Mon., Sept. 28, 2026
[4:10 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 $2.98…diesel $3.75
Mon., Sept. 28…regular $4.47…diesel $6.45
Diesel is inching down from its all-time high of $6.52 as the oil price has come down some as well. But in the U.S., winter is not far away, which boosts heating oil demand (interchangeable with diesel) and inventories for distillates already are around 12% below the five-year average, EIA data show.
As for crude oil today, it was all over the place, up to $96 on WTI early in the morning, down below $94, back to $96, down to almost $92…all on stories there could be progress in talks between the U.S. and Iran, but this was after President Trump said he had rejected Iran’s offer from last week, though he left open the door to negotiations this week.
The thing is, the Trump administration has said there is no way they are accepting the terms Iran is setting forth, while Tehran says they are basically the same terms as in last summer’s memorandum of understanding (MOU). On this last bit, Iran is essentially right, but the MOU was a piece of crap; anyone with a half a brain could see that.
Anyway, oil is getting through the Strait, and Saudi Arabia has started exporting some crude using a key cross-country pipeline after the link was repaired following drone strikes earlier in September, according to people with knowledge of the matter, but nothing from Saudi Aramco or the Saudi energy ministry, officially, as I write this up.
Full resumption from the pipeline is not expected for weeks more.
And the Houthis fired drones and a missile at the Saudi capital of Riyadh and a neighboring city over the weekend, all of which were reported to be intercepted.
Another big story today is the bond market. As WTI was hitting $96, the 10-year Treasury was trading with a yield of 5.25%, the 30-year bond up to 5.56%, continuing at levels not seen since 2007 and 2004, respectively. Yields across the pond were also rising anew.
Yes, it’s still all about oil after Trump rejected Iran’s proposal, and expectations of tighter monetary policy.
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Congrats to SpaceX for putting Starship into Earth orbit for the first time today and deploying all 26 Starlink V3 satellites on board, despite an engine going out on ascent, a SpaceX representative said during the live broadcast.
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Finally, I’m Catholic. Not a great one as I work on Sundays so don’t go to Mass, but I visit the grave of my favorite Monseigneur from time to time, to thank him for being there for me at a crucial period in my life.
So, I’ve been following Pope Leo’s pilgrimage to France and was already writing up the Mass he celebrated in Paris, before 700,000, for my next ‘Week in Review,’ when I saw a new op-ed in the Wall Street Journal from the great Gerard Baker.
Just one paragraph from it:
“(Leo) is the one man in the world most of us can look up to. Everywhere we look, we are led by a cartoon parade of the grotesque, the inept, the forgettable: political leaders of towering vanity and vapidity, a business leadership class that helps itself to greater riches even as it gets preachier with the rest of us, influencers and pop stars and celebrities, a galloping gallimaufry of narcissistic nobodies all desperately squeezing their last little crumb of manna from us.”
Amen.
[Psst…I had to look up ‘gallimaufry.’ Don’t tell anyone.]
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Dow Jones -347…-0.7% [51481]
S&P 500 -59…-0.8% [7683]
Nasdaq -248…-0.9% [26820]
Oil (WTI) $92.80…Brent $105.60
Gold $4125
Silver $60.90
Bitcoin: $83,374 [4:00 PM ET]
U.S. 2-yr. 4.92%
U.S. 10-yr. 5.23%
Japanese 10-yr. still 3.06%…30-year high…
Back Tues.
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Brian Trumbore
