Thursday Afternoon News Updates: Oil Surges as War on Verge of Major Escalation — July 23, 2026
Your midday update has arrived.
Hi all, Ben here. It’s Thursday, and there is a lot to get through, so let’s jump right in.
Top stories we’re tracking today:
Oil surges past $100 a barrel, with Brent crude up 42% in twenty days
The 10-Year Treasury yield spikes above 4.70%, its highest since before “Liberation Day,” while the 30-year climbs past 5%
Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq all sell off hard at the open, with the Nasdaq down nearly 2.7%
Overnight Houthi attacks strike two Saudi oil tankers, the Encelia and the Layla, with a third vessel reportedly set ablaze near the Yemeni border
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard declares the Strait of Hormuz closed to any ship that doesn’t coordinate with Tehran, while CENTCOM insists that’s false
Trump tells Israel’s Channel 12 and then Axios he’s considering a “massive attack” on Iran bigger than anything so far
Nearly a dozen US troops were flown to Germany for treatment after Iranian strikes, per the New York Times, with medevac logs showing ten flights in 23 days
Iran retaliates near the Iraq-Kuwait border and allegedly hits Camp Buehring in Kuwait and King Faisal Airbase in Jordan
Trump formally approves a civilian nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, tying it to the Kingdom joining the Abraham Accords
New Fox News and Emerson polling shows Democrats with their biggest generic ballot lead in decades
Vance Boelter, who assassinated Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, is sentenced to two life terms plus 40 years
Virginia Giuffre’s family publicly urges senators to reject Todd Blanche’s nomination
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Now let’s get into it.
The Markets Are Cratering and Trump Is Escalating
Donald Trump is boxed in. Iran refuses to surrender, Iran is striking back, and now Trump is doing what he always does when he’s cornered: making things worse.
Oil just crossed $100 a barrel, exactly as we predicted it would. I expect it to keep climbing toward $150, maybe even $200, as this unlawful and completely avoidable war grinds on. The 10-Year Treasury yield has surged past 4.7%, worse than the spike Trump himself branded “Liberation Day,” which most of us just call Liquidation Day at this point. The 30-year is over 5%. Translation: interest rates are going up, and everything you’re already struggling to afford is about to get more expensive. Meanwhile the stock market is not reacting well to the news.
With all of this going on, Trump called Israel’s Channel 12, where he announced he’s considering a massive attack on Iran, bigger than anything he’s carried out before, bigger than so-called Operation Epic Fury. He says he’s close to making a decision.
I want you to focus on this for a moment, because there’s a detail buried in the reporting that tells you exactly how bad things actually are on the ground.
