Week of 12–18 October 2026
Brent traded around USD 108/bbl as OPEC and the IEA published their October oil market reports. Euro area annual inflation rose to 3.8% in September, copper eased from mid-week highs, and AI infrastructure activity included a gigawatt-scale campus plan in Indiana and a USD 750m funding round for an AI cloud provider.
Oil & Gas
Brent stood at USD 108.51/bbl on the morning of 16 October, up 1.72% on the previous day and 1.11% below its level a month earlier (Fortune). OPEC's October Monthly Oil Market Report lowered its 2026 global demand growth estimate to 200,000 b/d from 400,000 b/d, while raising 2027 growth to about 2.6 million b/d (Xinhua). The IEA's report, released on 14 October, estimates global demand at 102.4 mb/d in 2026, down 2.6 mb/d, and puts September supply at 102.3 mb/d, up 2.5 mb/d month-on-month; observed global stocks fell 10 mb in September (IEA).
In the US, EIA data for the week to 9 October showed commercial crude inventories down 8.6 million barrels to 415.6 million, about 3% below the five-year average. Distillate stocks fell 2.5 million barrels and stood about 12% below the five-year average, while refinery utilisation was 93.5% (Oil & Gas 360).
Metals
Three-month LME copper closed at USD 14,436/t on 14 October, down 0.8% on the day, after an official midday cash price of USD 14,741/t. LME stocks stood at 233,025 t, while COMEX stocks reached a record 711,609 t. In Chile, about 64% of the 1,020-member supervisors' union at Escondida approved a 36-month contract on 14 October (Copper Weekly Brief). December gold futures opened at USD 4,128.30/oz on 15 October, 4.9% lower than a month earlier (Yahoo Finance). In Canada, Exiro Nickel completed its acquisition of Vale Base Metals' Thompson operations in Manitoba; Vale Base Metals retains an 18.9% stake and an offtake agreement, and the new owner will have up to USD 200m of new capital for the operations (GlobeNewswire).
Data centers: AI & mining
Digital Realty is planning a campus of three data centers with around 1GW of IT capacity on 476 acres in Kokomo, Indiana, with full buildout expected by 2033 (DCD). Uruguay signed an agreement of about USD 5.7bn with Spanish developer Solaria for up to 500MW of solar-powered data center capacity; the first phase comprises a 200MW data center and a 350MW solar project scheduled for 2029 (DCD). AI cloud company Modal raised USD 750m in a Series D round led by Accel at a USD 15.75bn post-money valuation (DCD).
In bitcoin mining, Binance will close its mining pool on 10 November. Hashrate directed to the pool fell from about 26 EH/s in December to about 9 EH/s, below 1% of the network, while Foundry USA, AntPool and F2Pool together hold about 64.2% (CoinDesk).
Economy: EU
Eurostat confirmed euro area annual inflation at 3.8% in September, up from 3.2% in August; EU inflation was also 3.8%. Energy inflation rose to 18.9% and services to 3.2%. The highest rates were in Romania (6.5%) and Lithuania (6.1%), the lowest in Sweden (1.0%) (Eurostat). Euro area industrial production fell 0.5% month-on-month and 1.1% year-on-year in August; in the EU it declined 0.3% and 0.2% respectively (Option Finance).
Economy: CIS
Rosstat reported Russian consumer price growth of 0.11% for 6–12 October, bringing the increase since the start of the year to 6.1% (Vedomosti). Kazakhstan's GDP grew 4.2% in January–September, with the non-resource sector up 5.4% (Trend), and annual inflation slowed to 9.3% in September from 9.8% in August (Trend).
What to watch
- 19–23 October: LME Week in London (LME).
- 23 October: Bank of Russia board meeting on the key rate, with a press release on the medium-term forecast (Bank of Russia).