Crude was the standout as London wound down. Brent (UKOil) jumped 7.35% to $87.58 and WTI (USOil) added 3.4% to $83.64, topping the day’s gainers. Both remain up over 21% on the month despite a softer week.
Energy and metals
The move in oil dwarfed everything else on the board. Even after this session’s spike, Brent is down 7.16% on the week, a reminder of how choppy the recent range has been.
Metals leaned firmer. Gold rose 1.05% to $4,067.23, silver added 0.69% to $57.61, and platinum and palladium each edged higher. (A -39% print on Gold/Singapore Dollar appears to be a data artefact and is set aside here.)
Indices
Equities were the weak spot. The Nasdaq 100 fell 2.87% to 27,150.36, the Dow dropped 2.23%, and the S&P 500 shed 2.02% to 7,309.55. The Nasdaq is now down 8.71% on the month.
Europe followed lower into the bell: the IBEX 35 lost 1.93%, the Euro Stoxx 50 fell 1.11%, and both the DAX and CAC 40 slipped around 0.9%. The FTSE 100 eased 0.84% but holds a 1.99% weekly gain.
Asia was split. The Hang Seng bucked the mood, climbing 1.64% and up 12.66% on the month, while the Nikkei 225 sank 2.78% and is down nearly 13% over four weeks.
Currencies
The dollar softened broadly. EUR/USD rose 0.67% to 1.14623 and GBP/USD gained 0.54% to 1.33572. USD/NOK dropped 1.33%, tracking the crude bid, while USD/CHF slid 0.75%.
The Aussie lagged, with EUR/AUD up 0.98% and GBP/AUD up 0.88%.
Crypto
Digital assets were mostly heavy. Bitcoin Cash fell 3.74%, Litecoin lost 3.19%, and AXS dropped 2.99%. Bitcoin held better, down 0.56% at $63,483.76, while UNI stood out with a 2.45% gain.
The US index complex remains the session’s clear weak point heading into the New York close.
