Business Rundown: Oil Uncertainty & Social Media’s Wake-Up Call

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I'm Taylor Riggs, and this is The Fox Business rundown.

Friday, March 27th, 2026. President Trump is extending a pause in military strikes on targets

in Iran, but with oil prices rising, is that enough to convince investors that a resolution

is near. The lack of clarity and the lack of definitiveness is going to result in pressure on

the consumer. The deadline for Iran has been pushed back now to April 6th. That's when the regime

can either reopen the straight of her moves or continue to face military strikes.

Despite the extension, oil prices jumped Friday morning as both Brent Crude and West Texas

intermediate surged. President Trump has signaled that negotiations with Tehran are going very well,

while Iran calls the 15-point proposal to end the war, quote, one-sided and unfair.

So how long will military operations and this rollercoaster of oil prices last,

and when will the pain at the pump subside? When you hear about boots on the ground or at least

being deployed, you start to wonder how long it's going to last. Marcus Limonis is a Fox News

contributor, entrepreneur, and host of The Fixer on Fox Business. And I think you and I've

talked about this before. There are the four bees when it comes to war, particularly in the Middle

East. There's what's happening to the barrel. We broke $100 again. What's happening to the boats?

A few are getting through. The insurance is still high. Yes, the government is backing it,

but there are additional costs. What's happening to the basket for the consumer? And a week,

two weeks, three weeks, even a month, you can actually delay the arrival of goods and you can

almost mix them in, and most companies can take on that margin so the consumer does not.

What started to happen now is that the market is starting to recognize a number of things,

or recognizing that inflation is starting to feel more real. The 10-year treasury is up again.

You look at mortgage rates, they're up again, and now consumers are really starting to get nervous.

And I think what the Republican Party, and if I was advising President Trump, I would tell him,

the lack of clarity and the lack of definitiveness is going to result in pressure on the consumer.

And there was pressure on the consumer before the war started. We were hearing about affordability

every single day, and the Democrats are doing a really good job of telling that story. They just

did it in South Florida in Trump's district. I don't know how the consumer is going to react

in the short term, but what I do worry about is the housing market. Typically, spring is the kickoff

of housing, right? Kids are getting ready to get off a school, parents are thinking, okay,

I'm going to move them, I'm going to have to move in the summer. And if you have a four-month,

three-four-month cycle where you can't afford to get a mortgage, it's going to create a big drag

over the summer and into the fall. And then all the rate cuts that we talked about,

oh, there's going to be three, oh, there's going to be two, oh, there's going to be one, oh,

there's going to be an increase. I start to worry. And I think pointing at the Fed saying,

you're a bunch of dumb-dums while there may be truth from somebody's perspective. The reality

of it is is that the dumb-dum feels like the consumer right now who's going to pay more in the

short term. And that's my fear. Who's fighting for them? And are the Democrats going to use this?

Because if I was a strategist on the other side, I would exploit this. I would use it against us

to say, you guys said you were going to fix the economy. You didn't. You said we weren't going

to go to war. We're at war. You said gas prices were going to be low. They're not. You said,

a housing was going to be more affordable. It's not. Your plan doesn't work. And what's the

rebuttal to that? And the honest rebuttal is we needed to do what we're doing with Iran.

Period hard stop. Acknowledging that there's consequences, financial consequences. That hasn't

seemed to land in people's word tracks yet. Right. So a few thoughts. Freddie Mac yesterday said,

mortgage rates jumped up to a 6.36. I believe it was maybe a 6.38. So there was a glimmer of hope

when we dipped below six a month or so ago. So that's now wiped out. But what's interesting to me is

I'm always a fan of what I do not what I say. So I say that I don't feel great. But I

am still spending carnival cruise lines just came out this morning and they said they have record

bookings. Now they're adjusting their profit guidance lower because fuel costs. But they're

charging high prices and people are going on cruises. So for me, I'm wondering, is this a sentiment

destruction and not yet demand destruction? What are you seeing with the businesses that you run

are consumers actually really pulling back or they just saying they will because they don't like

how they feel? They're not pulling back. Wild, right? They're not pulling back. And so I

look at. Don't just have the same. Yeah, they're not pulling back. But we are having to be slightly

more promotional. And so you just mentioned a minute ago that carnival's adjusting their guidance.

A portion of it is fuel. A portion of it is fuel. And a portion of it is being a little more

promotional. Trying to grab market share, trying to pick it out from other people, trying to

induce people to your form of leisure versus other forms of leisure. But we've been hearing about

affordability for a year now. Yeah. And we still see people spending and we don't see wages rising

at the same rate that spending is. But when we start to see inflation, if it possibly breaks,

I think I saw something this morning that it could break 4.2. If it does, that's not good. At some

point, people just have less discretionary dollars and their desire to spend is different than

their ability. Some days it feels like there is no pause. Feeding, sniper changes, and late night

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So I want to flip this script a little bit and do and change topics.

I am a new parent and so I am very aware of that some of my biases can come in on this. So I'm

going to try to temper my comments because I really do want to hear your thoughts.

We had a couple pretty landmark social media trials this week. New Mexico awarded

a playing tiff and part of that was the state $375 million against social media companies.

And then the big one is well down in California. Meta and YouTube were found liable.

And then the jury awarded a small amount, six million to a woman who claimed that they are

purposefully addicting people. Now you and I have had interesting conversations about agency

and parental responsibility. But these are minors. These are kids under the age of 18.

And so I'm curious about if you feel like this is a sea change with social media.

How do we use social media responsibly? How do we have parents take control and responsibility,

but also respecting parents saying like I need help. I cannot fight this battle on my own and I

am losing. And the suicide numbers show that I'm losing. And the mental health crisis shows that

I'm losing this battle. How do you weigh all that? I'm not a lawyer. But I do want to cite something.

And I can't recall if it's section 230 or 232. I think it's 230. And the internet exists because

of 230. And it's basically said that all these folks are not responsible for the content. And for

years, people were able to build platforms and be held, I think, clean of any liability regarding

content. What happened this week is the ruling was more important than the financial piece.

I was happy to see the 375 as it related to children because I want to hit you across the head

with anything that is going to compromise children. But when you look at the smaller ruling in

California, it was really the court saying, you are responsible for the form and the methodology

in which you build your platform. And it's not about the content anymore. We're saying 230.

You're good. But have you built something that lures me in? And I started to draw parallel behind

tobacco and other things that are addicted. Did you intentionally construct something that

pulls me into a vortex, pulls kids in, pulls all adults in you and I into a vortex uses advertising

algorithms to to to get me to behave in a certain way. And I would have to imagine there's a lot

of money, a lot of time and a lot of science being spent over the years on how to short circuit,

short wire, someone's brain. I find myself embarrassed to admit this, but I find myself in instances

addicted to what I read, what I see, what people say, how people are feeling about a topic,

about me, about a business, about somebody I know, about a social issue. And I find myself getting

pulled into that and then I find myself being served information that either takes me further down

or causes me to induce some sort of behavior. I'm in control of my own self. I don't think

people have as much control of their kids as we would like them to, but if there's a system

that is smarter than the parent and a system that can outsmart the child, a child, a young adult,

whatever you want to call it, I think the rules have changed. And while it was a $6 million

ruling, it was a $6 trillion precedence. Like a call? Yeah. And I'm happy in a way

because I really do understand how that works. I'm concerned in a way, and this is not going to

be a popular thing to say, but as a retailer of goods and services, I rely on social media platforms

to drive revenue. I have a band in direct mail. I have a band in linear TV to advertise. I've

abandoned all these other things. And I find myself looking at lots of different techniques and

strategies because they convert. And so conversion is the height of conversion equivalent to the

height of addiction. Interesting. That's a good question. I think it is. I'm embarrassed to admit

that as a as a seller of goods and services. And I think CEOs and boardrooms are going to start

to have to ask themselves one big question. If we know that these platforms are being held

reliable for construct, and if companies know that that construct results in better conversion

of the sale of goods and services, then our company is going to at some point be held liable for

I bought this this onion peeler on TikTok because I saw it and then it turned into something big

and then it turned into me having too much debt. And then it turned into me not being able to

pay my mortgage. And was I a contributor? Interesting. I don't know. I'm scared as a retailer like

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listings February 2024 through January 2025. Jonathan Hyte, one of my favorite social

psychologists. We interviewed him on the show earlier this week on The Big Money Show. And I'm

a huge fan of his research because it helps me as a parent understand how to guide and navigate

these waters. And he said there's like 20 states that are now lined up behind New Mexico. And

New Mexico it was a $375 million ruling because it was on behalf of all the children in New Mexico.

It comes out to like 18,000 kids. What about like California or New York or Florida where there's

exponentially more kids. And then that's when it becomes potentially a financial issue for

the for meta and Google will see. And then you're right, maybe five, 10 years from now. It's

a company issue. Well, I think that's a big TBD. Tell the most people real quickly. Most people

are not aware that in in corporations, you're taking on different levels and layers of insurance

to protect yourself from things like this. And so when you start out, insurance was premiums

were probably written under the guys that 230 protected you. Yeah. And what they're finding now

is that insurance companies are going to need to pay. And insurance companies are going to change

their standards and renewals. And then these companies are not going to have the reserves. And then

companies are going to start to be questioned. Are they going concerns? Are legitimate companies

with billions of dollars going concerns? And are these companies last point? Are these companies

that have this exposure who may not be able to get the policies to protect themselves from

this going to have to pull back on? Are you ready? AI spending. Okay. In an order to keep

cash in the coffers to be able to deal with stuff like this. And then that's a broader macro

economic issue. You're already seeing people pull back from AI spending. Jonathan, I did say that

I don't think meta's insurance. I think that meta's insurance pulled back and said because

you were negligent like we don't have to pay. And so meta has to pay. I want to double check my facts

because I don't want to misquote him. It's probably true. But then it's going to be a debate

between meta and the insurance company. Right. We'll let them figure that out. Okay. I just want

to quickly end on a fun note. America 250. It's the birthday. It's coming up. Everyone's excited.

But there's been a portion of brands who have come out and they're hesitant to participate.

They're saying, well, being too patriotic might mean that I'm too much on the ride and not being

patriotic enough means maybe people will think I'm too left. So I'm kind of walking this tight

rope. That's crazy, right? Like you should just be patriotic. When did that become political?

And like, what do you make of that? Well, why aren't you patriotic all the time?

Yeah. It's my first question. And I think people just because I have a history with the law

and the American flag, people are wondering if in this particular year I'm going to do something

bigger or different. And my response is like, no, it's an all the time thing. I think companies,

though, do have to be smart about it and not exploit America 250 where they turn their whole

business into one giant flag because they think they're going to appeal to people. I think

there's a time and place for it. It isn't just the fourth of July. It isn't every day. And

I don't think anybody's talking about this. This may be controversial. There are a number of

organizations who have popped up who have started to ask companies for sponsorship money around

America 250 and the companies are getting looped into it and they don't know what they're paying for.

So there's a little bit of potential risk and fraud around all of this. I worry that people are

going to get polarized in the summer and they're going to get, I hate to say this, they're going

to get exhausted by the amount of commercialism. And I want, I like the patriotism. I'd rather see

a parade in a small town. I'd rather see people put flags in their yard. I don't want to see

companies exploited by turning everything into this. And then what happens on the 250 first year?

Right. We're like, we're not cool anymore. Right. Well said. It's always cool. It's always cool

to fly a flag. You got it. You know that one. Marcus the Monash. This was a pleasure. Thank you.