100% blending with 0% water?

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Iran War Live News Updates: Trump Says Blockade to Remain After Iran Declares Strait of Hormuz Open After the Iranian foreign minister's announcement, President Trump said the U.S. blockade remains in effect. Brent crude slid roughly 10%. Follow along for the latest news updates and analysis.

Iran's military said the Strait of Hormuz is closed again, prompting ships to turn back. on.wsj.com/42bjPdc

APNewsAlert: CAIRO (AP) — Iranian gunboats have fired on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, British military says.

"The mix of low prices and handouts has made Kolkata the best big Indian city in which to be poor or middle-class".

Markets had it right.

For Trump, the stock markets = the economy 🤷‍♂️

Graph displaying the Flightradar24 Gulf airline recovery index.

April 15 — Qatar Airways surpasses 50% of pre-war operations for the first time with 310 flights. www.flightradar24.com/blog/aviatio...

*US, IRAN GAVE 'IN PRINCIPLE AGREEMENT' TO EXTEND TRUCE: AP

Joe Kernen comes close to having a coronary on air as Pete Buttigieg dogwalks him all over the Squawk Box studio about Trump's economic mismanagement and inflation

APNewsAlert: WASHINGTON (AP) — One crew member has been rescued after American aircraft went down in Iran, US and Israeli officials say.

Trump: "The US can't take of daycare. That has to be up to a state. We're fighting wars. Medicaid, Medicare -- they can do it on a state basis. We have to take care of one thing: military protection. But all these little scams that have taken place, you have to let states take care of them."

Roughly half of Iran's missile launchers are still intact and thousands of one-way attack drones remain in Iran's arsenal despite US and Israeli strikes against military targets, according to recent US intelligence assessments, sources say. https://cnn.it/3OiQnP9

Chart of spot Brent crude oil prices since 2008

This is spot, closed at $126.46 yesterday.

*DATED BRENT OIL PRICE SOARS TO $141.37/BBL, HIGHEST SINCE 2008

Front-month WTI (traded on NYMEX as referenced in the reply here) is for May delivery, front-month Brent is for June delivery. WTI is trading ~3.40/bbl over Brent, but they're not the same month. At close yesterday spot WTI at Cushing was $26.34/bbl below spot Brent; spread on June futs is $10.23.

fascinating to watch Starmer pivot from accepting the "finality" of Brexit to admitting how much economic damage it has done

How humiliating.

@economist.com
www.economist.com/leaders/2026...

Starmer sees the writing on the wall.

@financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/9f3d...

(Reuters) -- Italy has denied permission for U.S. military aircraft to land at the Sigonella ​air base in Sicily before flying to ‌the Middle East, a source close to the matter said

@reuters.com

This principle of "abuse"
- discriminates against all Afghan women on their national group characteristics, not as individuals
- does not accept that a genuine fear of persecution under the convention should count as a genuine fear of persecution, if you were already in Britain as a student

Why has gold tumbled? Two reasons: (i) the big rally pre-war sucked in lots of retail investors who're more skittish than the previous buyer base; (ii) volatility has meant hedge funds had margin calls, so sold profitable positions like gold to free up cash.
robinjbrooks.substack.com/p/why-have-p...

The market seems to be rationally, incrementally repricing in response to a shift in the probabilities, not rushing to extrapolate a resolution. It seems to recognize that all the rhetoric we're hearing and even the troop buildup are perfectly consistent with posturing ahead of real negotiations.

President Trump has a habit of initiating conflict, escalating it wildly, then - when things spin out of control - backing down with nothing gained. That's what happened with Iran over the past weekend and with China in April 2025. The art of the non-deal...
robinjbrooks.substack.com/p/is-this-wh...

All of the skepticism about the crediblity of ceasefire-talk claims and all the concerns over the complication of recovering energy flow, etc., are valid and proper.

But if you don't see there's at least signal value in the President wanting a path out, just stop opining on reflex market reactions.

Strange situation where we await a statement from Iran to check whether there's any truth to what US president is saying.

The Middle East conflict has largely halted shipping via the Strait of Hormuz, impacting the trade of a wide range of energy products

Our new interactive tool shows how oil & gas tanker traffic, as well as other cargo ships, has changed in recent weeks 👉 iea.li/4ddiUjp

Not an insightful comment but the non-US economy will crumble due to energy before the US does, so the S&P 500 is a lagging indicator in all this.

The silver lining of a prolonged Strait of Hormuz closure is it’d probably be the biggest catalyst for decarbonization ever. Feels like this could be the last time we have this particular risk.

SAUDI ARABIA'S DEFENSE MINISTRY ANNOUNCED THAT A DRONE CRASHED INTO THE SAMREF REFINERY AND DAMAGE CHECKS ARE IN PROGRESS.

Hello, I'm mental.