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A majority of Federal Reserve officials at their most recent meeting anticipated that interest rate increases would be necessary if the Iran war continued to aggravate inflation, according to minutes released Wednesday.

At issue was the impact that the Iran war would have on prices and how that would work its way into monetary policy. Officials differed on how long the war’s impact would last and whether the post-meeting statement should continue to reflect a bias toward cutting rates as the more likely next move.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/20/fed-officials-see-rate-hike-ahead-if-inflation-stays-elevated-minutes-show.html

President Trump made 94 different trades of “Magnificent Seven” stocks in the first quarter of 2026, a new ethics disclosure shows, executing millions of dollars in transactions even as he was meeting with and often promoting these top tech companies.

The trades were valued at between $50 million and $70 million across 64 buy orders and 30 stock sales.

The president, on net, loaded up on Apple and Alphabet, while selling more Tesla stock than he bought, a Yahoo Finance analysis found. His account also executed more than a dozen transactions each of Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Amazon, rounding out the Magnificent Seven.

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/article/trump-traded-over-50-million-in-magnificent-7-stocks-last-quarter-loading-up-on-apple-and-google-and-selling-tesla-100000562.html

The rallying U.S. stock market will take its cues next week from inflation and consumer spending data, developments in the ​war in Iran, and a high-stakes meeting between the leaders of the U.S. and China.

U.S. equities have been on a tear, with the benchmark S&P ‌500 up more than 16% from its low for the year, hit in late March. The strongest U.S quarterly earning season in more than four years has lifted sentiment for equities, while worries about worst-case economic fallout from the Iran war have abated and investors are jumping in for FOMO on gains.

With markets expecting a near-term resolution to the war, investors said they may focus on the CPI's core reading, which strips out energy and could offer clearer clues for projecting the path of interest ​rates. Following the war-related surge in energy prices, markets have ruled out equity-friendly rate cuts this year, and the latest Federal Reserve ​meeting indicated more hawkish ⁠sentiment from several policymakers.

Other data next week include Wednesday's producer prices, which will offer another look at inflation trends, and Thursday's monthly retail sales, where investors will focus on how much higher gasoline and overall energy costs are eating into other types of consumer spending. This week, the national average price ⁠for gasoline topped $4.50 ​a gallon for the first time since July 2022.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/wall-st-week-ahead-data-iran-us-china-meeting-focus-scorching-us-stock-market-2026-05-08/