Brent sheds 11.91% in a week but remains up 61.55% for the year

Oil markets just had a rough week. Brent crude closed Friday at $98.32 a barrel, down 11.91% over five sessions. US benchmark WTI fared slightly worse, falling 12.07% on the week to $90.39.

Friday itself was calm by comparison: Brent was virtually flat, up 0.03%, while WTI eased 0.14%. The damage had been done earlier in the week.

Context matters here. Even after this week's slide, Brent is still 61.55% higher than at the start of the year and WTI is up 57.45% — gains that dwarf those of most other asset classes we track. For the Gulf producers whose budgets and stock markets are closely tied to crude, the year remains one of exceptionally high prices, even if the past five days have taken some of the heat out.

The Brent–WTI gap

The two benchmarks moved almost in lockstep this week, leaving the spread between them at $7.93 a barrel ($98.32 for Brent versus $90.39 for WTI).

In Gulf equities, the energy sector's reaction was uneven. In Riyadh's latest session, Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical fell 5.34%, among the weakest large caps on the exchange.

Gold holds its ground

Gold took the week in stride. The metal slipped 0.43% on Friday to $4,070.59 an ounce but finished the week 1.16% higher, even as US technology stocks sold off. It remains 5.91% lower year to date.

That resilience came despite a firmer dollar. The US dollar index rose 0.71% on Friday to 102.290, following a stronger-than-expected US jobs report, as CNBC reported.

Silver had a quieter week, rising 0.32% on Friday to $51.94 and losing 0.49% over five days. Its year has been far harder than gold's: silver is down 28.26% since January.

Copper's slide

Industrial metals told a softer story. Copper fell 0.21% on Friday to $6.257 and lost 5.07% over the week, although it remains 9.83% higher for the year. Copper is often read as a gauge of industrial demand, which puts next week's Chinese trade figures firmly on the radar.

On the geopolitical front, Investing.com examined "Trump's Iran dilemma: five options, no clear exit after the midterms" — a theme that energy traders will keep in view.

What to watch

• Monday, 01:30 UTC: China's October inflation rate, forecast at 0.8% after 0.9%.
• Tuesday, 03:00 UTC: China's October imports, forecast to grow 33% year on year after 31%.
• Tuesday, 13:30 UTC: US October inflation, forecast at 3.9% year on year after 3.7%.
• Friday, 13:30 UTC: US producer prices for October, forecast to rise 0.4% month on month after 1.3%.

Analysis by Karim Haddad, written with AI assistance from live market data (source: TradingView) and attributed third-party headlines. For information only — not investment advice.