[MARKET ANALYSIS] Crude takes a breather after a choppy mid-week; metals mixed

• Crude futures have pulled back from extremes following a three-day rally and amid a lack of military action overnight. On Wednesday, President Trump said renewed Iran strikes would likely be brief, and officials pointed towards steady Strait of Hormuz flows. That being said, Trump added the US was prepared to conduct another attack on Iran. Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Bessent said Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy assets and the Iran conflict are driving a global energy shock and higher prices. Meanwhile, some weakness was seen across the crude complex after Russian President Putin struck a more conciliatory tone as he suggested Russia and Ukraine should agree first and that there is an opportunity to reach a peace agreement. Brent Nov trades in a USD 94.03-95.91/bbl range (vs yesterday’s 93.52-97.04/bbl range) while WTI Oct resides in a USD 89.57-91.46/bbl parameter (vs yesterday’s 88.97-92.29/bbl band).
• Dutch TTF prices are also on a softer footing but off worst levels, with the front-month contract remaining elevated above EUR 72.50/MWh where the support was found before moving north of EUR 73/MWh. Analysts at ING suggested in yesterday’s note “Escalation in the Persian Gulf pushes back hopes of any recovery in LNG exports from the region. This remains a concern for Europe, given lower-than-usual storage levels. LNG netbacks favour sending spot LNG to Europe over Asia. But as we move closer to the Northern Hemisphere winter, competition between the two regions is likely to pick up, particularly if Qatari LNG remains largely absent from the market through year-end”.
• Metals are mixed, with precious metals cheering the pullback in the USD as they attempt to trim recent losses. Spot gold resides in a USD 4,381-4,440/oz range after topping its 100 DMA (USD 4,358/oz) yesterday. Spot silver resides in a relatively narrow USD 65.21-66.25/oz range, still under Tuesday’s USD 67.08/oz high and below the 100 DMA (USD 67.64/oz). Base metals fail to benefit from the USD pullback as elevated energy prices weigh on the growth picture, whilst hawkish central banks also cap gains for the complex. 3M LME copper trades in a tight USD 14,208.88- 14,278.00/t range at the time of writing.

War-premium reversals of this kind follow a well-worn sequence: crude prices spike on the supply-threat headline, then hand back a large share of the move within days when physical flows, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz, prove uninterrupted. History shows the premium is only sustained when actual supply or transit is impaired; rhetoric alone, including strike threats from either side, has tended to fade from the curve front-end first. The conciliatory tone from Moscow fits the same pattern, with peace-talk headlines historically producing sharp but shallow pullbacks that retrace if talks stall. The distinction worth drawing is between the crude complex, where the geopolitical premium is being actively repriced, and European gas, where the transmission runs through LNG availability, storage levels below seasonal norms, and the Europe-Asia cargo competition into winter; that channel keeps TTF supported even as crude fades. The precious-versus-base metals split is the standard expression of this mix: gold and silver trading as a USD story, copper capped by the growth drag from elevated energy costs and hawkish central bank rhetoric. Worth watching are verified Hormuz transit data, concrete movement on Russia-Ukraine talks, and whether Qatari LNG flows normalise before winter restocking tightens the Atlantic basin.