Wed., Aug. 19, 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
Wed., Aug. 19…regular $4.08…diesel $5.50
Crude oil hit $87 on WTI today, Brent $92.50, before backing off rather abruptly this afternoon. The uncertainty surrounding the Strait of Hormuz is being weighed against an unexpected build in domestic inventories.
President Trump said the blockade remains in place and tanker traffic remained subdued, with limited traffic still passing through the waterway, as shipowners stayed cautious.
Gasoline futures fell from a high this morning of $3.32 to the $3.21 level (a huge drop intraday) as EIA (Energy Information Administration) data showed U.S. gasoline stocks increased in the week ending Aug. 14, when a 1.2-million-barrel draw was expected. Inventories are now 5% below their seasonal average, narrowing from 6% the week prior.
But distillate stocks (diesel and heating oil) are down and the prices of both have been rising; witness another 4-cent increase in diesel to the level you see above.
Diesel inventories are at their lowest seasonal level in decades.
Separately, the UAE said it is halting all trade and financial transactions with Iran, increasing economic pressure on the Islamic Republic, soon after accusing Iran of launching ballistic missiles toward the Emirates.
The Emirates, located just 50 miles from Iran across the Persian Gulf, has nurtured close economic and cultural ties with the Islamic Republic for decades, despite political tensions between the two countries.
Dubai, the Emirates’ largest city, has long been a major trade hub for Iran, and analysts say it has been key to Iranian efforts to evade sanctions, which has elicited complaints and pressure from American authorities. Emirati officials say that they crack down on any sanctions violations when they find them.
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More on North Korea…Pyongyang said Wednesday that a U.S. decision to scale back military exercises with South Korea does not change what it sees as their provocative nature, seemingly dampening hopes for a resumption of diplomacy between leader Kim Jong Un and President Trump.
Kim’ s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, made the comments Wednesday night in her country’s first reaction to Trump’s moves to drastically cut back the annual U.S.-South Korean military drills.
“We think it’s not worth making comments on that and we have no (real) interest in it,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. “The provocative aggressive nature of the drills won’t change even though their duration and size were reduced.”
Her statement came hours after the South Korean and U.S. militaries confirmed they were significantly scaling back major joint drills, days after Trump ordered the reduction in an apparent bid to reengage with Kim Jong Un.
South Korean officials said Trump’s surprise announcement came without prior notice, baffling many people in the Asian country and raising concerns about joint defense readiness.
Many experts say Trump’s move threatens to hurt the combined U.S.-South Korean defense posture and eventually weaken their decades-long alliance.
President Trump then said today he plans to meet with Kim Jong Un later this year as he seeks to revive his first-term push for the North Korean dictator to abandon his country’s nuclear weapons program.
“Yeah, I will be,” Trump told reporters.
“The fact that I get along with him – that’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump said. “He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons. Should have never allowed it to happen. If I was president, I wouldn’t have allowed it to happen. But he’s got them.”
Well Trump was president for four years prior and Kim was developing nukes in that time. He’s never stopped.
It seems Trump is targeting a face-to-face meeting with Kim at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering in Shenzhen, China, set for Nov. 18 and 19. It would be Trump’s first meeting with Kim of his second term.
Trump met three times with Kim during his first term, but his diplomatic efforts failed to result in Kim reducing his country’s nuclear arsenal.
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Meanwhile, in the markets today, stocks rose (minimally) after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made an attempt to rein-in long-term borrowing costs from multi-year highs, sending yields on the 10- and 30-year down, though the 10-year yield is just 4 basis points below last Friday’s close.
But clearly the Treasury Dept., and investors, were spooked by the rising yields, which was also the case globally, so, just weeks after releasing its planned schedule for buybacks this quarter, Bessent and the Treasury said it’s “increasing, by at least double, the size of liquidity support buyback operations for securities dated from the 10-year to the 30-year sector.”
Elevated yields have kept U.S. mortgage and other borrowing costs high, posing an economic headwind for President Trump heading into the midterms. They’ve also driven up the Treasury’s own borrowing costs, worsening what was already a steep trajectory for government debt.
So Bessent is doing what he can to give Trump a ‘win,’ but how long lasting the impact will prove to be remains to be seen. What the administration really needs is a resolution of the Iran conflict.
Last November, Bessent said, “my job is to be the nation’s top bond salesman – and Treasury yields are a strong barometer for measuring success in this endeavor.”
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Dow Jones +119…+0.2% [53463]
S&P 500 +16…+0.2% [7708]
Nasdaq +41…+0.2% [26331]
Oil (WTI) $85.60…Brent $91.45
Gold $4510
Silver $66.40
Bitcoin $68,383…big up day…. [4:00 PM ET]
U.S. 2-yr. 4.16%
U.S. 10-yr. 4.64%
Japanese 10-yr. 2.88%
Back Thurs.
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Brian Trumbore
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