🚀 Oil Prices Fall

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Market Overview
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Year To Date Performances:

1. Oil prices experienced a dramatic reversal today, with benchmarks plunging more than 10% after Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz "completely open." The pivot follows a newly brokered 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon and optimistic remarks from President Trump suggesting the broader war with Iran "should be ending pretty soon." U.S. crude (WTI) for May delivery plummeted 11.1% to $84.26 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent dropped 10.5% to $88.95, significantly easing the "Hormuz premium" that had pushed prices above $100 earlier in the week.

2. Netflix’s long-standing philosophy of being a "builder, not a buyer" faced its first major stress test this quarter. Following the fallout of its failed $72 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), co-CEO Ted Sarandos signalled a shift in the company’s DNA. While the deal was ultimately upended by Paramount-Skydance in February, Sarandos noted that Netflix has successfully "built its M&A muscle," proving it can execute massive transactions to acquire intellectual property (IP) and franchises if the right opportunity arises. Despite this newfound openness, investors reacted coldly to Netflix’s Q1 2026 earnings. Shares tumbled nearly 10% to $97.27 in morning trading, primarily because the company maintained its full-year margin guidance despite walking away from the capital-intensive WBD deal and its associated $2.8 billion breakup fee.

3. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed on Wednesday that a high-stakes executive order (EO) requiring U.S. banks to collect and verify the citizenship status of all customers is "in process." Speaking at the Invest in America Forum, Bessent dismissed pushback from the banking industry regarding the administrative and legal hurdles of the mandate, stating, "If Treasury and the banking regulators say it’s their job, it’s their job." The move is a central pillar of the Trump administration's effort to integrate immigration enforcement with the domestic financial system, specifically targeting the use of Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) by non-citizens to access banking services.

   Headlines

   1. Trump has nominated Erica Schwartz as director of the CDC.

   2. Eyclyd, an Nvidia competitor, is seeking to raise $100M to compete in the semiconductor industry.