Oil prices fell more than 1% today after President Donald Trump signaled he might not attack Iran. Late in the day, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that “we’ve been told that the killing in Iran is stopping. It’s stopped. It’s stopping, and there’s no plan for executions.” The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil was down 93 cents to $64.50. The price of gold also fell on the news.<\/p>\n
In the stock market, traders chose to sell Financials for the third day in a row. On Monday, they were hit by Trump’s proposal to cap credit-card\u00a0interest\u00a0rates at 10%. He reportedly\u00a0is\u00a0working with\u00a0liberal\u00a0Senator Elizabeth Warren\u00a0(D., MA)\u00a0on the idea! On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Financials fell despite relatively good earnings reports from the big banks, as we anticipated in Monday’s\u00a0QT\u00a0titled “Banking On The Banks.” So we view the three-day selloff as a buying opportunity. Goldman and Morgan Stanley will likely report gangbuster earnings tomorrow. (And\u00a0we expect the banks\u00a0will\u00a0succeed at killing\u00a0the\u00a0credit-card\u00a0cap idea.)<\/p>\n
Speaking of\u00a0\u201cgangbusters,\u201d\u00a0that adjective describes last year’s real GDP performance in Q2 (3.8%),\u00a0Q3 (4.3%),\u00a0and probably Q4. The Atlanta Fed’s\u00a0GDPNow<\/a>\u00a0estimated growth rate for the final quarter of 2025 was raised from 5.1% yesterday to 5.3% today after the release of November’s solid retail sales report (charts).<\/p>\n Join thousands who rely on QuickTakes<\/p>\n Unlock the rest of this QuickTakes post \u2014 plus all premium content<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/gateway-6.jpg\")
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