The latest Market Talks covering Energy markets. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.
0233 GMT - Copper is lower in early Asian trading. Prices are likely to stay range bound in the near term, according to Nanhua Futures analysts in a commentary. "Uncertainty surrounding U.S. Federal Reserve's policy trajectory, volatility in the U.S. dollar index, and pending U.S. copper tariff policies could amplify price fluctuations," they note. The three-month LME copper contract is 0.6% lower at $14,274.50 a ton. (tracy.qu@wsj.com)
0032 GMT - Oil rises in early Asian trade amid concerns over a re-escalation of the Middle East conflict, which could lead to supply disruptions in the region. "Speculation about joint U.S.-Israeli attack plans grew," ANZ Research analysts say in a research report. "U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth made an unannounced visit to Israel," the analysts note. Also, Iranian-backed Houthis continue to attack Saudi Arabia, the analysts add. Front-month WTI crude oil futures rise 1.0% to $98.08 per barrel; front-month Brent crude oil futures gain 1.1% to $110.06 a barrel. (ronnie.harui@wsj.com)
0014 GMT - Macquarie is increasingly positive about Beach Energy's Waitsia natural-gas operation following a solid 1Q update. Production above 240 terajoules per day for 20 days in August shows Waitsia continues to move in the right direction, Macquarie says. Waitsia output has averaged 235 terajoules per day following a successful September shutdown. "After significant delays from original late 2023 Stage 2 start-up target (reached Ready For Start-Up in November 2025), we are increasingly confident operations can normalize and support improved cash flow outlook," Macquarie says. It now forecasts output of 242 terajoules per day in 2Q. Macquarie retains a neutral call on Beach and lifts its price target by 9% to A$0.93/share. Beach is down 3.1% at A$0.93. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
2025 GMT - U.S. natural gas futures extend their slide to four sessions with mild near-term weather forecasts keeping demand expectations at bay. "Heating demand is beginning to increase seasonally, but forecasts still lack the sustained cold needed to keep consumption elevated through the end of October," Gelber & Associates says in a note. "Production restrictions are still helping keep balances tighter, but their impact depends on how long they last and whether LNG consumption holds up." Thursday's EIA storage report is expected to show a 10th straight below-normal build, which would reduce the inventory surplus over the five-year average to 35 Bcf from 45 Bcf the week before. Nymex natural gas settles down 5.8% at $2.790/mmBtu. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
1956 GMT - Crude oil futures end the session mixed with December WTI falling 0.7% to $97.15 a barrel in its debut as front month, and Brent settling practically unchanged at $108.82. Optimism over the amount of crude making out of the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz and alternative routes is contained by continuing attacks on shipping in the region. The EIA reported a bigger-than-expected3.1 million barrel weekly draw in U.S. crude oil stocks, while distillate inventories rose unexpectedly by 1.7 million barrels. Gasoline stocks fell by 3 million barrels. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
1828 GMT - Gold futures settle higher after oil prices give up early gains and the U.S. dollar slips. High oil prices have been a key driver of weakness in gold given the risk to inflation, Antonio Di Giacomo of XS.com says in a note. "Inflation can encourage demand for wealth preservation, but it can also support higher interest rates," he says. "Concerns about a restrictive monetary policy response are limiting the metal's appeal." Front-month gold edges up 0.2% in New York to $4,130.50 a troy ounce. Silver settles down 0.5% at $57.422 a troy ounce. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
1811 GMT - Celestica is set to capture larger market share and higher spending dollars from major hyperscalers, according to TD Cowen's John Shao. The reason, Shao says, is due to major structural shift in AI and cloud networking architectures, as hyperscalers shift from traditional top-of-rack setups to dedicated switching trays and racks to handle Ethernet for Scale-Up Networks, known as ESUN. Shao says that ESUN is gaining more traction among cloud providers, driving a "proliferation in switch count" per rack that expands Celestica's addressable market. What's more, he thinks it has "strong potential to become a parallel, open standard to Nvidia's proprietary NVLink for non-GPU interconnects." (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
1721 GMT - Stocks of ethanol in the U.S. rose week-over-week, according to data from the EIA. They jumped 616,000 barrels for the week ended Oct. 16, to 24.56 million barrels. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones this week had anticipated stocks to land anywhere from 23.7 million barrels to 23.9 million barrels. Average daily production also rose, climbing 23,000 barrels a day to 1.033 million barrels a day. Most-active corn futures on the CBOT are flat midday, at $4.62 a bushel. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)
1703 GMT - Gold futures are modestly higher as crude oil prices slip into negative territory, while the U.S. dollar and yields are little changed. "Elevated oil prices continue to complicate the monetary policy outlook, although weakness in the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields has limited the downside in precious metals," Kaynat Chainwala of Kotak Neo says in a note. In the absence of major U.S. economic data, "movements in the bond market and developments in crude oil prices are likely to guide trading over the next few sessions." Gold for December delivery is up 0.2% in New York at $4,149.80 a troy ounce. Silver is down 0.5% at $57.695 a troy ounce. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
1648 GMT - United Airlines Chief Executive Scott Kirby doesn't expect fuel costs to go down this year. Kirby says his strategy for the year assumes that oil costs remain elevated through 2027. Because of this, he expects capacity will get cut later on because some airlines are making plans with the assumption that high oil costs won't last, he says. "There have been an awful lot of airlines managing their business as if it weren't for fuel," Kirby says on an analyst call. "So, I think there are going to be supply changes. Actually, being successful as an airline is really simple. One golden rule don't fly places that lose money." (katherine.hamilton@wsj.com)
1306 GMT - Oil futures are steady in early U.S. trading, with WTI for December delivery making its debut at the front of the curve. Yesterday's high of $110 a barrel for the expiring November contract "provides an eventual upside target to WTI when looking across the next 1-2-week time frame," Ritterbusch & Associates says in a note. The firm cautions against chasing WTI higher above $102 "since the bulk of the past week's upside price acceleration appears attributable to increased risk appetite rather than a shift in global crude balances." December WTI is off 0.1% at $97.72 a barrel and Brent is down 0.3% at $108.51 a barrel. (anthony.harrup@wsj.com)
1230 GMT - U.S. natural gas futures extend their slide into a fourth session with near-term weather forecasts shedding heating demand. "That has dropped us down through the support around $3 and even below the firmer support at $2.90," Tradition Energy's Gary Cunningham says in a note. With gas for January delivery firmly under $4, it could drive some hedging interest as international buyers still rely on U.S. supplies due to continued restrictions on LNG out of the Persian Gulf, giving support to the December-February strip, he says. Natural gas for November delivery is down 4% at $2.844/mmBtu.
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