Trump Economy

Gas prices drop below $4 per gallon for first time since March– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser June 18, 2026 0

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The national average price for regular gas dropped again on Thursday, falling below the $4-per-gallon threshold to $3.999, according to AAA. It marked the fourth straight week that gas prices in the country have decreased. Fuel costs have dropped 52 cents per gallon over the last month. Thursday’s gas price decrease comes the day after the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to end their military conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

It is the first time the national average price for a gallon of regular gas has been below $4 since March 30. Gas prices began to drop across the country shortly after Memorial Day weekend, traditionally recognized as the start of the summer driving season, which usually correlates with higher prices at the pump. A few days earlier, gas prices reached $4.564 per gallon on May 21, a record high price for 2026, and the most expensive national average gas price in the U.S. since 2022. It was also the highest gas price since President Donald Trump took office in either term.

US stocks: Dow soars 900 pts, Nasdaq over 2% as Trump says Iran deal likely soon– economictimes.indiatimes.com

pgnewser June 12, 2026 0

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Wall Street’s major indexes ended sharply higher on Thursday, with stocks extending gains after U.S. President Donald Trump said he canceled planned strikes against Iran, and on the eve of the market debut of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Hours before the expected strikes, ‌Trump said ⁠on Truth Social ⁠that negotiations with Tehran had advanced to the highest levels of Iran’s leadership and had been okayed by a broad coalition of regional powers.

Oil prices dropped sharply, while stocks added to their rebound from the prior session’s selloff. On Wednesday, major Wall Street indexes fell more than 1% and the S&P 500 Technology Index confirmed a correction.

Trump says “I love the inflation” because U.S. is “taking” Iranian oil– www.cbsnews.com

pgnewser June 11, 2026 0

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Washington — President Trump on Wednesday applauded the latest inflation spike, saying the numbers are  “great” and “I love the inflation” because the U.S. “taking out” what he called “millions” of barrels of Iranian oil in the dead of night. The president added that he’s “just announcing today for the first time” that the U.S. is seizing Iranian oil.

Once the conflict is over, Mr. Trump said oil prices and inflation will drop rapidly. A reporter asked the president in the Oval Office Wednesday if he’s concerned that the Consumer Price Index rose at an annual rate of 4.2%, up from 3.8% in the prior month and marking the highest level since April 2023. The new inflation numbers were released earlier Wednesday.

Inflation rises to a 3-year high on spiking gas prices, squeezing Americans financially– abcnews.com

pgnewser June 10, 2026 0

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WASHINGTON — Spiking gas prices pushed inflation to its highest level in three years last month, a headache for the Federal Reserve and a potential political challenge for the Trump administration as midterm elections near.

Consumer prices rose 4.2% in May from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday, up from 3.8% in April and the third straight increase. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.5% last month, after big gains of 0.6% in April and 0.9% in March.

Rising inflation has soured many Americans on the economy, as the cost of gas, groceries, and other necessities hammer many Americans financially.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.9% in March from a year earlier, up from 2.8% in April. On a monthly basis, core prices increased a modest 0.2%.

Los Angeles Hotel Industry Sheds Jobs as Soaring Wage Mandates Take Their Toll– slaynews.com

pgnewser June 10, 2026 0

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Los Angeles’ hotel industry is losing jobs at its fastest pace in a decade outside of the pandemic, raising fresh concerns about the economic fallout from some of the most aggressive minimum wage mandates in the nation.

A new analysis of federal labor data found that Los Angeles County hotels and motels saw their workforce shrink by 1.7% in December 2025 compared to the same month a year earlier, as businesses grappled with rapidly rising labor costs imposed by city and county officials.

The decline comes as Los Angeles prepares to host a series of major international events, including the 2028 Summer Olympics, while hotel operators warn that mounting costs are threatening the industry’s ability to expand and meet future demand.

Wage Mandates Coincide with Sharp Employment Decline

According to an analysis by the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) of newly released U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the contraction represents the steepest year-over-year decline in Los Angeles County’s hotel industry in a decade, excluding pandemic-related disruptions.

The losses followed a series of government-mandated wage increases.

Trump is facing a new inflation warning from the bond market, adding to his midterm challenges– abcnews.com

pgnewser June 2, 2026 0

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WASHINGTON — The world is getting more uptight about lending money to President Donald Trump’s government — causing interest rates to climb in ways that are worsening affordability pressures, hampering economic growth and creating a new risk for Republicans in November’s midterm elections.

The energy price spike triggered by the Iran war has seeped into the price of bonds that help fund the U.S. government. Interest rates on a 10-year U.S. Treasury note are topping 4.44%, up from 3.95% before the war started at the end of February. Average mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels in nine months, while auto sales are slumping.

Fall to $4.39 per gallon, dropping 16 cents in one week– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser May 29, 2026 0

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The national average price for regular gas continued to fall on Friday, dropping to $4.391 per gallon, a 16-cent decrease over the past week, according to AAA.

Gas prices have trended downward since setting a high for the year on May 21 at $4.564 per gallon. Moreover, fuel costs have dropped every day this week, starting at $4.507 per gallon on Monday, Memorial Day, dropping to Friday’s current price point, an 11-cent drop in less than 100 hours. The decrease in fuel costs comes at a time when gas prices start to rise, after Memorial Day and the beginning of what is recognized as the summer driving season.

Americans Savings Rate Falls to Lowest Level Since 2022 › American Greatness– amgreatness.com

pgnewser May 29, 2026 0

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Americans are saving less money than they have in nearly four years as rising living costs strain household finances and force many families to rely increasingly on credit cards and debt to get by.

The personal saving rate dropped to 2.6 percent in April, according to new Commerce Department data, marking the lowest level since June 2022 and a steep decline from the 5.5 percent rate recorded one year earlier.

The savings rate measures the share of disposable income households set aside rather than spend.

Core inflation hit an annual rate of 3.3% in April, as expected, Fed’s preferred gauge shows– www.cnbc.com

pgnewser May 28, 2026 0

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Inflation continued to hit consumer wallets in April, likely keeping the Federal Reserve on the sidelines until the current wave subsides, fresh pricing data released Thursday showed.

The personal consumption expenditures price index increased a seasonally adjusted 0.4% for the month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 3.8%, the Commerce Department reported. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for respective readings of 0.5% and 3.8%.

Excluding food and energy, core prices rose 0.2% for the month and 3.3% for the year, against estimates of 0.3% and 3.3%.

While the annual rates were in line with forecasts, the soft monthly readings could provide some hope that the burst in prices over the previous month had begun to ease.

The Fed takes in a wide dashboard of indicators, but uses the PCE measures as its prime forecasting and policy tool. Officials generally consider core a better indicator of long-term inflation trends as it excludes the volatile gas and groceries components.

Fed’s Logan Warns US Oil Production Won’t Fill Global Supply Gap– financialpost.com

pgnewser May 27, 2026 0

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“With supplies highly constrained, if shipping through the strait does not soon return to prewar levels, world oil and natural gas consumption could need to fall more meaningfully than it has so far,” Logan said. “The economic consequences would depend on the degree to which end users can switch to other energy sources or use energy more efficiently, versus curtailing economic activity.”

 

President Donald Trump said U.S. consumer confidence is ‘way up.’ Metrics don’t bear that out– www.politifact.com

pgnewser May 7, 2026 0

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During a White House small business summit, President Donald Trump said the economy is strong and his policies are satisfying Americans.

“Consumer confidence is way up,” Trump said at the May 4 event.

Three standard measurements of consumer satisfaction — from the University of Michigan; a business group called the Conference Board; and an aggregation of public polling data — show the opposite. They reveal that people are less satisfied with the economy now than at the end of President Joe Biden’s tenure, and at least one of the metrics puts consumer confidence near an all-time low.

The White House pointed to retail spending data to support his statement, but that isn’t a clear-cut measure of consumer confidence when other economic factors are at play.

GOP Touts Tax Cuts as Refunds and Real Wages Rise– www.dailysignal.com

pgnewser April 15, 2026 0

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President Donald Trump and Republicans are hoping to cash in politically on the extra amount of cash in Americans’ wallets this Tax Day.

Across the country, Americans are cashing in on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s tax provisions and receiving a boost from real wage growth in the Trump economy.

“This tax season, nearly half of all filers have claimed tax cuts that every single congressional Democrat voted against,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told The Daily Signal.

The financial relief from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, now commonly referred to as the Working Families Tax Cuts by Republicans in Congress, has become a major talking point for the GOP in recent months, as the party argues that strong economic fundamentals have helped soften the economic impact of the war in Iran.

Trump Says Gas Prices Might Be Even Higher By The Midterm Election– www.politicususa.com

pgnewser April 13, 2026 0

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Donald Trump hasn’t done interviews with neutral journalists who could challenge him in years. Trump’s venues of choice are either cell phone interviews that last a minute or two or conservative media like Fox News and Newsmax.

The Fox News interviews are heavily manufactured, usually pretaped, and edited before they air.

It takes a special level of incompetence to go on a network that is propagandistic and supportive and botch a softball question in such a friendly and managed environment.

The issue that is driving the special election results that Democrats have been dominating, and the Democratic Party’s midterm generic ballot lead that has been growing, is the economy. Inflation and rising prices are driving voter outrage directed at this president and his administration.

Rollins says 80% of US farmers will be unaffected by rise in fertilizer prices– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser April 7, 2026 0

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Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said a large swath of the country’s farmers will be unaffected this planting season, despite the rising fertilizer costs stemming from the Iran war.

“The good news is that about 80% of our farmers, actually, last fall locked in their fertilizer,” Rollins said to reporters outside the White House on Monday. “So as we’re moving into planting season, it’s only about 20% to 25% of our farmers that didn’t lock that in. We are working directly to ensure that we can get them what they need and it won’t bankrupt them.”

As the war moves into its second month, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz has led not only to higher oil prices but also higher fertilizer prices, as Persian Gulf-based companies face difficulty exporting their supplies through the closed-off strait.

USPS sets 8% fee on packages as Iran war raises energy prices– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser March 26, 2026 0

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The U.S. Postal Service is seeking to temporarily place a fee on packages due to rising fuel prices as the war in Iran continues to rattle energy markets.

The 8% fuel surcharge on packages under Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select is expected to take effect on April 26 and remain in place until Jan. 17, 2027. The Postal Regulatory Commission must review and approve the fee before it is enacted. If approved, first-class stamps and other mail services would not be affected.

“Transportation costs have been increasing, and our competitors have reacted with a number of surcharges,” the service said in a statement on Wednesday. “We have steadfastly avoided surcharges, and this charge is less than one-third of what our competitors charge for fuel alone.”

The development comes as the war in Iran has triggered the largest disruption to the global energy supply in history, due largely to Iran’s sweeping blockage of the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices have spiked roughly 40%, approaching a record $120 a barrel earlier this month before stabilizing slightly.

Epic Games to cut more than 1,000 jobs as Fortnite usage falls– www.channelnewsasia.com

pgnewser March 24, 2026 0

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Epic Games said on Tuesday (Mar 24) it would cut more than 1,000 jobs after a drop in engagement for Fortnite, its flagship title, the latest cuts in the video-game industry whose growth has stalled amid economic uncertainty.

The cuts, along with more than US$500 million in savings from lower contracting and marketing spending and unfilled roles would put the company in “a more stable place,” Chief Executive Tim Sweeney said in a note to employees.

The cuts are the latest in the gaming sector, where companies have faced weaker growth as consumers have been sticking with proven titles amid economic uncertainty.

But even those, especially live services games, which depend on a steady stream of new content to keep players engaged, are now showing signs of cracks.

Oil prices surge after Israeli strike on Iran’s South Pars gasfield | US-Israel war on Iran News– www.aljazeera.com

pgnewser March 19, 2026 0

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There are fears that a period of elevated oil and gas prices could trigger a damaging wave of global inflation.

Oil prices have risen more than 5 percent following an Israeli strike on Iran’s South Pars gasfield as the United States-Israeli war on the country continues to escalate.

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 5 percent to $108.66 a barrel on Wednesday, while US West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1, the price barometer for US oil, gained 2.5 percent to $98.65, widening its discount to Brent to the largest since May 2019 on fears of a prolonged conflict.