Marketplace Morning Report

The Strait of Hormuz has remained largely closed, with only three sanctioned tankers making it through the waterway according to Reuters. When asked about a potential timeline for lower gas prices on CNN, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said prices below $3 “might not happen until next year.” Also on the program, we discuss a New York State law limiting employers’ use of credit history and Germany’s plan to build military enlistment.

Iran declared on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz has reopened for all commercial vessels. While the news caused stocks to rally and oil prices to drop, it’s unclear yet whether or not the market reaction is premature. Plus, we take a look into the aging demographics of first-time homebuyers and their shrinking share of the housing market.

The head of the International Energy Agency warned on Thursday that Europe could run out of jet fuel in few as six weeks. The continent is the biggest consumer of jet fuel shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, and ongoing closures in the strait could lead to swaths of flight cancellations. Also on the program: we discuss shifting expectations for American universities, our aging first-time homebuyer population, and changes at Netflix.

The Federal Reserve is meeting at the end of this month to figure out what to do with interest rates. They have a tough task ahead of them: weighing the job market, inflation, and a war in the Middle East that is "roiling supply chains in ways that are similar ... to what we saw emerging from the pandemic," said KPMG's Diane Swonk. Also on the show: Rising health insurance costs are dragging down wage growth.

Power utilities plan to spend $1.4 trillion over the next five years on capital projects. A lot of that boils down to grid maintenance and projects to support additional power generation. That’s a 21% increase over what utilities were planning to spend a year ago — and it could drive up household utility bills. Then, it’s been a little over three months since the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. How has Venezuela's oil industry changed since?