Market Open: Stocks Lower, Investors Hopes For A Cease Fire With Iran Fade, Oil Climbs Again 4/7/26

I'm Jessica Edinger, CNBC, Wall Street's in the red this morning, investors mind

full of a deadline tonight for the U.S. to begin striking Iranian civilian infrastructure

if no deal is struck by APM Eastern. The Dow down 226 points is being led lower by shares

of Apple, tanking 4% this morning. The S&P 500 index down 42, the NASDAQ down 224 points,

the full 1% in video shares are down more than 1%. Investors waiting for word of an off-ramp

possibly in the war with Iran. Or action in response to President Trump's APM Eastern

deadline tonight to begin bombing Iran. Everything's hanging in the balance here. This

is a game of musical chairs right now. You better have a seat when the music stops because

the music is going to stop tonight. Either there's some kind of deal that gets worked

out or we are heading towards an energy crisis of the first order.

And Capitals John Kildef on CNBC, the latest from Washington. Here's CNBC's Megan Kasella.

Both sides escalating their rhetoric. As we move closer to that deadline, which the

president says will be the final deadline before the U.S. military begins to target civilian

infrastructure in Iran. And at this point talks appear to be on shaky ground. The White

House official confirmed to me that the Pentagon struck military targets on the oil export

hub of Carve Island overnight. And also in the last hour, a senior Iranian source

telling Reuters that there are no negotiations with the U.S., which wants Iran to surrender

under pressure. Vice President Vance telling reporters this morning that the White House

is confident it will get some sort of response from the Iran side before APM tonight, suggesting

that maybe they will find a way forward.

President Trump warning Iran's whole civilization will die tonight unless there's a deal

a number of tankers are reportedly moving through the strait of hormones safely. With Iran

now charging tolls for the privilege, those tankers may be heading to China or Russia.

U.S. crude hit $114 a barrel overnight in Triple A says. That's why you're paying more

at the pump. Gas prices went up again overnight. The national average for a gallon of regular

is sitting at $4.14. Diesel used in transportation trains, cruise ships, delivery trucks and

agriculture equipment. While that national average just hit $5.64 a gallon, up more than

$2.00 a gallon from the same time a year ago.

Aluminum is impacted with few ships moving through the strait of hormones. Notable production

happens in the Gulf.

The impact on the industry is going to be varied. There's a lot of smelted aluminum in

the world. There's quite a bit of aluminum smelted just next door in Canada. That's where

we get the lion's share of our smelted aluminum. And so for the vast volume of products,

we're going to see adjustments in supply chains. We are going to see some disruptions and

uncertainties in the court term, but the industry will adjust.

That's the aluminum association's President Charles Johnson on CNBC. Used car prices

popped to their highest in nearly three years. Cox Automotive's Mannheim used vehicle value

index tracks, prices of used vehicle sold at wholesale auctions. And it's showing prices

popped more than 6% last month over last year. Benefit planned shares were higher this

morning, United Health and CVS health. The Trump administration finalized a higher rate

for Medicare advantage payments than first thought for next year, boosting payments by

about two and a half percent. Later on today, we're going to get an update on consumer

credit. How much debt Americans are taking on? I'm Jessica Attinger, CNBC.

It made you confident that you could do something that hadn't been done before.

I have no fear of failure. Trailblazing women, changing the game. One of my favorite pieces

of advice. Think about what your boss's boss needs. Leadership can look in many, many

different forms. It really does come down to just trusting yourself, life is short,

and you just got to think big to accomplish big things.

Julia Bourston hosts CNBC Changemakers and Powerplayers. New episodes every Tuesday, wherever

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