The Global Pulse Weekly Update 28th Oct'26

Oil set the tone again. Brent crude rose to about $116.72 a barrel, another weekly gain, after Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia and fresh US-Iran tension near the Strait of Hormuz. Costlier oil feeds inflation, so traders now put the odds of a Fed rate rise by December above 80%.

Gold pays no interest, so higher rates hurt it most. It fell 4.0% and briefly slipped below $4,000 for the first time since mid-July.

Tech had its own problem. Meta fell about 7% after its results and Tesla cut its spending plan, leaving investors doubting how long the AI boom lasts. The Nasdaq fell 0.7% to 25,955.34 and the S&P 500 0.5% to 7,623.68. Only the Dow rose, up 0.4%.

The selloff spread to Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 4.0%, while China’s SSEC fell just 0.7%, propped up by state-backed buying on Friday.

London fared no better. The FTSE 100 lost 1.9% as Rolls-Royce and the banks outweighed energy gains.

India buys most of its oil abroad, so costlier crude bites. The Nifty 50 fell 2.4% to 22,600, with mid and small caps down harder.