Good afternoon, and welcome to Markets Desk.
The Middle East remains the dominant force moving markets today. The dollar index edged up three hundredths of a percent Wednesday, recovering from early losses after conflicting signals emerged around a potential US-Iran deal. Iranian state television reported obtaining an unofficial draft peace proposal, but optimism was quickly tempered by reports of fresh American strikes on Iranian targets, with officials cautioning the ceasefire remains, in their words, increasingly strained.
That tension is feeding directly into the inflation picture. Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee flagged Wednesday that energy inflation has proven more stubborn than policymakers anticipated. While oil prices have pulled back on peace deal speculation, they remain significantly elevated from pre-war levels, complicating the Fed's path and keeping rate cut expectations on a tight leash.
Pulling away from geopolitics, there was a quiet insider move worth noting in the expedition travel space. Lindblad Expeditions saw its Chief Expedition Officer trim his personal stake by ten thousand shares, selling at roughly twenty dollars and five cents per share on May twenty-first, two thousand twenty six, for a total transaction value of approximately two hundred thousand dollars. Not a dramatic exit, but directional signals from insiders always merit a second look.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
