Wednesday, May 20, 2026…4:10 PM ET
[4:00 PM ET closing prices for stocks; 3:50ish for commodities and bonds.]
Tale of the Tape at the gas pump, nationwide averages, courtesy of AAA.
Fri. Feb. 27…regular gas $2.98…diesel $3.75
Wed., May 20…reg. $4.55…diesel $5.65
Stocks rallied and oil and gasoline futures cratered after President Trump said today that negotiations with Iran were in the final stages, while warning of further attacks unless Iran agrees to a deal.
Six weeks since Trump paused Operation Epic Fury for a ceasefire, talks to end the war have shown little progress so far. Trump has said this week he came close to ordering more attacks but held off to allow more time for negotiations.
“We’re in the final stages of Iran. We’ll see what happens. Either have a deal or we’re going to do some things that are a little bit nasty, but hopefully that won’t happen,” he told reporters.
“We’re going to give this one shot. I’m in no hurry,” Trump said. “Ideally, I’d like to see few people killed, as opposed to a lot. We can do it either way.”
Tehran, for its part, accused Trump of plotting to restart the war, and threatened to retaliate for any strikes with attacks beyond the Middle East.
“If aggression against Iran is repeated, the promised regional war will extend beyond the region this time,” the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran’s top negotiator at peace talks, said in an audio message released on social media that “obvious and hidden moves by the enemy” showed the Americans were preparing new attacks.
The interior minister of Pakistan – which hosted the only round of peace talks so far and has since been the conduit for messages between the sides – was in Tehran on Wednesday.
Crude oil futures fell more than 5% to $97 on WTI on fresh hope that supply from the Middle East could be gradually restored. Any agreement would likely end each country’s naval blockade of commercial vessels crossing the Strait. Optimism on supply was magnified by satellite data showing three supertankers crossing the Strait, said to be Chinese tankers, potentially reflecting a looser grip on traffic.
A trade industry publication said Iran had allowed a mixed fleet of 26 vessels through the Strait today.
Meanwhile, crude oil inventories fell for the fourth straight week, with the U.S. SPR depleted by 10 million barrels.
The UAE’s minister of industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) Managing Director and Group CEO, Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, touted the UAE’s new West-East oil pipeline today, the project designed to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, saying it was now nearly 50% complete with a planned 2027 completion data.
But Al Jaber also said ADNOC was continuing to assess damage and costs linked to the recent conflict after some company facilities and infrastructure were directly hit.
He said restoring some operations could take weeks or months depending on the extent of the damage, while returning to pre-conflict flows would take at least four months.
Back to the market…everyone is waiting for Nvidia’s earnings momentarily….
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The NBA conference finals are off to a rousing start. Monday, it was San Antonio beating Oklahoma City in overtime in an all-time great NBA game.
And then last night at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks made a stupendous fourth-quarter comeback that led to a takeout of the Cavaliers in their Game 1, also in OT.
The Knicks were down 22 with just 7:49 to play, 93-71, and outscored Cleveland 30-8 to get the game into overtime, 101-101, after which the Knicks continued the demolition in OT, 115-104 the final…New York outscoring the Cavs 44-11 in the final 12 ½ minutes.
Entering Tuesday night, teams holding a 22-point lead at any point in the fourth quarter of a postseason game were 594-1. The Cavaliers made it 594-2.
Game 2 of the San Antonio-Oklahoma City series is tonight in OKC.
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Dow Jones +645…+1.3% [50009]
S&P 500 +79…+1.1% [7432]
Nasdaq +399…+1.5% [26270]
Oil (WTI) $98.40…Brent $105.00
Gold $4545
Silver $76.05
Bitcoin $77,600 [4:00 PM ET]
U.S. 2-yr. 4.04%
U.S. 10-yr. 4.57%…down 9 bps….
Japanese 10-yr. 2.76%
Back Thurs.
Brian Trumbore
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