Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving money and markets.
Exxon and Chevron are sounding the alarm on fuel prices, warning that even if crude softens, gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel costs could stay elevated. The culprit is a global refining shortfall, with capacity knocked offline by conflicts in Russia and the Middle East, severing the usual link between oil and pump prices.
Turning to currency markets, the yen staged one of its most significant rebounds in months after the United States joined Japan in what appears to be coordinated intervention. The yen strengthened to roughly one hundred fifty-seven to the dollar by Friday's New York close, pulling back sharply from levels that had been stoking inflation across the Japanese economy and rattling global carry trades.
And on the wealth front, Elon Musk's net worth has slid back below the level it held before SpaceX's initial public offering priced last month, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Despite a successful Starship orbital launch out of South Texas last Friday, Tesla's continued stock pressure has been the dominant drag, erasing gains that briefly made Musk the world's first trillionaire.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
