Crude oil prices rose on Tuesday as Israel launched strikes against senior Hamas leaders in Qatar's capital Doha, escalating Middle East conflict risks. The U.S. nonfarm payrolls data underwent significant downward revisions while the dollar strengthened, dragging gold prices down from historic highs. London aluminum prices continued their upward trajectory.
**Crude Oil: Prices Rise as Israeli Strike in Qatar Reignites Middle East Risks**
Oil prices posted modest gains on Tuesday as traders assessed whether Israel's strike in Qatar, which intensified Middle East conflicts, could threaten crude supplies in the region.
WTI crude climbed 0.6%, approaching $63 per barrel, following the Israeli Defense Forces' attack in Doha targeting Hamas senior leadership. According to Al Jazeera reports, Hamas leaders including Khalil al-Hayya survived the strike.
This marked Israel's first attack in Doha since the Hamas-Israel conflict erupted approximately two years ago. The move could undermine U.S. efforts to broker a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas—an accord that would have eliminated remaining Middle East risk premiums in oil markets. Israel claimed full responsibility for the attack, describing it as "a completely independent operation."
Karen Young, senior research scholar at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, noted that oil prices showed muted reactions during the June armed conflict between Israel and Iran, suggesting Tuesday's gains may not persist.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has intensified military operations targeting Russian energy infrastructure, conducting overnight strikes on parts of the Gubrev-Lysychansk oil pipeline. Kyiv's drone attacks are beginning to impact Russian industry, with the Kremlin reporting affected refinery utilization rates in September.
October-delivery WTI crude futures in New York rose 0.6% to close at $62.63 per barrel.
November Brent crude gained 0.6% to $66.39 per barrel.
**Precious Metals: Gold Retreats After Reaching Record High**
Gold prices narrowed gains on Tuesday after touching historic highs, as traders digested news of downward U.S. employment data revisions and awaited key inflation data that could reveal the Federal Reserve's rate-cutting trajectory.
U.S. job growth proved far less robust than previously reported for the year ending March 2025. According to preliminary benchmark revision data released Tuesday, nonfarm payrolls are projected to be revised down by a record 911,000 for the 12 months through March. Final data will be published early next year.
This data appears to validate growing market sentiment that the U.S. labor market began softening earlier than initially anticipated. The dollar strengthened following the data release, briefly pushing gold down 0.2% before it recovered losses.
Markets have already priced in expectations of approximately three rate cuts this year, with focus now shifting to U.S. producer and consumer inflation data due this week, which may test market confidence in Fed rate reductions.
As of 2:52 p.m. New York time, spot gold rose 0.1% to $3,640.25 per ounce. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.2%. Silver and platinum declined while palladium posted modest gains.
**Base Metals: Aluminum Maintains Upward Momentum**
Aluminum prices sustained recent gains as withdrawal requests from London Metal Exchange warehouses in Asia surged for the second consecutive day.
Aluminum traded around $2,615 per ton during the session, following cumulative gains of approximately 1% over the previous two trading days.
Within just two days, withdrawal applications from LME warehouses in Malaysia reached nearly 100,000 tons, causing available inventory for other buyers to retreat from 14-month highs.
**London Market Close:**
LME copper remained essentially flat at $9,914.0 per ton;
LME aluminum rose 0.19% to $2,622.5 per ton;
LME nickel fell 0.81% to $15,105.0 per ton;
LME zinc declined 0.71% to $2,856.0 per ton.