Commodities : oil looks for a direction

marketscreener.com · Feb 17, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

Full Article

Each week, this commodities round-up lets you review the latest market news to better understand price moves in energy, metals and agricultural raw materials. Energy: Hesitation is palpable in the oil markets. To see it, just open a price chart for Brent or WTI and set it to weekly data. You will then see long wicks on the latest candlesticks, a sign tthat there is no clear directional trend. More concretely, Brent once again ventured above the $70-a-barrel line, but has since retreated to trade around $68. The same goes for WTI, which is trading near its weekly low at $63 after peaking at $65.80. This pullback reflects a combination of gloomy demand forecasts and easing tensions between the United States and Iran. The latest report from the International Energy Agency has indeed chilled the market. The Agency points to a growing market imbalance, with excess supply, while global demand growth is expected to slow this year, according to its forecasts. In the background, fears of an immediate escalation in the Middle East have eased. US President Donald Trump confirmed his willingness to continue nuclear talks with Iran, for now refusing to broaden the discussions to the ballistic programme, as Israel wanted. This stance pushes back, in the short term, the spectre of a direct conflict or a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. However, tensions remain. Proof of that: the United States will deploy a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East. More recently, Iran announced a partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to a military exercise, a way of weighing on the negotiations under way in Geneva. Metals: Volatility remains high in precious metals. Silver fell by around 3% last week, while gold held up better with a virtually flat weekly performance. The barbarous relic is benefiting from the latest inflation figures, below expectations, to stabilise around $5,000. On the industrial metals side, copper in London is slipping back to around $12,850 a tonne (cash price).Agricultural products: After coffee, cocoa is the next to dive. Sluggish cocoa demand is swelling inventories and weighing on prices, which fell by around 10% last week. In Chicago, the USDA revised down its estimate of global corn and wheat stocks. Prices have not moved much compared with last week. Wheat is trading around 550 cents a bushel and corn around 431 cents a bushel (March 2026 contract). https://www.marketscreener.com/mods_a/charts/display_img_from_hes.php?3/650,400,0,Close;2023/01/01-46869253,46869254;46869256;46869252-33D251;16A8EC;FF3000;FFAE00;9644C5;28A641;F26B3E;B32400;0E6B9A;B37D00;612D80-3.png" border="0" alt="" width="590" height="362" />