Oil prices took a leg down on Monday as the outlook for potential diplomatic breakthroughs in the Middle East strengthened just a day before midterm elections that could represent a pivotal moment for the Iran war.
Futures on Brent crude (BZ=F), the international benchmark, shed around 7.9% to trade below $105 per barrel, while those on US WTI crude (CL=F) lost 7.5% to hold near $96.
Oil futures initially began to move downward on Monday after Axios reported that, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pressed the White House for a forceful round of strikes on Iran, President Trump has said he wants to give diplomacy with Tehran another shot.
The reporting from Axios aligns with public statements in recent days from President Trump, where he has said the US won’t strike Iran after the midterms. However, reporting by national outlets in recent weeks has indicated that the US military has briefed Trump on options for a major reescalation after the midterms, when the risk of political backlash against the president will be lessened.
Read more: How oil price shocks ripple through your wallet, from gas to groceries
Adding to the downward pressure on oil prices Monday, leaders in Tehran said contact with the US over negotiations to end the war is continuing, Reuters reported, as talks between Iran and Qatari mediators have produced proposal language but no breakthrough agreement.
“Consultations through mediators are very intensive,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in comments to the state-run media outlet IRNA. “We have ‌presented our conditions and proposals and everything depends on the political rationality of Washington.”
Leaders in China and Russia both spoke out against a full-fledged resumption of hostilities on Monday, in comments from their foreign ministries. China is a major buyer of energy from the Gulf region, and after largely staying out of the conflict through its first several months, it has engaged more directly in recent weeks.
In Russia, the war in Iran has added to the nation’s domestic fuel shortage, caused largely by strikes on oil refineries by the Ukrainian military and international sanctions levied against Moscow. President Vladimir Putin reportedly spoke with Iranian security lead official Mohsen Rezaei on Monday , per Reuters.
Even so, the diplomatic headlines haven’t yet tempered predictions on Wall Street that oil prices will remain higher for longer. Goldman Sachs analysts led by Daan Struyven said on Monday that they now expect Brent prices to average $105 per barrel in December, up from a previous forecast of $90. They see Brent contracts averaging $88 per barrel in 2027, up from a prior $80 forecast.

You are now leaving Barron’s website
By clicking on the “Proceed” button below, you will be redirected to a third-party website owned and operated by Hong Kong Tiimoot Information Technology Co., Limited. (“HKT”), which is located in Hong Kong. That website operates independently from Barron’s and Barron’s does not control the website. The privacy practices of HKT are subject to its Privacy Statement, so please read it closely. We are not responsible for HKT’s privacy or other data-related practices.

Virgin Galactic unveiled its next-generation spaceship, Apeiron, bringing the company closer to its planned return to commercial spaceflight in 2027 after a multiyear pause in operations.
The spacecraft arrived at Spaceport America in New Mexico, where it will undergo final preparations and flight testing before entering commercial service.
Virgin Galactic expects to begin commercial spaceflights aboard Apeiron early in the second quarter of 2027, provided the test program is completed successfully. A second next-generation spaceship is expected to begin commercial operations late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter of 2027.
LOCKHEED MARTIN UNVEILS 10-YEAR FRAMEWORK TO PRODUCE 850 F-35 FIGHTER JETS FOR THE US MILITARY
The new spacecraft is designed to fly as often as twice per week and complete more than 500 missions over its operational life, potentially allowing Virgin Galactic to operate commercial flights more frequently.
Virgin Galactic last conducted a commercial spaceflight in 2024 before pausing operations to focus on developing its next-generation spacecraft.
Apeiron, an ancient Greek word meaning “boundless,” was chosen through a public vote that drew responses from thousands of people in more than 80 countries across six continents.
After being revealed at Virgin Galactic’s spaceship factory in Mesa, Arizona, Apeiron was flown beneath the company’s carrier aircraft, Eve, to Spaceport America, which will serve as the spacecraft’s permanent home and operations base. The spacecraft departed Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport at 10:29 a.m. MST and arrived in New Mexico at 12:59 p.m. MDT.
Virgin Galactic said its engineering team will now complete avionics software integration and validation while preparing Apeiron for flight testing.
Meanwhile, production of the company’s broader fleet is underway, with assembly of a second spaceship and a static test article progressing at its Arizona facility.
The timeline remains contingent on successfully completing flight testing and other development work.
CLICK HERE TO GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO

Summary
Companies
Indexes up: Dow 1.06%, S&P 500 0.58%, Nasdaq 0.65%
Oracle down on plans of raising $20 billion through debt, share sale
Apple falls ahead of earnings due after markets close
Nov 2 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes climbed on Monday as oil prices tumbled ​more than 7% on hopes of a US-Iran peace deal, with investors also bracing for Tuesday’s midterm elections ‌and another busy week of earnings.
Brent crude prices fell to an over two-week low as Iran’s talks with Qatari officials to end the eight-month-long conflict with the US raised hopes that Middle East supply disruptions could ease.
Sign up here.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country’s supreme leader has granted “certain authorities” to the government with regard ​to peace talks, state media reported.
Most megacap and growth stocks gained, with Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab and Amazon.com (AMZN.O), opens new tab rising 1% and 4.5%, respectively.
At 11:49 ​a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab rose 549.85 points, or 1.06%, to 52,320.16, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab gained 43.80 ⁠points, or 0.58%, to 7,623.75 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab gained 164.91 points, or 0.65%, to 25,601.91.
Eight of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors ​were in positive territory, with consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD), opens new tab leading gains, while energy (.SPNY), opens new tab fell over 2.8%.
The gains offered some respite to the AI trade after ​a bruising October, which left the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 (.NDX), opens new tab close to entering correction territory, as investors grew wary of Big Tech’s soaring AI spending while awaiting evidence of stronger returns.
Concerns, however, lingered as Oracle (ORCL.N), opens new tab dropped 5.5%, after regulatory filings showed that the cloud infrastructure provider plans to raise $20 billion through a debt and share ​sale, highlighting investor concerns that debt-funded spending could become harder to justify as borrowing costs rise.
Sentiment towards AI remains shaky, as an amended ​IPO filing showed Anthropic’s net loss narrowed sharply in the third quarter, while revenue jumped ahead of a potential listing.
“(AI) Demand still looks strong, but this ‌earnings ⁠season has increasingly been about what companies are spending to capture it and when those investments start showing up in returns,” said Jake Behan, head of capital markets at Direxion.
Marvell Technology (MRVL.O), opens new tab fell 7.6% after the custom chipmaker said that it is buying optical components maker Lumentum (LITE.O), opens new tab in a $115 billion all-stock deal, including debt. Shares of Lumentum were down 12.9%.
Intel (INTC.O), opens new tab extended its losses, down 4.8%, after clocking the stock’s ​worst one-day fall since the ​1980s on Friday. The company forecast ⁠quarterly revenue below market estimates and said it does not expect positive cash flow this year.
Rival chipmaker AMD (AMD.O), opens new tab is set to report its earnings later this week, while tech giant Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab fell 1.6% ahead ​of its quarterly earnings due after the bell.
This week’s key catalysts include the US midterm elections ​on Tuesday, which ⁠will determine whether Democrats can wrest control of Congress away from President Donald Trump’s Republican Party.
Democrats are widely predicted to win the House of Representatives, but the Senate is more in doubt. Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress during the first two years of the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, data ⁠showed that ​US manufacturing activity picked up in October amid solid domestic demand.
Advancing issues outnumbered ​decliners by a 2.97-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.78-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 30 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while ​the Nasdaq Composite recorded 88 new highs and 182 new lows.
Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Utkarsh Hathi in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel

Over Halloween weekend, some Grok Bot users awoke to something especially spooky: their weekly usage limits were unexpectedly maxed out, even if they hadn’t been using SpaceX’s agentic AI overnight. Some users reported on X that their usage jumped from as low as 50% to 100%.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed in an X post on Sunday that this was not a glitch.
“The cost of serving Grok Bot was unsustainably high relative to revenue,” he wrote in a reply to a question from a user. He has not addressed the issue on his main feed, but has continued boasting that Grok Bot can help you buy gifts for your family.
Grok Bot has been positioned as a success story for the newly public SpaceX, which said in a filing last month that AI now makes up 52% of company income. Its renamed “Super Intelligence” division actually turned a profit of $431 million, which is a rarity in the AI industry. Its profit would’ve been higher if not for $1.2 billion of one-time costs related to its acquisition of Cursor. Musk recently referred to Grok Bot as having “the fastest growth of a product that I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Musk has not yet shared how subscribers’ usage limits will be impacted moving forward.