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# Brent crude touched US$110, and J.B. Hunt showed where the fuel bill ends up
- URL: https://www.sharespective.com/stories/brent-crude-touched-us-110-j-2026-10-17/
- Published: 2026-10-16T21:15:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-19T19:29:53.000Z
- Description: Brent crude rose 3.7% on Friday to settle at US$109.86 a barrel. It briefly touched US$110, its first time there since May, and gained nearly 5% over the week.
- Author: Shaun Botha
- Tags: Transport, #story, #group-other, J.B. Hunt

Brent crude rose 3.7% on Friday to settle at US$109.86 a barrel. It briefly touched US$110, its first time there since May, and gained nearly 5% over the week.

**Why did it jump?** Iran stepped up attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Houthi rebels fired missiles at Saudi Arabia, and Ukraine vowed to keep striking Russian refineries. ING's commodity team said the market is pricing in a significant risk premium.

J.B. Hunt, one of America's biggest freight carriers, has the numbers on what that costs. Its fuel bill for the September quarter was US$260.4 million, up 59% from US$164.0 million a year earlier.

![Chart: J.B. Hunt's fuel bill outran its operating income. Fuel costs and operating income, US$m, in every September quarter, 2009 to 2026. The fuel bill rose from US$164.0m a year earlier; surcharges brought in US$670.8m.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/02/71/0271df32-cec6-421f-9f13-b06ab90e54c1/content/images/2026/10/brent-crude-touched-us-110-j-2026-10-17-chart.jpg)

This story’s chart of the day.

Most of that was passed on. Customers paid US$670.8 million in fuel surcharges, up from US$385.6 million. That pushed revenue up 20% to US$3.68 billion, while operating income rose only 2%, to US$247.1 million.

The shares fell 2.78% on Friday to US$228.78, after the results landed on Thursday afternoon.

What to watch 

the surcharge line. J.B. Hunt hauls goods for retailers and manufacturers. Surcharges up 74% in a year are a cost those customers will try to pass on to shoppers in turn.

[ This story ran in Tech Takes a Beating Saturday 17 October’s edition, with the market snapshot, the other two stories, the numbers and the week ahead. Read the whole edition → ](https://www.sharespective.com/sharespective-2026-10-17/)