodity, Where it goes
- Physical flow
Every move here is measured between two stored daily closes, so the reading belongs to a session rather than to a time of day. This block is cut at the 2026-10-13 session. Anything named as a driver comes from a stored series and never from a headline.
- Broad Commodities (DBC)33.33USD+1.12%
- Lean Hogs75.050cents/lb+9.40%2026-10-09
- Live Cattle224.975cents/lb+0.64%2026-10-09
- LIVESTOCK RALLYNo upstream reading this session
- Meat processingfrom Lean Hogs
- Gasoline (RBOB)3.295USD/gal+4.29%2026-10-09
- Brent Crude Oil and WTI Crude OilDivergenceBrent against WTI: +0.42% against +0.39% today, and the spread between them sits 2.6 standard deviations from its own average over the last 60 stored sessions.
- WTI Crude Oil and Gasoline (RBOB)DivergenceCrude against gasoline: +0.39% against +4.29% today, and the spread between them sits 3.2 standard deviations from its own average over the last 60 stored sessions.
- US Gulf Coast temperature93rd percentileUS Gulf Coast temperature sits in the 93rd percentile of the same calendar window in earlier years, much hotter than typical for the time of year, for the window ending 2026-10-07.2026-10-07
- Dieselfrom WTI Crude Oil
- Corn479.75cents/bu-4.10%2026-10-09
- Soybeans1,292.00cents/bu+0.35%2026-10-09
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The desk voices are written by AI, not by human reporters. Every figure is taken from the listed market, sensor and headline data, and an automated check flags any figure or quoted source that is not.