Commodities Wrap 2 September: Crude settles higher while both refined products fall and 4 of 5 metals reverse Tuesday’s losses
Crude oil settled higher again on Wednesday 2 September 2026 while the fuels made from it fell, and the metals board reversed almost entirely. Of the 17 commodity contracts on this board, 8 rose and 9 fell.
West Texas Intermediate settled at 91.01 dollars a barrel, up nearly 1 percent, and Brent closed at 95.63 dollars, up about 1 percent, on CNBC’s report of the session. Measured against the exchange settlements for 1 September those are gains of 0.88 percent and 1.04 percent, on our calculation. Both contracts had printed session highs earlier in the week at 92.29 and 97.04 dollars, their highest since 24 July.
Refinery activity helps explain why crude and its products moved apart
This is the day’s most useful fact and it comes from an official release rather than the tape. The United States Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that commercial crude inventories fell 4.5 million barrels in the week to 28 August, to 424.5 million barrels, against a 1.1 million barrel draw expected in a poll of analysts. Refinery utilisation rose 0.6 percentage points to 98 percent, the highest since August 2018, crude runs rose 103,000 barrels a day, and crude exports rose 691,000 barrels a day to 4.5 million.
The product side of the same report is what explains the divergence. Gasoline stocks fell 1.2 million barrels to 205.7 million, a smaller draw than the 1.8 million expected, and distillate stocks rose 0.8 million barrels to 104.2 million against an expected draw of 1.3 million. High refinery throughput was rebuilding distillate inventory even as crude stocks fell, while the gasoline draw came in smaller than analysts had expected.
Refineries running at 98 percent consume crude and produce fuel. That is visible directly in the board: crude rose while both refined products fell, ULSD heating oil by 0.14 percent and RBOB gasoline by 1.06 percent, the weakest energy row.
Converted to a common unit at 42 gallons a barrel, both indicative product premiums over West Texas Intermediate narrowed on the day. The distillate premium eased to 105.27 dollars from 106.93, a contraction of 1.66 dollars, and the gasoline premium fell to 39.38 dollars from 41.87, a contraction of 2.49 dollars, both on our calculation. These are simple product value less crude value calculations, not a defined refinery configuration such as a 3 2 1 crack.
Both figures for 1 September are computed from the post settlement quotes published in this series for that date rather than from the exchange settlements, so each side of the comparison uses the same price basis. Computing the earlier pair from settlements instead gives 106.23 dollars and 41.45 dollars, but setting those against Wednesday’s post settlement quotes would mix 2 bases in one subtraction. The refined product side therefore gave back relative value on a day when crude itself gained.
Natural gas was the strongest energy contract at plus 2.82 percent, closing the gap on a contract that had settled lower on 1 September.
The metals board turned around
On 1 September all 5 metals on this board fell. On Wednesday 4 of the 5 rose. Palladium led at plus 2.74 percent, gold and silver each added 0.66 percent, copper was barely changed at plus 0.04 percent, and platinum was the single exception at minus 0.05 percent, itself close to unchanged.
Gold’s December contract settled at 4,414.60 dollars an ounce, 0.4 percent higher, Reuters reported. It had been recovering from a near 1 month low. The bounce was attributed to the dollar and Treasury yields retreating from recent highs, with David Meger of High Ridge Futures quoted saying gold moved back above unchanged as yields ticked down on the day. Traders were pricing a 64 percent chance of a United States rate increase this month on CME Group’s FedWatch measure, ahead of Friday’s payrolls report.
The Dutch central bank said it had transferred 86 metric tons of gold from New York and Ottawa to London over the past 6 months, to improve tradability and bolster crisis preparedness.
Agriculture was the weak side of the board
All 3 grains fell, wheat by 0.99 percent, soybeans by 0.68 percent and corn by 0.64 percent, despite the United States Department of Agriculture reporting a private export sale of 202,000 metric tons of soybeans to China for delivery in the 2026/27 marketing year.
The softs were weaker still and supplied the day’s largest move in either direction. Cocoa fell 4.28 percent, coffee 3.91 percent and cotton 3.05 percent. Sugar was the only agricultural contract to rise, at plus 1.91 percent. No approved source published an explanation for the cocoa move, and this report does not offer one.
The macro frame
The dollar index eased 0.08 percent to 99.597 and the 10 year Treasury yield was quoted at 4.794 percent, having touched 4.818 percent earlier in the session, its highest since 1 November 2023. A softer dollar and Treasury yields retreating from their intraday high provided the more supportive backdrop the gold market was responding to.
Volatility fell sharply. The CBOE Volatility Index dropped 7.04 percent to 15.19, a sharp retreat despite a week marked by multi year highs in several major sovereign bond yields and renewed geopolitical pressure on crude.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners are likely to keep output policy unchanged for October at a meeting on Sunday, 3 sources close to the matter told Reuters. Seven core members, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Oman, meet online from 11:00 GMT. This month’s increase completes the unwinding of a 1.65 million barrel a day cut first agreed in 2023, and another layer of cuts remains in place for most of the 21 country group until the end of 2026.
| Contract | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Natural Gas, NYMEX (Oct’26), dollars a million Btu | $2.986 | +2.82% |
| Brent Crude, ICE (Nov’26), dollars a barrel | $95.50 | +0.90% |
| WTI Crude, NYMEX (Oct’26), dollars a barrel | $90.90 | +0.75% |
| ULSD Heating Oil, NYMEX (Oct’26), dollars a gallon | $4.6706 | -0.14% |
| RBOB Gasoline, NYMEX (Oct’26), dollars a gallon | $3.1019 | -1.06% |
Most active contract quotes captured in a single call at 19:29 GMT on 2 September 2026, after the day’s energy settlement window. These are post settlement quotes, not settlements, and each change is measured against the previous session’s exchange settlement, so the comparison is settlement to snapshot. The settlements themselves, where an approved source published them in article text, were West Texas Intermediate at 91.01 dollars and Brent at 95.63 dollars.
| Contract | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Palladium, NYMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | $1,367.00 | +2.74% |
| Gold, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | $4,425.50 | +0.66% |
| Silver, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | $65.80 | +0.66% |
| Copper, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars a pound | $6.6030 | +0.04% |
| Platinum, NYMEX (Oct’26), dollars an ounce | $1,765.50 | -0.05% |
Quotes from the same 19:29 GMT capture, after the metals settlement window. Gold’s December contract settled at 4,414.60 dollars, 0.4 percent higher, against the 4,425.50 quoted here after the window closed. The remaining 4 metals rows are post settlement quotes measured against the previous session’s settlement.
| Contract | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar, ICE (Oct’26), cents a pound | 18.71 | +1.91% |
| Corn, CBOT (Dec’26), cents a bushel | 542.50 | -0.64% |
| Soybeans, CBOT (Nov’26), cents a bushel | 1,308.75 | -0.68% |
| Wheat, CBOT (Dec’26), cents a bushel | 774.75 | -0.99% |
| Cotton, ICE (Dec’26), cents a pound | 88.76 | -3.05% |
| Coffee, ICE (Dec’26), cents a pound | 297.35 | -3.91% |
| Cocoa, ICE (Dec’26), dollars a metric ton | $6,290.00 | -4.28% |
Quotes from the same 19:29 GMT capture, after the grain and soft settlement windows. The CBOT grains settle at 13:15 Central Time, which is 18:15 GMT in summer, and the ICE softs between 17:00 and 18:20 GMT.
Every one of the 12 CME contracts on this board was checked against CME Group’s own settlement file for trade date 1 September 2026, read after that exchange published it, and the previous close carried by the feed matched the exchange settlement on all 12: West Texas Intermediate 90.22, natural gas 2.90400, ULSD 4.6773, RBOB 3.1351, gold 4,396.40, silver 65.369, copper 6.6005, platinum 1,766.40, palladium 1,330.60, corn 546.00, wheat 782.50 and soybeans 1,317.75. Brent and the 4 ICE softs are not CME contracts and their bases are the feed’s own previous settlements, of which Brent’s 94.65 is separately confirmed by the wire.
| Instrument | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 99.597 | -0.08% |
| US 10 Year Treasury yield | 4.794% | -0.2bp |
| CBOE Volatility Index | 15.19 | -7.04% |
| Bitcoin, dollars | 77,176.19 | -0.11% |
Intraday quotes from the same 19:29 GMT capture. These instruments trade continuously and have no daily settlement. The Treasury yield change is expressed in basis points because a percentage change of a percentage is not a meaningful figure.
Sources: CME Group, the settlement file for trade date 1 September 2026 and the FedWatch measure; the United States Energy Information Administration, the Weekly Petroleum Status Report for the week ended 28 August 2026, released 2 September; the United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service, the daily export sale reported 2 September 2026; Reuters, the gold settlement and market report and the report that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners are likely to hold output policy for October; CNBC, the West Texas Intermediate and Brent settlements and the session report; De Nederlandsche Bank, the gold transfer; CNBC, commodity, currency, volatility, Treasury and bitcoin quotes captured at 19:29 GMT on 2 September 2026; The Edge, the Commodities Wrap covering the 1 September 2026 session.
