Oil prices are dropping below $70 a barrel as more tankers exit the Strait of Hormuz, but the longer-term risk premium around Middle East energy flows may not disappear as quickly as crude prices have fallen.<br><br>Chuck Zodda and Marc Fandetti break down why oil and gas prices are easing, why tanker costs and insurance risks may stay elevated after the Hormuz disruption, and what still needs to happen for energy markets to fully normalize. They also discuss why one hedge fund manager’s private credit short is not a trade most investors can copy, how AI data centers are forcing a bigger debate over electricity supply and grid investment, why Social Security’s funding problem remains politically difficult, and how Meta’s latest prediction market push and Wendy’s meme-stock surge reflect America’s growing appetite for speculation.

Oil Prices Fall as Hormuz Risks Still Loom

The Financial Exchange Show

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** The Financial Exchange Show

## Participants

- **Chuck Zodda** (None)
- **Marc Fandetti** (None)
- **Tucker Silva** (The Financial Exchange Network)

## Transcript

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Help us support our great American heroes by visiting DAV5K.Boston and making a donation today. This is The Financial Exchange with Chuck Zodda and Marc Fandetti. Chuck, Mark, and Tucker with you here. And as we kick things off this hour, we got stocks making a rally.

And if you like stocks going up, then you'll like today better than yesterday because yesterday was not great. I prefer not to do that again. Today, good. You've got the S&P up 53 points. That's fun. You've got the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 416 points. Also fun. And the NASDAQ Composites up 214 points. That is fun, too. So even that cute little Russell 2000. Yeah, who's a good boy? Yeah, you are.

Yeah, you're up 28 points, which, again, no one knows what that means for the Russell 2000. It's about 1%. So we've got stocks rallying across all major U.S. indices. Great. Bonds also rallying. Ten-year Treasury down 8.7 basis points to 4.406%. Again, not really seeing any news that's driving this today, but it is moving in that fashion. Dollar index despite rates down, dollar up.

So you remember last spring when everyone was freaking out because it was rates up, dollar down? That's what you don't want to see with a currency. This is the opposite. This is what you want to see, which is rates down, dollar up. That is fantastic. Dollars up 0.31% to 101,485. Let's see. We've got gold on that dollar strength. Gold is continuing to get just bludgeoned. And, again, it's just been, like, relentless for gold in the last couple months now.

Down another 125 an ounce to 4,023. And we've got crude oil, West Texas Intermediate, sliding another 327 a barrel. Down below 70 a barrel for the first time in almost four months. You're at 69.94. Obviously still above th...

Oil Prices Fall as Hormuz Risks Still Loom

Transcript

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Oil Prices Fall as Hormuz Risks Still Loom

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.