Chain, Crude & Chips: October 18, 2026
Oil, bitcoin and AI chips in three short updates.
Crude: sanctions waiver puts Monday in focus
WTI settled Friday at $101.41 a barrel and Brent at $109.86 (Newsquawk; CNBC also put WTI at $101.41). Over the weekend, President Trump waived new Russia sanctions passed by Congress, including 500% duties on countries buying Russian oil, citing national interests (CNBC, NBC News). Traders will read Monday's open against both the supply fears and the waiver. See our story on the waiver and our oil story.
Chain: bitcoin holds near $81,000
Bitcoin traded around $80,900 Sunday afternoon, down about 1% over 24 hours (CoinGecko: $80,879; CoinDesk: $80,887). It is roughly $1,000 below Friday's opening level of about $82,132 reported by Yahoo Finance. Levels vary by source and time of day.
Chips: longest losing streak since 2008 meets earnings week
The PHLX chip index (SOX) ended Friday with its longest losing streak since 2008 as AI worries deepened (Reuters, via Investing.com). The coming week tests the slide: Tesla, Meta, IBM, Texas Instruments and Lam Research all report Wednesday evening, days after the AI-stock selloff. See our week ahead.
