Wall Street Near Records While Oil Stays Hot: Brick’s Freedom Sermon for April 16, 2026
United States – April 16, 2026 – Wall Street is hovering near record levels even as oil stays hot, betting the Iran war smoke will thin out before it hits everybody’s wallet.
Tonight the air smells like hot asphalt and fresh charcoal. Wall Street is acting like it just got handed brisket on the house, leaning back like everything is fine. But outside the steakhouse window, oil is still flexing, and the Iran-war uncertainty smoke still hangs around.
Wall Street holds near record highs while oil keeps the heat
On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up about 0.2%, the Dow was up roughly 70 points or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq was up about 0.4% as of 1:48 p.m. Eastern, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, Brent crude rose about 5.1% to $99.74 a barrel, after flirting with much higher levels earlier in the war uncertainty cycle.
AP says U.S. stocks have jumped more than 10% since a late-March low, driven by hopes for an end to the Iran war, or at least something that could avert a worst-case scenario for the global economy. That is not magic. It’s risk math, and corporate earnings trying to do push-ups in daylight.
Record-close confidence, but earnings are still the engine
CBS reports that on Wednesday the S&P 500 climbed 56 points or 0.8% to close at 7,023, topping the prior high of 6,979 on January 27. CBS also says the Nasdaq jumped 377 points or 1.6% to 24,016, while the Dow dropped about 72 points or 0.2%. CBS adds that investors shrugged off the hottest inflation in nearly two years and ongoing concerns about the economic impact of the Iran war.
Where the fear comes from
Fear sells two things: power and money. The villain is the whole ecosystem of fear merchandisers: war hawks who profit from chaos, bureaucrats who love paperwork more than results, and lobbyists who get paid to keep the world unstable enough to justify bigger controls and bigger budgets.
What it means for America
Near-record Wall Street days can give people a little oxygen through retirement accounts and brokerage apps. But CBS connects the war to gasoline prices and inflation concerns, and AP points out that peace talks breaking down would be a key upside risk the market could fear. Optimism is not a substitute for policy.
So here’s the question: if markets can climb near records while oil climbs too, why is Washington acting like the only possible outcome is more fear, more taxes, and more control, instead of more energy security, more hiring, and less grift?