Inflation Heats Up as Gasoline Prices Surge Led by a 10.9% rise in energy, including a 21% rise in gasoline, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.9% in March, the highest in almost four years. On an annual basis, prices...

Iran War: Oil Prices Jump as Markets Weigh the Risks The fragile peace between the United States and Iran was shattered at the end of February when the US and Israel launched an attack on key Iranian military targets and the nation’s leadership. Thus far, the market’s...

California’s Delicate Energy Situation How long the war might last is not clear, but its effects are being felt in global energy markets. Oil moves easily across borders, which means supply disruptions quickly lead to higher gasoline prices. However, it is harder to...

Decoding the Fed: Impact on Investors Against the backdrop of the war, the Federal Reserve met last week and decided to hold its key rate—the fed funds rate—unchanged at 3.50–3.75%. The decision was completely expected. What jolted investors was Fed Chief Jay Powell’s...

Looking Past the Pump: A Granular Look at Gasoline Prices A quick trip to fill up the gas tank is a painful reminder that prices at the pump have jumped over the last couple of weeks—Figure 1—due to supply concerns. There are fears that higher prices will exacerbate...

The War and Its Impact—So Far What is the efficient market theory? Textbooks have been written to fully explain the theory. But if we can sum it up in one sentence: Assets, such as stocks, reflect all publicly available information. It is a foundational principle of...