BofA Sees Customer Gas Spending Jump 16%, But Discretionary Spending Holds Up

Futures Slide As Oil Jumps On Ceasefire Setbacks, Nasdaq In Danger Of Ending 13-Day Streak Futures are lower, but well off session lows,after a weekend of chaos in the Strait of Hormuz cast doubt over US-Iran peace talks ahead of Tuesday’s ceasefire expiration. On Saturday, Iran said the Strait will be closed until the US blockade is lifted, with ships reporting attacks. The US then fired and seized an Iranian-flagged ship on Sunday. Both headlines point to a re-escalation, as Iran military has now vowed to retaliate. It remains unclear...

Trump Blinks Again, Unilaterally Extends Iran Ceasefire After Pakistan Talks Fail To Launch Summary Trump unilaterally extends ceasefire after Vance calls off trip to Pakistan - says Iranian port blockade to remain in place. Tasnim says Iran's 'final decision' is to not attend talks. Trump warns: 'Expect...bombs' & urges Tehran "release women" said to be on death row. Overnight, US forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding of the stateless sanctioned M/T Tifani in Indo-Pac region: CENTCOM As just 12 ships have gone through Hormuz Strait in last 24 hours, Iran claims one...

US Retail Sales Jumped Most In 8 Months In February Bank of America's omniscient analysts forecast a very strong month for Retail Sales in February data (released today)... The actual print was +0.6% MoM (better than the 0.5% consensus, but less than BofA's forecast) comes after a revised higher 0.1% MoM decline in January (and December's nothingburger)... Source: Bloomberg That is the highest MoM rise since June 2025, and sales rose 3.7% YoY... Core Retail Sales (Ex Autos) rose 0.5% MoM (much better than expected) and Ex Autos and Gas also rose more than...