Commodities desk · Evening edition · Thursday, November 5, 2026
The Bank of England's first hike since the Iran war lands as oil rebounds, a sign inflation is still being fought while stocks fall.
Brent crude fell 8.67% on November 4. Over the window, Gasoline -7.14% trailed.
Drawn from the numbers stored with this edition; the same picture is on its share card.
Over their last 20 readings, Palladium (PALL) fell 7.46%, Cocoa fell 7.22% and Brent Crude Oil fell 6.98%.
The picture on the morning edition's share card, drawn from the numbers stored with that edition, written Nov 5, 2026, 9:35 AM EST. The evening edition above replaced it as this day's latest edition.
Oil still sets the tone, but the day belongs to a broad equity rout, and commodities split into those that bounced and those that sold off with stocks. Crude rose again, with Brent finishing near 98, even as the Nasdaq dropped more than 5%. Copper fell hardest among the big raw materials, which reads as a growth worry rather than a supply story. Gasoline and diesel also firmed, so fuel is not following equities down.
Metals split in two. Platinum and palladium funds gained, and gold edged up, while silver and copper slipped. Copper's 3.59% drop is the clearest growth signal in the group. In the fields, cocoa fell almost 5%, soybean oil slid, and lean hogs dropped more than 4%. Winter wheat's condition now sits level with its five-year average, which leaves that crop unremarkable. In Europe, Deoleo, the world's largest olive oil company, fell 18% after two rivals agreed to acquire it, according to CNBC.
For anyone holding real assets, the day shows commodities are not moving as one block. The Bank of England raised Bank Rate to 4%, its first hike since the Iran war, according to CNBC, and the Fed's Barkin told CNBC he expects gradual hikes ahead. That keeps inflation in view even as equities fall. CNBC also reported tankers and a tugboat on fire in the Strait of Hormuz, per the IRGC Navy, which fits oil's firmer tone.
- Brent rose 3.95% to 98.36 and WTI 2.68% to 90.48, rebounding even as equities sold off hard.
- Diesel gained 3.58% to 4.36 and gasoline 1.47% to 2.77, with distillate stocks down 3.5% on the week.
- Natural gas slipped 0.61% to 2.94, and storage sits 0.7% above the seasonal normal at 3,801 bcf.
- Copper fell 3.59% to 6.20 and is down 6.2% on the week, the weakest growth read in the group.
- Gold rose 0.52% to 4,094 while silver fell 1.01% to 51.76, so silver lagged on the day.
- Palladium's fund gained 3.17% and platinum's 1.62%, both bouncing after a weak month.
- Cocoa fell 4.79% to 5,290, the weakest soft, and soybean oil dropped 2.06%.
- Lean hogs fell 4.47% to 54.98 and live cattle 1.62%, extending weekly declines.
- Winter wheat is rated 44% good to excellent, level with its five-year average, and wheat futures were nearly flat.
- Brent at 98.36 sits about 7.88 above WTI at 90.48, a wider gap than the 94.62 against 88.12 a day earlier.
- Diesel at 4.36 stays far above gasoline at 2.77, and diesel gained more on the day.
- Gold rose while silver fell, so the gold-silver ratio widened to about 79.
- A day when stocks, copper and silver fell together while oil rose argues for risk-first sizing in real-asset exposure, since commodities did not hedge equities evenly.
The VIX jumped from 16.61 to 28.19, the biggest jump in this window, as the equity sell-off hit.
The Nasdaq's one-day drop erased its early-November recovery and left it below every close in this window.
Cocoa fell to 5,290, its lowest close in this window, after weeks of slow drift lower.
The numbers behind it
Top to bottom: Upstream driver, Commodity, Where it goes
- Physical flow
- Divergence
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 2026-11-05 session. Anything named as a driver comes from a stored series and never from a headline.
- Broad Commodities (DBC)31.47USD+0.58%
- Live Cattle214.400cents/lb-1.65%
- Lean Hogs55.100cents/lb-4.26%
- Live Cattle and Lean HogsDivergenceCattle against hogs: -1.65% against -4.26% today, and the spread between them sits 2.2 standard deviations from its own average over the last 60 stored sessions.
- LIVESTOCK SELLOFFNothing unusual upstream
- Meat processingfrom Live Cattle
- WTI Crude Oil90.52USD/bbl+2.72%
- Gasoline (RBOB)2.763USD/gal+1.28%
- WTI Crude Oil and Gasoline (RBOB)DivergenceCrude against gasoline: +2.72% against +1.28% today, and the spread between them sits 1.7 standard deviations from its own average over the last 60 stored sessions.
- Brent Crude Oil and WTI Crude OilConfirmationBrent against WTI: +3.88% against +2.72%, in the same direction, with the spread inside its own recent range.
- US gasoline product supplied+5.4%US gasoline product supplied is 8,808 MBBL/D for the week ending 2026-10-30, +5.4% against 8,358 in the prior published week.2026-10-30
- US refinery utilisation+1.7ppUS refinery utilisation is 94.5% as of 2026-10-30, +1.7pp against 92.8% in the prior published week.2026-10-30
Across the complex
- Crude, gasoline and diesel all fell together, yet crude fell the most, and both product spreads sit 1.7 standard deviations from their 60 session averages. That is a refining margin shift, not a one-sided crude story.
- Gold and silver both rose while copper barely moved, so copper's gap to gold has closed again. The gold to silver spread sits 2.1 standard deviations from its average, which separates haven demand from factory demand.
Go deeper
The Commodities desk's own dashboard: what is moving, why, and where it goes next. Open it
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.