Brent crude falls amid Gaza ceasefire; Wall St, gold lose steam

Brent crude prices dipped with some calm coming to the Middle East after US President Donald Trump brokered a deal to establish a ceasefire in Gaza, with Israel and Hamas agreeing the first stage of the process.

Meanwhile, stocks on Wall Street and the gold futures ran out of puff, pulling back from recent highs, with Dell Technologies leading the S&P 500 lower in late trading as the laptop maker drifted from its 2025 high.

US airlines were mixed after Delta Air Lines beat quarterly earnings expectations and forecast a recovery in travel through the end of the year.

And the New Zealand dollar dropped against a broadly stronger greenback, with yield on New Zealand’s 10-year government bonds dipping below its US equivalent for the first time since January, while the Bank of New Zealand-BusinessNZ manufacturing activity gauge is the next update on the domestic economy.

The good oil

Brent crude futures were down 1.5% at US$65.09 a barrel at 7am in Auckland as investors digested the potential ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after US President Donald Trump announced a deal in the Middle East, with the remaining Israeli hostages to be released in the first step to what’s hoped will lead to the disarmament of Hamas and the formation of an interim government in Gaza.

Exxon Mobil Corp was down 1% in late trading, while Chevron declined 1.1%

Gold pulled back from its record highs, with the futures down 2.7% at US$3,962 an ounce and stocks on Wall Street were broadly weaker as the S&P 500 declined 0.4%.

“Without any obvious triggers, it has been a bad night for investors, with lower US and European equities, higher global rates and even gold prices are notably weaker,” BNZ senior markets strategist Jason Wong said in a note. “Newsflow has been light and it’s probably just a case of some profit taking after the record-breaking run.”

Dell Technologies led the S&P500 lower, down 5.5% in late trading, with the laptop maker coming of the 2025 peak during the Wednesday trading session.

Delta Air Lines was the pick of the S&P 500’s gainers, up 4.9% after beating quarterly earnings expectations, and saying it’s aiming for a record holiday season. Other carriers were mixed, with United Airlines and Skywest following Delta higher while American Airlines declined.

Sanctioned sales

Nvidia was among the highlights, up 2% in late trading, after the US approved exports of the company’s chips to the United Arab Emirates, while PepsiCo advanced after beating expectations revenue and profit expectations.

Stock markets were mixed across the Atlantic, with the UK’s FTSE 100 down 0.4% as HSBC’s plan to buy out its minority partners in its Hang Seng Bank subsidiary and Lloyds Banking Group’s increased compensation provisioning weighed on banking stocks.

Germany’s DAX 30 nudged up 0.1% while France’s CAC 40 declined 0.2%.

Meanwhile, Italy’s Ferrari sank 15% with investors disappointed by its long-term financial targets, while French tyremaker Michelin declined after warning third-quarter sales volumes would be weaker than the prior year.

That downbeat tone is set to carry over to the antipodes, with Australian futures pointing to a 0.4% decline for the S&P/ASX 200 index when trading opens across the Tasman.

Meanwhile, the kiwi dollar dropped to 57.45 US cents at 7am in Auckland from 58.01 cents yesterday, with the 4.11% yield on New Zealand’s 10-year government bond below the 4.15% on the equivalent US Treasury – the first time it’s dipped below the American benchmark since January.

The BNZ-BusinessNZ performance of manufacturing index is due today, with investors watching to see whether strength in previous new orders translated to more production.

Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Emad El Byed on Unsplash.