Crude oil futures traded lower on Thursday morning as US President Donald Trump expressed his readiness to engage in nuclear weapons testing. Trump’s post on Truth Social came just minutes before his scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday.
At 9.57 am on Thursday, January Brent oil futures were at $64.06, down by 0.40 per cent, and December crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $60.19, down by 0.48 per cent. November crude oil futures were trading at ₹5342 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹5372, down by 0.56 per cent, and December futures were trading at ₹5330 against the previous close of ₹5362, down by 0.60 per cent.
In a post on social media platform Truth Social, Trump said: “The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office. Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years. Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.”
The proposed meeting between Presidents of US and China is expected to focus on the tariff-related issues between these two nations. Trade tensions in the past few months had an impact on the price of commodities such as crude oil. Market players feel that a positive outcome from the meeting could help boost demand for energy-related commodities.
Meanwhile, official data from the US EIA (Energy Information Administration) showed a decline in US crude oil inventories for the week ending October 24. According to EIA, US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 6.9 million barrels for the week ending October 24. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 5.9 million barrels from last week, and distillate fuel inventories decreased by 3.4 million barrels last week.
Total products supplied in the US over the last four-week period averaged 20.8 million barrels a day, down by 0.9 per cent from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 8.7 million barrels a day, down by 4.2 per cent from the same as the last year period. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 4 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, down by 1.5 per cent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was up 7.6 per cent compared with the same four-week period last year.
In their Commodities Feed for Thursday, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy of ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist, said the oil market had a choppy session on Wednesday, still trying to digest the impact of Russian sanctions amid an increasingly comfortable balance as markets head into 2026. However, a set of bullish numbers from the US EIA weekly inventory report ensured crude oil prices closed higher, with Brent settling 0.81 per cent higher on the day.
US EIA reported that US crude oil inventories fell by 6.86 million barrels over the last week. It was driven by the Gulf Coast, where crude inventories declined by just shy of 10 million barrels. Lower imports were behind the inventory draw, with total crude imports falling 867,000 barrels a day week-on-week to the lowest level since February 2021, while Gulf Coast imports hit a record low, they said.
The decline in gasoline inventories occurred despite exports falling 363,000 barrels a day. Stronger domestic demand provided support, with implied gasoline demand increasing 470,000 barrels a day week-on-week, while refiners also reduced their utilisation rates by 2 percentage points to 86.6 per cent, they said.
November nickel futures were trading at ₹1277 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹1327, down by 3.79 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), April turmeric (farmer polished) contracts were trading at ₹13114 in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹12948, up by 1.28 per cent.
December cottonseed oilcake futures were trading at ₹2939 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Thursday against the previous close of ₹2937, up by 0.07 per cent.
Published on October 30, 2025
