The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced that the U.S. commercial banks and savings institutions it insures reported aggregate net income of $80.5 billion in Q1’26, an increase of 14.3% year-over-year. Net interest margin was 3.31% in Q1’26, down from 3.39% in the prior quarter. Net interest margin reported by community banks increased by 24 basis points year-over-year to 3.71% in Q1’26.

The Hot Hand, a book written by Ben Cohen in 2020, explores the Hot Hand in Basketball research paper written in 1985. The book discusses the existence of streaks and whether an athlete is actually in “the zone” when she seemingly can’t miss. We have all seen it and it seems obvious when a shooter is red hot. Get her the ball! Yet Cohen’s book and various studies describe streaks as simply the randomness of a large data set and not being in any zone at all. Say what you will about Cohen’s book and the evidence...to most of us, it is clear that the equity markets are in the zone!

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Total net assets invested in U.S. money market funds totaled $7.78 trillion on 5/27/26, an increase of 12.0% year-over-year from $6.95 trillion on 5/28/25, according to weekly data from Bloomberg and the Investment Company Institute. Total net assets invested in so-called “government” money market funds, which restrict their holdings to U.S. Treasuries and agency debt, increased by 13.2% to $6.41 trillion over the same period.

ATTOM Data Solutions reported that 68,999 U.S. single-family homes and condos were flipped in Q4’25, a decline of 7.4% year-over-year, according to its own release. Gross profit (the difference between the median purchase price paid by investors and the median resale price) on a typical flip declined from $74,076 in Q4’24 to $62,000 in Q4’25. Gross return on investment stood at 23.6% in Q4’25, its lowest level since Q3’07.

A record 9.92 million barrels of crude oil were withdrawn from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) during the week ended May 15, 2026, according to MarketWatch. The withdrawal is part of an agreement between the U.S. and the International Energy Agency designed to counter the Iranian war’s impact on energy prices. A total of 172 million barrels of crude are expected to be withdrawn, reducing the SPR to nearly 300 million barrels, less than half of its 714-million-barrel capacity.

Brian Wesbury discusses the implications of a new Fed Chair, how the conflict in Iran may impact inflation, and whether or not AI can make a pencil.