Good evening, this is Markets Desk with your closing roundup.
Oil markets moved sharply higher today after the United States and Saudi Arabia conducted joint strikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq. West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude both climbed on the session, as traders priced in the possibility of sustained regional escalation and tighter supply risk across Middle Eastern corridors.
Staying with energy, pipeline giant Energy Transfer raised its distribution for the nineteenth consecutive quarter, pushing its yield to six point eight percent. For income investors, that kind of consistent return on a midstream operator is hard to ignore, though the question remains whether the payout is durable against shifting natural gas demand and rate sensitivity.
And on the investment side, a sharp reminder from Wealthfront legend Charles Ellis, who argues that a one percent advisory fee sounds modest but quietly consumes roughly fifteen percent of your total investment returns over time. Ellis frames active stock picking as a loser's game, a message that cuts directly against the managed fund industry and lands with real force in a market where index returns have repeatedly outpaced active managers.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
