Oil jumps 4% as Houthi missiles hit Saudi airports and a hurricane bears down on US Gulf output
Brent crude futures settled at US$104.28 a barrel on 8 October (US time), up 4.07 per cent, and WTI at US$91.49, up 3.64 per cent (settlement data via FinancialJuice; Bloomberg reported Brent above US$105 intraday). The Houthis said they attacked Riyadh's King Khalid airport with missiles (Reuters, AP), and the BBC and FT reported three deaths in Houthi attacks on Saudi airports. Lufthansa and Indian airlines suspended Riyadh flights (Reuters). Bloomberg reported Hurricane Isaias put about 500,000 barrels a day of US refining capacity at risk. President Trump said the US would not attack Iran before the midterms (Reuters, FT), while the US sanctioned more tankers in Iran's shadow fleet and Iran vowed to block more Hormuz routes (Reuters). Wall Street slipped on higher yields and oil (Reuters).
Oil above US$100 feeds inflation and keeps central banks leaning towards higher rates. That is the same fear that drove Thursday's sell-off in Singapore bank shares.
Expect pressure on pump prices, airfares and, later, electricity tariffs. If you hold STI funds or bank shares, another volatile session is likely today.
Much of the spike is a weather and security premium. If the hurricane passes quickly and the Saudi attacks do not widen, prices can fall back as fast as they rose.
Supply is being hit from several directions at once: the Gulf, the Red Sea area and the US coast. Each shock lands on markets already worried about inflation, so the premium may stick.
Three things to watch: how much US Gulf output stays offline after landfall, whether the Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure continue, and whether Hormuz traffic recovers. If Brent stays above US$100 into next week, expect forecasters to lift their inflation outlook for Singapore.
DailyDrop Singapore edition No. 5 · Morning · FRI., OCT. 9, 2026