Brent crude rose to a five-month high; tech stocks and crypto tumbled on geopolitical risks and rate fears.
Brent crude reached $115.84 on Friday, a price not seen since May. The increase followed Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia and concerns over possible new US attacks on Iran.
Prices for other energy sources varied, according to Trading Economics data:
The oil rally occurred in markets still recovering from a tech selloff. Additionally, cryptocurrency prices fell as investors reduced risk exposure.
Yemen's Houthi group claimed it struck Saudi energy installations, among them an Aramco site in Yanbu and the Shaybah field. Subsequently, Aramco evacuated employees from its Dhahran headquarters on the Gulf coast.
According to OilPrice, this indicates the Houthis are now capable of hitting targets far from their typical Red Sea focus. A pipeline outage in Libya also reduced production at two fields.
ING analysts, citing various reports, stated that Donald Trump is considering additional strikes against Iran as a second US aircraft carrier is deployed. Consequently, ING now describes its previous $80 per barrel Brent forecast for the fourth quarter as unattainable. BeInCrypto reported that Brent had already hit a five-month high earlier this week.
“If anything, re-escalation seems the most likely path. As a result, our expectation that ICE Brent would average $80/bbl over 4Q26 is looking unattainable. Even if tensions don’t re-escalate, the mere possibility is likely to keep a sizeable geopolitical risk premium embedded in prices,” the analysts said.
Commodity trader Jack Prandelli, however, observes a divergence. He pointed out that Dated Brent, the price of physical oil cargoes, declined from roughly $135 in early October to about $118.
The oil market is sending 2 different messages.
Dated Brent, the price of physical cargoes, has dropped from about $135 in early October to around $118.
Brent futures have gone the other way, up to about $112.
The gap between them has shrunk from roughly $30 to under $10 in 3… pic.twitter.com/BXInybZC0i
— Jack Prandelli (@jackprandelli) October 22, 2026
The surge in oil prices coincided with a significant decline on Wall Street. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.6% on Thursday to 26,008.86, and the S&P 500 fell 1.21%.
Meta shares posted the largest decline, losing almost 7% after the company raised its 2026 spending floor to $135 billion.
Cryptocurrencies were also affected by the selling pressure on Wall Street. BeInCrypto Markets data reflects this spillover: total crypto market capitalization dropped 3.74% in a 24-hour period to $2.76 trillion. Major assets including Ethereum (ETH), XRP (XRP), and TRON (TRX) traded lower.
Analyst Benjamin Cowen linked the volatility to oil markets.
Brent is approaching a new yearly high.
Certainly causing volatility in risk assets ahead of the midterms pic.twitter.com/zDBmbsdDVq
— Benjamin Cowen (@benjamincowen) October 22, 2026
Higher oil prices also exert pressure through the interest rate channel. Rising crude prices boost inflation expectations and reinforce the case for more restrictive monetary policy by the Federal Reserve.
Traders currently estimate an approximately 83% probability that the Fed will maintain rates at its October 27-28 meeting. However, the recent energy price increases could change those probabilities.
Two key events are scheduled for the coming week. The Fed will announce its interest rate decision on October 28, and Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet are set to publish their earnings reports.
The pace at which risk appetite recovers may depend on whether Brent crude remains above $115 through those events.
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Disclaimer: this article comes from third-party media and is provided for reference only. It does not constitute investment advice. Crypto and other financial products carry significant price volatility risk, so please make your own decisions carefully.
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