Gas close to $10 a gallon will do that thing where it resets your sense of “normal” in about five seconds. After he got back from Lisbon, where gas was almost $10 a gallon, we wanted to zoom out and give a clear 2026 market update at the halfway point, because the mood out there feels anxious even while the major indexes are still trending up.

We walk through the first half performance of the S&P 500, Nasdaq, Dow, and Russell 2000 and talk about what those returns can mean if you’re investing through a 401(k), IRA, or simple index fund strategy. Then we shift to the jobs market, where the headline unemployment rate doesn’t tell the whole story. Hiring has cooled in a lot of white collar entry-level paths, and that’s creating one of the toughest job markets for college grads we’ve seen in years. We also touch the growing question behind so many career conversations right now: how AI and automation might reshape job types, not just replace roles.

From there, we dig into inflation, CPI versus core CPI, and why “sticky inflation” keeps the Federal Reserve cautious on interest rate cuts. We lay out the real tradeoff the Fed is managing: cut too fast and risk re-igniting inflation, or hold rates higher and keep borrowing costs painful. Finally, we add perspective on geopolitical risk and oil disruption, using history to show how markets have often recovered even when energy headlines look scary, while still acknowledging how gas prices change everyday behavior.

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Sources:
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Disclosure: Information contained in this podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only, and should not be considered as financial advice. Financial Planning and Advisory Services are offered through Prosperity Capital Advisors (“PCA”), an SEC registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Keystone Financial Group and PCA are separate, non- affiliated entities. PCA does not provide tax or legal advice.