Brent Crude Tops $90 a Barrel -- Commodities Roundup

MARKET MOVEMENTS:

--Brent crude oil is up 5.2% to $89.85 a barrel.

--European benchmark gas is up 3.7% at 52.62 euros a megawatt hour.

--Gold futures are up 0.9% to $5,125.39 a troy ounce.

--LME three-month copper futures are down 0.6% to $12,825.00 a metric ton.

TOP STORY:

Brent Crude Tops $90 a Barrel

The steepest oil-price run-up since the early days of the Ukraine war sent benchmark global oil prices above $90 a barrel, a signal that traders are increasingly fearful that the spiraling Middle East conflict could spark an energy shock.

Brent crude futures Friday jumped as much as 6% Friday and traded as high as $91 a barrel, while benchmark U.S. futures surged by as much as 10%.

OTHER STORIES:

Kuwait Cuts Oil Production as Storage Fills Up

Kuwait has begun cutting production at some oil fields after running out of room to store its bottled-up crude, people familiar with the matter said, signaling a broader storage crisis that poses new risks to the global market.

The country, a founding member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is discussing limiting its production and refining capacity further, to just what it needs to cover domestic consumption, the people said. A decision on those broader cutbacks is expected within days, they said.

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World Food Prices Rise for First Time in Five Months, U.N. FAO Says

Global food prices broke a five-month downward trend as rising wheat, vegetable oil and meat levels outweighed declines in cheese and sugar prices, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization said.

The FAO's food-price index--a gauge of globally traded food commodities--averaged 125.3 points in February, an 0.9% uplift compared with January. Prices remain 1% below levels a year earlier and close to 22% below the March 2022 peak after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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Emissions Planning Beyond Trump Tricky for U.S. Companies Following Climate Cuts

Companies say President Trump's climate overhaul makes it tough to frame their future emissions plans and prepare for what they see as inevitable environmental restrictions--particularly as their goals extend beyond the president's term.

In recent annual reports delivered to investors, companies said that, despite the Trump administration's easing of environmental rules, businesses will still need to plan to lower their emissions to meet standards in the long term.

MARKET TALKS:

U.S. Natural Gas Futures Rise as Iran Conflict Cuts LNG Supply -- Market Talk

0941 ET - U.S. natural gas futures are higher with the Middle East conflict shutting in LNG shipments from the Persian Gulf and raising concerns about global supply. "The Nymex winter strip is gaining as the Iran war extends and the magnitude of the LNG supply disruption becomes clearer," Eli Rubin of EBW Analytics says, noting January 2027 prices above $5.30/mmBtu. Despite soft short-to-medium term fundamentals, "trader positioning around Iran war risks is a central market dynamic igniting winter contracts and supporting near-term pricing." Nymex gas for April delivery is up 4.3% at $3.132/mmBtu. ([e-mail])

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Gold Rises Following Weaker February Jobs Report -- Market Talk

0940 ET - Gold futures jumped after the release of a weaker-than-expected February jobs report, but have since pared gains. Gold surged to as high as $5,130 a troy ounce, and is currently trading just below the $5,100/oz mark and up 0.4% for the day. Upside in gold futures as a financial safe haven during wartime has been limited by investors flocking to the dollar instead of the precious metal, analysts say. Silver is up 0.7% to $82.675/oz. ([e-mail])

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Canadian Natural Pauses Oil Sands Expansion on Policy Uncertainty -- Market Talk

0920 ET - Canadian Natural Resources hit pause on a C$8.25 billion expansion of an oil sands mine in northern Alberta, citing uncertainty over government policies. It is part of what analysts say is an only modest reduction in the energy's company's near-term organic spending plans, and comes not long after Canadian Natural stumped up about C$765 million for assets in Alberta's Peace River area. But it does cast the spotlight on Ottawa. The company says it is deferring front-end engineering and design work on its Jackpine mine expansion, and will only reassess the viability of the project when there is certainty on regulatory policies related to carbon pricing and methane and on project timing. The company's targeted operating capex for 2026 falls by about C$310 million.

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Grains Ride Higher With Crude Oil -- Market Talk

0929 ET - CBOT grains are climbing premarket along with crude oil futures as oil supply remains bottled-up at the Strait of Hormuz. Grains are used as feedstock for renewable fuels. "Speculative money continues to flood the commodities and grains despite any fundamentals, as the war with Iran intensifies and shows no signs of slowing," Matt Zeller of StoneX says in a note. Corn is up 1.1%, soybeans rise 0.9%, and wheat is up 3%. ([e-mail])

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Sugar Prices Could Rise if Oil Rise Sustained-- Market Talk

1348 GMT - Conflict in the Middle East won't cause a direct shock to sugar prices, though sustained higher oil prices could shift sentiment on the commodity, Rabobank's Charles Hart says. Global supply gluts will continue to set the weather for sugar prices, though sustained higher oil prices could shift sugar farmers in Brazil--the world's largest producer of sugar--to produce more ethanol, which would reduce sugar supply. Moreover, disruption to sugar refineries in the UAE and Saudi Arabia caused a jump in the white sugar premium--the price difference between refined and unrefined sugar, Hart adds. Sugar futures in New York trade in line with levels ahead of the U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran last Saturday. ([e-mail])

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Oil Stranded in Strait of Hormuz Has Few Routes Out -- Market Talk

1344 GMT - Around 16 million barrels a day of crude oil is trapped as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz stops, Vortexa analysis shows. Another route for the oil could be down Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. This pipeline can theoretically move around 7 million barrels a day, but so far flows have been much lower, Vortexa's Rohit Rathod writes. Another alternative is the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, which moves crude from Habshan to Fujairah. The pipeline could move around 1.5 million barrels a day, but operations have been disrupted by the conflict, Rathod says. Brent crude trades up 4.1% to $88.90 a barrel, while WTI jumps 6.7% to $85.93 a barrel. ([e-mail])

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U.S. Temporarily Waives Sanctions for India to Buy Russian Oil -- Market Talk

0820 ET - The U.S. Treasury issued a 30-day sanctions waiver for Indian refiners to buy Russian oil as the Middle East conflict keeps millions of barrels a day of production from being shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says on X that the waiver won't provide much financial benefit for Russia "as it only authorizes transactions involving oil already stranded at sea." India and China have been the biggest buyers of sanctioned Russian oil, although India has been reducing its purchases. Crude futures are sharply higher in early U.S. trade, with WTI up 5.7% and Brent advancing 3.6%. ([e-mail])

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-06-26 1026ET