Energy commodities are surging, and the inflation math is shifting
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 17, 2026.
Energy is carrying the entire commodity complex, with heating oil up 127% over the past year while gold, lumber and coffee all sit in the red. That split is a direct feed into next year's inflation prints and refiner margins.
Commodity prices over last year... Heating Oil: +127% Brent Crude +80% Gasoline: +79% WTI Crude: +77% Copper: +32% Sugar: +32% Wheat: +31% Cotton: +26% Soybeans: +25% Corn: +12% Aluminum: +8% Natural Gas: +7% Silver: +5% Gold: -4% Live Cattle: -8% Lumber: -15% Coffee: -23%
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Heating oil has climbed 127% over the past year, a synchronized energy-complex move that becomes persistent input-cost pressure in consumer prices over subsequent months.
Copper, sugar, and wheat are each up more than 30%, and the breadth of the rally leaves few industries insulated from rising input costs.
Gold, lumber, and coffee have all declined over the same period, so weakness in defensive and housing-adjacent commodities stands apart from the energy-led strength elsewhere.
For investors, energy feeds directly into transportation, manufacturing, and home-heating costs, while softness in gold shows the rally is not a broad flight to safety. Refiner margins and inflation-sensitive fixed-income positions are the two areas most directly in the crosshairs of this data.