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<\/p>\nRetail investors plowed $5.7 billion into stocks between April 9 and 15, the week when the S&P 500 came roaring back to crest over 7,000, according to Arun Jain and his colleagues at J.P. Morgan. That\u2019s still below the 12-month average of $6.6 billion per week.<\/p>\n
There is more room for that trend to run, according to Adam Turnquist of LPL Financial. \u201cInstitutional investors have been rebuilding long equity exposure following heavy short positions last month. Meanwhile, retail investors have largely remained on the sidelines during this recovery, leaving the window open for potential fear-of-missing-out inflows back into U.S. equities,\u201d he said in an email sent to Fortune.<\/p>\n
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Chart from TradingEconomics.com.<\/p>\n
ONE BIG THINGCalifornia faces summer jet fuel crisis if war drags on<\/p>\n
Europe and Asia face widespread fuel shortages this summer as the war in the Middle East drags on, but shortfalls\u2014especially for jet fuel\u2014will soon spread to California and the broader west coast of the U.S. While the U.S. leads the world in crude oil production, California essentially operates as an island sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean on one side and mountainous terrain on the other. California thus imports a lot of its oil, gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from Asia\u2014a region that is itself currently struggling with shortages because of its reliance on the Middle East.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t have some concrete [peace] deal here in the next three weeks, then I\u2019m really nervous for the West Coast this summer in terms of jet fuel,\u201d Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told Fortune\u2019s Jordan Blum<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s not going to be great for California\u2019s economy.\u201d<\/p>\n IRANTrump signals he\u2019s in no rush to end the Iran war<\/p>\n President Trump said the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended a further three weeks<\/a>. In posts on social media and while taking questions from the press, the president hinted that the war with Iran will not be resolved soon. \u201cI have all the time in the World, but Iran doesn\u2019t \u2014 The clock is ticking!\u201d he said on Truth Social<\/a>. At an event yesterday, he said<\/a>, “If they don’t want to make a deal, then I will finish [the war] up militarily.” And, “I don’t want to rush myself.”<\/p>\n Hurry up and wait. He also acknowledged that Iran has yet to get back to him<\/a>. \u201cIran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is! They just don\u2019t know!\u201d<\/p>\n The state of the Strait. And, of course, the Strait of Hormuz remains at a standstill, the president confirmed<\/a>. \u201cI have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be (Their naval ships are ALL, 159 of them, at the bottom of the sea!), that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz. There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine \u2018sweepers\u2019 are clearing the Strait right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Bottom line: The signals suggest that the timeframe for ending the war is getting longer.<\/p>\n BIG TECHJabil\u2019s shareholders are mad at the company\u2014but the board is ignoring them<\/p>\n Jabil, the Florida-based tech-hardware-maker (No.148 on the Fortune 500<\/a>), appears to be at war with its own shareholders. The company\u2019s board did not accept<\/a> the resignations of two of its directors who were voted out by shareholders at the company’s annual meeting in January, according to an SEC filing spotted by Fortune\u2019s Amanda Gerut. On April 22, the board rejected the resignations of John Plant and N.V. “Tiger” Tyagarajan, despite 84% of shareholder votes<\/a> cast against Plant and 70% against Tyagarajan. Neither director attended 75% of the board’s 14 total meetings in fiscal 2025 due to “coinciding professional responsibilities<\/a>.” Plant’s pay for board service<\/a> last year was $330,624 and Tyagarajan’s was $333,028.<\/p>\n MORE FROM FORTUNE<\/p>\n Intel CEO Lip Bu Tan crushed Wall Street targets on his 1-year anniversary: We are embracing our \u2018paranoid\u2019 roots<\/a> – Alexei Oreskovic<\/p>\n Feds charge U.S. Army soldier who made $400,000 from Polymarket bets tied to Maduro capture<\/a> – Jeff John Roberts<\/p>\n Fewer than 1 in 4 workers feel their job is safe. Here\u2019s why worker \u2018FOBO\u2019\u2014fear of becoming obsolete\u2014is hurting companies<\/a> – Claire Zillman<\/p>\n Tesla stock dives on news that it earned next to nothing on cars in Q1, and plans to spend $25 billion in CapEx anyway<\/a> – Shawn Tully<\/p>\n Ken Griffin\u2019s Citadel fires back at NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani \u2018tax the rich\u2019 video featuring his $238 million penthouse<\/a> – Catherina Gioino<\/p>\n JOBSThe mass unemployment everyone feared is still missing<\/p>\n Initial jobless claims rose to 214,000 in the most recent week surveyed but the overall trend remains down and Wall Street is slightly puzzled as to why. With the uncertainty caused by the war with Iran, the price of oil going through the roof, and tariffs complicating company supply chains, analysts expected the labor market to get weaker. But it\u2019s isn’t. Unemployment is simply refusing to show up. Employers are reluctant to hire people and workers are reluctant to leave their jobs\u2014but that isn\u2019t generating mass joblessness, according to recent notes from Piper Sandler, Jefferies, and Pantheon (which supplied the above chart).\u00a0<\/p>\n CHART OF THE DAYSeven global chokepoints that matter even more than the Strait of Hormuz You have probably heard that the Strait of Hormuz carries about 20% of the world\u2019s supply of oil. But did you know it is also a major route for all trade goods? About 8% of all traded goods normally go through the Hormuz. This chart from CSIS<\/a> shows that there are seven other straits through which a much larger percentage of trade passes. Three of those\u2014the Taiwan Strait, Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Suez Canal\u2014are potential conflict zones. In fact, if China attacked Taiwan, it would affect 21% of all world trade. There\u2019s a useful map of the world\u2019s critical chokepoints here<\/a>.<\/p>\n NUMBER OF THE DAY13 million<\/p>\n The daily shortfall in millions of barrels of oil, caused by the Iran war, in a world that demands 102 million barrels per day<\/a>. Global oil inventories\u2014strategic reserves and private storage supplies\u2014will be fully depleted by the second week in May, according to J.P. Morgan analyst Joyce Chang. At that point, the price of oil could rise to $150-$200 per barrel as \u201cphysical supply constraints and forced demand destruction would become the central dynamic,\u201d Chang advised clients.<\/p>\n THE FRONT PAGES TODAY<\/p>\n Price of access to Trump\u2019s memecoin VIP reception plunges<\/a> – FT<\/p>\n China\u2019s DeepSeek releases preview of long-awaited V4 model as AI race intensifies<\/a> – CNBC<\/p>\n Inside the Navy Secretary\u2019s Last-Ditch Bid to Save His Job<\/a> – Axios<\/p>\n US-Sanctioned Supertanker With Iranian Oil Tries Hormuz Transit<\/a> – Bloomberg<\/p>\n Elon Musk and Sam Altman\u2019s Epic Fight Heads to Court<\/a> – NYT<\/p>\n With jaw-dropping $1 trillion valuation, Anthropic overtakes OpenAI in market cap race<\/a> – NY Post<\/p>\n ONE MORE THINGDonald Trump Jr.\u2019s big bet on Polymarket<\/p>\n Donald Trump Jr. has a stake in Polymarket (the company is valued at $9.6 billion) via his partnership in a VC fund that backs it, and is an adviser to Kalshi. Both companies have benefited greatly from the Trump administration\u2019s pro-prediction market stance via its various regulatory agencies. And both have benefited from President Trump\u2019s wildly unpredictable decision-making processes: For instance, Polymarket hosted 413 million bets on the Iran war, totaling more than $100 million, over a recent three-day period monitored by the Associated Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PastedGraphic-5.png\"\/)
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