News
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
What’s happening: WTI crude oil prices edged lower this morning, amid hopes of progress in the US-Iran talks.
What happened: Saudi Arabia started restoring operations on its East-West Pipeline to the Red Sea, which eased supply disruption concerns.
Strength in the US dollar also weighed on oil prices, sending crude lower for the sixth straight session.
Why it matters: Although US President Donald Trump warned to “annihilate” Iran, he said his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had productive meetings with Iran’s envoys to end the ongoing conflict.
A senior Iranian government official said the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened within seven days after the US takes steps towards lifting the blockade that has significantly impacted oil exports from the country.
Saudi Arabia also restarted operations on its key pipeline to the Red Sea, raising prospects of higher global oil flows. Saudi Arabia was forced to shut the pipeline on September 11 following drone attacks.
Iraq’s oil minister, Basim Mohammed, said the country had increased its crude oil export capacity to more than 3 million barrels per day (bpd), and has plans to raise output to 5 million bpd as it develops new routes, like via Türkiye.
The latest developments raised speculations of improved supplies, sending the global benchmark Brent crude prices below the key $100 per barrel level on Tuesday.
Strength in the US dollar exerted further pressure on oil prices as a higher greenback makes commodities more expensive for foreign currency holders. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s performance versus a basket of major peers, edged higher to 100.65 this morning.
Spot price for WTI crude oil fell 0.2% to $89.31 per barrel this morning, recording losses for the sixth session in a row. Spot Brent was down 0.43% at $94.86.
In other commodities trading, heating oil fell 2.2% to $4.6588, while gasoline declined 0.1% to $3.4854. Natural gas bucked the trend, gaining 1.9% to $3.022.
What to watch: Investors will keep an eye on the ongoing developments related to the US-Iran talks.
The EIA’s (Energy Information Administration) crude oil stocks data (1830 UAE Time) will be released today. US crude inventories, which contracted by 0.64 million barrels in the week ended September 11, are expected to decline by 0.6 million barrels in the latest week. US gasoline stockpiles surged by 0.794 barrels in the week, while distillate stocks fell by 1.585 million barrels in the week ended September 11.
Context: Eurozone’s equity markets closed higher on Tuesday amid gains in tech stocks.
Details: AI-related stocks recorded sharp gains in Europe, tracking the US market’s positive momentum following upbeat reviews on Meta’s Muse AI Agent rollout.
Shares of ASML, Infineon and Prosus settled higher on Tuesday on the bullish sentiment. Also, Inditex’s stock rose around 3% on upgrades from brokers.
Bank and insurer stocks pared gains recorded on Monday amid a rebound in sovereign yields in the Eurozone, following a rise in natural gas prices. Shares of Allianz, ING and AXA fell during the session.
Meanwhile, data released on Tuesday showed consumer confidence in the Eurozone declined to -16.5 in September from -15.5 in the previous month. The latest reading also came in worse than market estimates of -16.
Spain’s trade deficit widened to €5.22 billion in July from €4.01 billion in the year-ago period, with imports surged 5.9% year-over-year to €40.68 billion.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.13% to close at 642.78, while the DAX 40 added 0.02% to reach 25,578.85 and CAC 40 rose 0.20% to 8,154.91 on Tuesday. Spain’s IBEX 35 gained 0.15% to settle at 19,754.10.
What to watch: Investors will keep an eye on the US-Iran conflict and the UN meeting.
Data on S&P Global composite PMI (1200 UAE Time), S&P Global manufacturing PMI (1200 UAE Time) and S&P Global services PMI (1200 UAE Time) will be released today. Analysts expect the S&P Global Eurozone composite PMI to decline to 51.7 in September from 52.0 in August. The S&P Global Eurozone services PMI, which declined to 51.6 in August from 51.7 in the previous month, is expected to fall further to 51.5 in September, while the manufacturing PMI is projected to decline to 52.6 in September from 52.7 in the previous month.
Other Markets: Asian indices traded mixed this morning, with the Nikkei 225 up by 1.38% and Hang Seng Index and Shanghai Composite Index down by 0.77% and 0.36%, respectively.
US President Donald Trump said that he could use sweeping new tariff powers against Russia “if necessary” to end the ongoing war with Ukraine. The news sent the USD/RUB pair higher in forex trading this morning.
Australia’s S&P Global manufacturing PMI declined to 49.3 in September from 52.0 in the previous month. Manufacturing activity contracting for the first time since March exerted pressure on the AUD/USD forex pair.
Morocco’s consumer prices declined by 0.3% year-over-year in August, after easing by 0.6% in the previous month, which sent the USD/MAD pair higher in forex trading this morning.
Poland’s retail sales rose by 3.8% year-over-year in August, slowing from 3.9% in the previous month. The latest reading missing market estimates of 4.2% lent support to the USD/PLN forex pair.
Taiwan’s export orders jumped 71.4% year-over-year to a fresh record high of $103 billion in August, after the previous month’s 61.9% growth. However, the USD/TWD pair rose in forex trading this morning.