Powell's Last FOMC Holds Rates at 3.50 as the War Premium Becomes the Inflation Story
Powell's last meeting holds rates and pins inflation on the Hormuz blockade — the post-Powell Fed inherits a war premium, not a data point.
Economy
Treasury Warns Banks Against Chinese Teapot Refineries as Hengli Restructures Its Singapore Unit
Same day, two moves: Washington tells banks to back off, Hengli quietly hands its trading arm to a state-owned Dalian entity.
U.S. Gasoline Prices Hit a Four-Year High as Inventories Fall a Second Week
$4.18 a gallon — a four-year high — meets a second straight weekly drawdown in gasoline stocks, putting the household price on the same chart as the supply line.
CENTCOM Releases a Boarded Cargo Ship for the First Time, Adding a Search-and-Release Step to the Blockade
U.S. Marines fast-roped onto the Blue Star III, searched it, and let it sail — the first publicly announced release the blockade has produced.
Iran's Storage Tanks and Tanker Fleet Are the Real Blockade Countdown
Iran has 20 large tankers usable as floating storage and weeks of onshore capacity — the timer that matters is barrels, not carrier dispositions.
World Bank Forecasts the Largest Energy Shock Since 2022, Tilted to the Upside
Global energy prices will rise 24% in 2026 to the highest since the Ukraine invasion, the World Bank says — and the bank declines to assume Hormuz reopens by May.