You're tuned in to Markets Desk, let's get you caught up on what's moving.
Crude oil is taking a hit today as US-Iran peace talks gain traction, sending July WTI down nearly two percent to a five-week low. The prospect of Iranian supply returning to global markets is doing the work here, and that deflationary signal is giving equity bulls room to run.
Speaking of which, stocks are rallying broadly as the dollar slips to a two-week low on that same geopolitical optimism. When risk appetite improves, investors rotate out of safe-haven dollar positions, and that's exactly what you're seeing in the DXY today. Lower oil also takes some of the heat off inflation expectations, which the bond market will appreciate.
Meanwhile, ground beef just hit a record six dollars and eighty-nine cents a pound, up eighty percent since two thousand nineteen. Drought has shrunk cattle herds to their lowest level in decades, meatpackers are still wrestling with labor shortages and plant closures, and there is simply no quick fix in sight. This is a structural supply problem, not a transitory blip, and consumers and restaurants alike are absorbing every cent of it.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
