Finance
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With the U.S. now blockading the Strait of Hormuz, the focus is on who has the ‘guts to go through first’
Early on April 13, the oil tanker Rich Starry—loaded with Iranian crude and headed for China—made a dramatic U-turn. Instead of exiting the Strait of Hormuz, as it had planned, the ship joined a stationary flotilla of about 800 other vessels, including 400 oil and gas tankers, most of which have remained idle and stranded
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Americans are credit-card-maxxing tax season with sign-up bonuses while half the country relies on their refund to catch up on bills
Some credit cards this year have high sign-up bonuses (SUB), with some offering never-before-seen six-figure points for reaching the minimum spend. So as tax day nears, some Americans are credit-card-maxxing this tax year by opening a fresh credit card to pay their tax bill, pocketing the sign-up bonus, and cashing in points for a free
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The most valuable worker in the AI economy is Nurse Dana from ‘The Pitt’
If you want to understand where the American economy is going, don’t watch the stock ticker. Watch The Pitt. The Max medical drama that became one of the most-talked-about shows of early 2025 doesn’t center on a brilliant surgeon or a rogue attending. It centers on nurses and residents grinding through a single 15-hour shift
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U.S. naval blockade on Iran will trigger a currency devaluation spiral and hyperinflation, potentially ending the war more quickly, analyst says
The U.S. blockade on ships entering or departing from Iranian ports went into effect on Monday, as President Donald Trump seeks to pressure Iran by cutting off its oil revenue. The Iranian economy was already in shambles before the U.S. and Israel launched their war on the Islamic republic more than six weeks ago, and
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Trump threatens to blow up Iran’s last ships ‘using the same system of kill’ as drug boats as his ‘Hail Mary’ blockade begins
President Donald Trump posted a warning for Iran on Truth Social Monday morning, only 23 minutes after the U.S. blockade of Iran’s coastline went into effect. “Iran’s Navy is laying at the bottom of the sea, completely obliterated—158 ships,” Trump wrote. “What we have not hit are their small number of, what they call, ‘fast
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Irish PM offers $592 million fuel tax cut to reopen refinery as farmers and truckers wage cost-of-living protest
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said Sunday that his government will offer new fuel tax cuts to try to end crippling protests over soaring gas costs, though he slammed the tactics of farmers and truckers who had blocked access to the nation’s only oil refinery and several depots. Martin said the package amounting to 505
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Current price of oil as of April 13, 2026
As of 9 a.m. Eastern Time today, oil sold for $103.72 per barrel (using Brent as the benchmark, which we’ll get into momentarily). That’s 3 cents higher than morning and approximately a $39 rise over the past year. Oil price per barrel % Change Price of oil yesterday $103.69 +0.02% Price of oil 1 month
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Bitcoin mining giant Foundry adds new pool for privacy-focused Zcash
Foundry, an upstate New York-based firm that launched in 2019, runs a mining pool that today commands around 31% of all Bitcoin production. On Monday, the company formally launched a second pool operation based around a cryptocurrency known as Zcash that shares many attributes of Bitcoin, but that is designed to be less visible. The
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Investors are writing off any move from the Fed this month—collapsing talks in Iran have sealed the deal
With President Trump’s focus squarely on Iran at present, Jerome Powell and the U.S. Federal Reserve are getting some respite from the Oval Office’s attention. It’s a couple of weeks until the next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, but investors already appear to be convinced what the group’s next move will be. The base
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A major U.S. gasoline production hub is in such a severe drought that its refineries may be hobbled. ‘We are actively praying for a hurricane’
In parched southern Texas, a yearslong drought has depleted Corpus Christi’s water reserves so gravely that the city is scrambling to prevent a shortage that could force painful cutbacks for residents and hobble the refineries and petrochemical plants in a major energy port. Experts said the city didn’t expect such a bad drought, and new