Monday, April 27, 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
Mon., Apr. 27…reg. $4.11…diesel $5.44
Up 8 cents for regular since Thurs.
The 7-11 down the street from me has raised the price on regular from $4.09 last Wednesday to $4.35 today.
Sunday evening, when the futures markets opened, gasoline futures soared from $3.45 to $3.52, crude rising as well, on word there were no imminent negotiations on reopening the Strait. Gas then gyrated between $3.45 and $3.52 during trading Monday.
Today, Axios reported that Iran had given the U.S. a new proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war that includes postponing nuclear negotiations, citing a U.S. official and two people with knowledge of the matter.
The plan, conveyed through mediators in Pakistan, calls for extending the ceasefire so the parties can work toward a permanent end to the fighting, Axios said. Nuclear talks would come later, only after a U.S. blockade of the Strait is lifted.
Pakistani mediators have given the proposal to the White House but it’s unclear whether the U.S. wants to explore it, Axios said.
An interim deal would echo what many Middle East analysts have said for weeks – that the U.S. and Iran should reopen the Strait as soon as possible to lower fuel prices and ease pressure on the global economy, while leaving issues such as Iran’s nuclear program for later talks. Some Persian Gulf Arab and European leaders believe that such negotiations will take at least six months, Bloomberg has reported.
President Trump, however, has indicated that Iran’s atomic program must be resolved as part of any agreement and that the blockade will stay in place until then.
Trump held a meeting in the situation room Monday with his national security team for the purpose of reviewing the proposal, but as I go to post, at least as of 3:45 PM ET, no word from the president. He’ll no doubt write something tonight or very early tomorrow morning.
Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi arrived in Moscow today for a meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Meanwhile, as the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee prepares to meet this week, the Senate was set to proceed with Kevin Warsh’s nomination to lead the Fed, after Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said on Sunday that he was prepared to lift his blockade and lend his support toward confirmation.
For weeks, Tillis refused to advance Warsh or any other Fed nominee while the Trump administration investigated Chairman Jerome Powell, in a clearly politically motivated investigation.
But Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said last Friday the Justice Department would drop the matter, which focused on cost overruns in a renovation of the Fed’s headquarters.
Pirro, however, said she would “not hesitate” to reopen the criminal investigation, but her move to stand aside was sufficient for Sen. Tillis, who said on “Meet the Press” that he was ready to move forward with a key, first committee vote on Warsh.
“They have made it very clear that the current investigation is completely and fully ended,” Tillis said of his conversations with the D.O.J.
The senator said those discussions gave him the assurances he needed “to feel like they were not using the D.O.J. as a weapon to threaten the independence of the Fed.”
We may get a hint at his press conference on Wednesday whether Chair Powell decides to stay as a governor when his term as chair ends in May. Or maybe not.
It’s a busy week for the Street. Aside from the Fed meeting, we have key inflation data Thursday on the PCE (personal consumption expenditures index, the Fed’s preferred inflation barometer), as well as earnings from Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta (Wed.), and Apple (Thurs.).
But today was a quiet day in the markets.
—
Dow Jones -62…-0.1% [49168]
S&P 500 +8…+0.1% [7173…record close]
Nasdaq +50…+0.2% [24887…record close]
Oil (WTI) $96.40…Brent $108.10
Gold $4680
Silver $75.55
Bitcoin $76,885 [4:00 PM ET]
U.S. 2-yr. 3.80%
U.S. 10-yr. 4.33%
Japanese 10-yr. 2.45%
Back Tues.
Brian Trumbore
Please support StocksandNews…there are huge costs behind it. Click on the GoFundMe link or send a check to PO Box 990, New Providence, NJ 07974.
