Commodities desk · Evening edition · Friday, November 6, 2026
Iran's strikes on Gulf tankers did not lift crude, which closed flat, suggesting traders see Hormuz risk as already priced in after last week's slide.
Brent Crude Oil fell 2.96% over the 126 sessions to November 5, closing at 98.29; the high in that window was 117.64 on October 30 and the low 71.57 on July 1. In the latest session it crossed above the average of the 126 closes shown, 94.97.
Drawn from the numbers stored with this edition; the same picture is on its share card.
Brent Crude Oil turned: +3.88% on the day after -17.95% over the five sessions before, 2.2 times its typical daily move. Brent Crude Oil fell 14.44% over the last 5 sessions, from 114.88 to 98.29; the largest daily step was -12.87 on November 2.
The picture on the morning edition's share card, drawn from the numbers stored with that edition, written Nov 6, 2026, 9:35 AM EST. The evening edition above replaced it as this day's latest edition.
Energy still sets the tone, and today it picked up a harder edge. Deutsche Welle reported Iran stepping up attacks on Gulf shipping, with a Greek-owned tanker believed hit by a missile and one seafarer killed. Even so, crude finished almost flat, so the fear has not yet reached the price. Gold and silver slipped on a firmer dollar, copper edged lower, and grains were mixed. Brent is still well under where it stood a week ago.
Farm markets drifted, with livestock the weak corner. Lean hogs fell again and are now down sharply over the month. Wheat slid further despite winter wheat conditions reaching the five-year norm, and sugar and cocoa also lost ground. Fund positioning in corn shifted: managed money shorts rose by 52,308 contracts in the latest weekly report as longs fell. On the Rhine, the level at Kaub is still low, and the Mississippi at St. Louis stands at 7.4 feet.
For anyone holding real assets, the message is that inflation hedges are not moving together. CNBC reports small retailers face a hard holiday season as fuel-driven shipping costs spike, so energy costs keep reaching shop floors even with crude well off its highs. Firm payrolls and a stronger dollar leaned against gold, while the eased from its spike. Growth read from copper remains soft.
- WTI near 90.49 and Brent near 97.93 barely moved, even as Deutsche Welle reported Iran striking a Greek-owned tanker in the Gulf.
- Distillate stocks fell 3.5% on the week while refinery utilisation rose to 94.5%, keeping diesel well above gasoline.
- Natural gas rose 0.78% to 2.97, with storage 0.7% above the seasonal norm. Managed money shorts rose by 19,127 contracts.
- Gold fell 0.93% to 4,075 as the dollar firmed and yields rose after the jobs report.
- Silver fell 0.76% to 51.98, down about 12% on the month, a bigger monthly loss than gold's.
- Palladium fell 1.54% while platinum rose 0.73%, and copper slipped 0.14% to 6.26 as the soft growth read.
- Wheat fell 1.46% to 590.50, down nearly 14% on the month, with winter wheat rated 44% good to excellent, level with normal.
- Corn rose 0.51% to 442.25 and is rated 56% good to excellent against a 60% five-year average.
- Lean hogs fell 3.13% to 53.38, down almost 30% over the month, while live cattle was little changed.
- Brent sits about 7.44 above WTI, slightly narrower than the 7.77 gap at yesterday's close.
- Diesel at 4.35 remains far above gasoline at 2.77, and both are down on the week.
The VIX eased to 25.69 from its November 5 spike, still well above its mid-October readings near 15.
Lean hogs have fallen almost every session since the October 14 drop, a livestock slide separate from grains.
The DAX gave back its early-November gains on November 6, a European drop against the US tech rebound.
The numbers behind it
Top to bottom: Upstream driver, Commodity, Where it goes
- Upstream driver
- 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 2026-11-06 session. Anything named as a driver comes from a stored series and never from a headline.
- Broad Commodities (DBC)31.54USD+0.22%
- Lean Hogs53.525cents/lb-6.99%
- Live Cattle214.050cents/lb-0.16%
- USDA pork carcass cutout+2.4%USDA pork carcass cutout is 70.65 USD per cwt in the report dated 2026-11-06, +2.4% against 68.99 USD per cwt in the prior published report dated 2026-11-05.
- Meat processingfrom Lean Hogs
- Gasoline (RBOB)2.777USD/gal+0.48%
- Diesel and Heating Oil (ULSD)4.332USD/gal-0.46%
- WTI Crude Oil and Gasoline (RBOB)DivergenceCrude against gasoline: +0.34% against +0.48% today, and the spread between them sits 1.7 standard deviations from its own average over the last 60 stored sessions.
- WTI Crude Oil and Diesel and Heating Oil (ULSD)DivergenceCrude against diesel: +0.34% against -0.46% today, and the spread between them sits 1.6 standard deviations from its own average over the last 60 stored sessions.
- 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 distillate inventories-3.5%US distillate inventories is 99,259 MBBL for the week ending 2026-10-30, -3.5% against 102,824 in the prior published week.2026-10-30
- Trucking fuel costfrom Diesel and Heating Oil (ULSD)The trucking and rail paths from diesel are the price of the FUEL and not the price of moving the load. A freight rate is a different number, and where one is drawn on this page it is labelled as a rate.
Across the complex
- Crude rose +2.72% against +1.28% for gasoline, and that spread is 1.7 standard deviations from its 60 session average. Refinery utilisation and gasoline product supplied both rose, so margin compression came alongside strong physical...
- Hogs fell -4.26% against -1.65% for cattle, a spread 2.2 standard deviations from its average. Both eat corn, which fell -0.96%, yet the hog contract also rolled, stepping +4.45%, so the quoted hog move needs that context.
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.