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Friday, 16 October
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The people’s newsroom

EconomyGlobal markets

Brent climbs above $106 after Riyadh airport attack; Wall Street ends mixed

Oil rose about 2% overnight as the Houthi strike on Saudi Arabia revived supply fears, while chip stocks dragged the Nasdaq lower and US bond yields stayed near 24-year highs.

From the editorial desk · New YorkPublished
The New York Stock Exchange building on Wall Street
The New York Stock Exchange building on Wall StreetCarlos Delgado / Wikimedia

Key points

  1. Brent crude settled up 1.84% at $106.65 a barrel and US crude rose 2.06% to $93.74.
  2. The Dow gained 0.38%, but the Nasdaq fell 0.44% as chipmakers slid after a Chinese memory breakthrough.
  3. Dearer oil adds to pressure on the rupee and India's import bill as Indian markets open on Tuesday.

Oil prices rose about 2% on Monday after the Houthi attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh renewed fears of supply disruption in West Asia, while Wall Street ended mixed as a slide in chip stocks offset gains in energy shares.

Brent crude settled 1.84% higher at $106.65 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, gained 2.06% to $93.74. Prices also climbed after Russia struck Ukrainian power plants, despite President Donald Trump’s announcement that the two countries had agreed to stop targeting each other’s energy infrastructure. Mr Trump said he was considering joining Saudi Arabia in action against the Houthis.

Chips pull the Nasdaq down

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 195.60 points, or 0.38%, to 51,850.55, the only major index to finish higher. The S&P 500 slipped 0.06% to 7,807.24 after a week of record highs, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.44% to 27,245.90.

Semiconductor shares fell after China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies reported progress on a new memory architecture. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 2.7% and Micron lost 3.9%. Energy stocks in the S&P 500 gained 1.5%.

The 10-year US Treasury yield stayed near 5.24%, close to its highest level since 2002. Beth Hammack, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, said inflation was spreading across the economy.

I see inflation pressures as relatively broad-based rather than concentrated in one component.

Beth Hammack, President, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, 12 October 2026

The Fed next meets on 27-28 October. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Citi report results on Tuesday, opening the US earnings season.

“Persistent geopolitical risk and uncertainty about global monetary policy continue to plague the market,” said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.

What it means for India today

Indian shares open on Tuesday after a weak Monday, when the Nifty fell 0.70% and the Sensex lost 548 points as bond yields climbed. A Brent price above $106 raises India’s import bill and adds to pressure on the rupee, which closed near 97 to the dollar last week. From Monday, the Reserve Bank of India is selling dollars directly to Indian Oil, HPCL and BPCL to meet their daily needs.

Gold eased about 0.5% to near $4,193 an ounce in afternoon New York trading as the dollar held firm.