Good morning.
The Fast Five → Trump ditches appeal for help in Iran war, Fed expected to hold rates, US diesel prices top $5 a gallon, K-shaped economy worsens, and a military-industrial-financial complex is rising in America…
📌 "I've Never Seen Anything Like This" – Wall Street Insider
After 26 years on Wall St, Whitney Tilson says today's markets are different. Costs are soaring for ordinary people and AI is accelerating a financial reset. He's laid out what's breaking, and how to respond before the divide widens. Watch his briefing here →
(from Stansberry Research)
Calendar: Full Calendar »
Today:
Producer Price Index, 8:30A
FOMC Interest-Rate Decision, 2:00P
FOMC Press Conference, 2:30P
Tomorrow:
Unemployment Claims, 8:30A
New Home Sales, 10:00A
Your 5-minute briefing for Wednesday, Mar 18:
BEFORE THE OPEN
As of market close 3/17/2026.
Pre-Market:
US Investor % Bullish Sentiment:
↓ 31.94% for Week of MAR 12 2026
Previous week: 33.06%
Market Wrap:
Futures near flat Dow -37, S&P -0.07%, Nasdaq -0.02%
Tuesday gains S&P +0.3%, Dow +47, Nasdaq +0.5%
Stocks faded from highs as oil climbed
WTI +3% to $96, Brent +3.2% above $103
Iran attacks on UAE energy sites stoke supply fears
Fed decision Wednesday expected to hold rates steady
Today: Micron earnings after the close
EARNINGS
Here’s what we’re watching this week:
Today: Five Below $FIVE ( ▲ 1.1% ), *General Mills $GIS ( ▼ 0.62% ), *Macy's $M ( ▼ 1.0% )
Micron Technology $MU ( ▲ 4.5% ) - $8.60 EPS (+451.3% YoY) on $19.11B revenue (+137.4% YoY)
THU: *Alibaba $BABA ( ▼ 0.1% ), *Darden Restaurant $DRI ( ▼ 1.37% ), FedEx $FDX ( ▲ 0.66% )
A Strange Chasm is Coming to Wall Street
It's already creating millionaires and billionaires at the fastest pace in history. CNBC calls it "the largest wealth creation spree in history."
Yet 1 in 3 Americans now fear their financial situation is deteriorating.
There's only one way to survive, says the man who predicted 2008 and 2020, but sadly it's already too late for many.
- a sponsored message from Stansberry Research -
HEADLINES
He scolded NATO allies in particular, denouncing their "foolish mistake" in not joining the US effort and claiming none in the group posed reservations at the start of the war.
Wall Street and Silicon Valley are adding a third leg to the intertwining of government and the defense industry that Eisenhower warned about.
Wall Street ends up as traders turn to Fed (more)
Hormuz reopening looks unlikely without a ceasefire in Iran war (more)
Fed expected to hold rates, weigh oil shock (more)
Global economic impact of Iran war deepens (more)
Economists: Iran war, oil price surge worsen K-shaped economy (more)
US diesel prices top $5 a gallon (more)
Dollar holds losses, risk appetite flickers ahead of central bank meetings (more)
Chinese authorities approve Nvidia's H200 AI chip sales (more)
Tesla to buy $4.3B of LG Energy battery cells from disbanded GM plant (more)
Amazon CEO sees AI doubling prior AWS sales projections to $600B by 2036 (more)
Tim Cook squashes retirement rumors: ‘Can’t imagine life without Apple’ (more)
Arizona charges Kalshi with illegal gambling operation (more)
Nissan joins Toyota, Honda in plans to export US cars to Japan (more)
Lululemon’s disappointing outlook adds urgency to CEO search (more)
Elliott Management confirms stake in Japan shipper Mitsui OSK (more)
Traders are ditching giant hedge funds to set their own terms (more)
DEALFLOW
M+A | Investments
Mastercard buys Stablecoin firm BVNK for Up to $1.8B
Nscale acquires American Intelligence & Power Corporation
VC
R1 Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharma company, raised $77.5M in Series A funding
Surf AI, an agentic ops platform for modern security teams, raised $57M in funding
RoboForce, a physical AI-powered robo-labor company, raised $52M in funding
Standard Template Labs, an AI-first service management platform, raised $49M in Seed funding
GA Drilling, a geothermal drilling company, raised $44.1M in funding
Candex, a vendor-management and tail-spend-solutions provider for global enterprises, extended its Series C funding to over $40Mf
Turquoise Health, a multi-sided healthcare pricing and payment platform, raised $40M in Series C funding
Knox Systems, a federal AI-managed cloud provider, raised $25M in Series A funding
Gency AI, an AI and blockchain infrastructure company, raised $20M in funding
Conduit Health, medical supplies and services for Medicare/Medicaid patients, raised $17M in Series A funding
Sequen, a company providing LEMs) and continual learning on dynamic user embeddings at inference, raised $16M in Series A funding
Rubi, a company leveraging technologies that turn carbon into essential materials, raised $7.5M in funding
Definity, a healthcare workforce platform, raised $7M in Series A funding
Tenkara, a company building ops agents for manufacturers, raised $7M in funding
BambooBox, a B2B revenue company, raised $6.6M in funding
Quorus, a tech-driven asset manager service company, raised $5M in Seed funding
V-Glass, an R&D firm developing vacuum-insulated glass, raised $3M in Seed funding
SetSale, an AI-powered sales platform for the residential HVAC industry, raised $2M in Seed funding
Surf Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company developing non-invasive ultrasound therapies, raised an undisclosed amount in Seed expansion funding
VST BIO, a biotech company developing stroke therapeutics, raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding
CRYPTO
BULLISH BITES
🌎 How the Iran war is an economic world war.
⛽️ What $5 diesel fuel means for the US economy.
⚔️ Inside Lululemon’s founder’s war with the board he says is killing his brand.
💼 Why your private banker is now handling your travel and shopping needs.
DAILY SHARES
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