Welcome to Markets Desk, here's what's moving this hour.
Crude oil flows out of the Middle East have recovered to pre-conflict levels, but drivers aren't feeling any relief at the pump. Gasoline and diesel prices remain stubbornly elevated, with analysts pointing to refinery constraints, seasonal demand shifts, and lingering supply chain friction as the culprits keeping prices high despite normalized flows.
Shifting to equities, shares of VivoSim Labs are trading higher after the company spotlighted the FDA's updated regulatory framework permitting broader use of non-animal, human-based testing methods in drug development. The move validates VivoSim's core business model around three-dimensional human cellular models, and investors are treating the regulatory clarity as a meaningful commercial catalyst.
And on the income side, LTC Properties is drawing attention from dividend-focused investors ahead of what some tracking services are flagging as a potential dividend run. The real estate investment trust, which operates in the senior housing and healthcare facility space, tends to attract yield-seekers when its ex-dividend date approaches, and that dynamic appears to be building again now.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
