Brent Crude Drops Below $91 as Trump Calls Iran War Over

Brent crude oil fell below $91 per barrel on Tuesday, marking its lowest level in three months. The decline followed President Donald Trump's statement that the war in Iran is militarily effectively over. This development came one week after American voters handed both chambers of Congress to Democrats in the midterm elections. The shift in geopolitical tone has driven down energy costs despite recent stock market volatility.

The international standard for crude, Brent, dropped 2.2 percent, a loss of $2.02, to settle at $90.55 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude oil followed suit, sliding 1.8 percent or $1.65 to reach $84.94 per barrel. The drop in oil prices coincided with mixed early trading on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 futures rose 0.1 percent and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 0.3 percent. Conversely, Nasdaq futures dipped 0.3 percent before the opening bell.

Nvidia shares fell less than 1 percent before the market opened. The AI chipmaker had dropped 4.3 percent on Monday after CEO Jensen Huang acknowledged an intimate relationship with a business executive. According to The New York Times, U.S. intelligence determined this executive was gathering information for China. Nvidia's board stated it has no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised. However, the board said its inquiry would examine all available information, while China rejected the allegations.

Anthropic, the developer of the Claude chatbot, filed papers with regulators seeking a valuation of $1.3 trillion ahead of its initial public offering. The San Francisco-based company expects the IPO to take place later this month. In its updated filing, Anthropic reported that its quarterly revenue reached $17 billion. Despite this growth, the company posted a net loss for the latest three months. Anthropic has committed to spending $895.4 billion on AI computing and infrastructure, including data centers. Of that total, $70 billion is due to be spent in the next 12 months.

Asian markets posted strong gains on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed 2.9 percent higher at 60,459.58. South Korea's Kospi index climbed 4.4 percent to 5,239.13. In Taiwan, the Taiex jumped 2.5 percent. The rise in Asian markets was supported by strong earnings from chipmakers and a surge in demand for AI hardware. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported that its October revenue was nearly six times that of the same period a year earlier.

SoftBank Group shares jumped 13.9 percent in advance of its earnings release. The Japanese technology company had seen its share price fall to its lowest level in a year on Monday. SoftBank reported a $7 billion loss for the three months ending in September. The loss was driven by concerns over its heavy investments in artificial intelligence. Other tech stocks also performed well, with Tokyo Electron surging 6.1 percent and Advantest gaining 4.6 percent. In South Korea, Samsung Electronics gained 4.7 percent and SK Hynix climbed 6.7 percent.

China's trade data showed a significant expansion in global commerce. Customs data released on Tuesday indicated that China's exports in October climbed 35.2 percent from a year earlier. Imports grew by an even larger margin of 41.6 percent. This surge has put the country on track for another record annual trade surplus. The trade surplus for 2026 has already surpassed $1 trillion. In Europe, Germany's DAX rose 1.2 percent at midday. France's CAC 40 also rose 1.2 percent, while Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.5 percent.

Investors are focused on the upcoming release of the U.S. consumer price index report for October. The data is scheduled to come out later Tuesday. Analysts expect the report to show inflation rose 3.9 percent, up from 3.7 percent in September. Many economists believe this increase in inflation will force the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark interest rate in the coming months. The report will be a key indicator for how the U.S. economy is managing cost pressures.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 0.6 percent to 24,584.81. The Shanghai Composite index in China edged 0.1 percent higher to 3,663.72. These modest gains in Asian markets contrasted with the stronger performance in Japan and South Korea. The global market action reflects a complex mix of geopolitical shifts, corporate earnings, and economic data releases that are shaping investor sentiment in the latter part of 2026.