Oil prices are lower Monday as U.S. and Iran pause fighting
Oil prices are starting Fed week on a negative note, with front-month West Texas Intermediate crude futures down 6.5% at $83.50 per barrel.
This comes after a Reuters report indicated that Iran has agreed to pause strikes in the region as long as Washington agrees to do the same.
But “the situation remains far from resolved,” says Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com. “Shipping risks through the Strait of Hormuz and continued disruption in the Red Sea mean energy markets remain vulnerable to fresh headlines, and any setback in negotiations could quickly send crude prices higher once again.”
– Karee Venema
Fed meeting schedule for 2026
The next Fed meeting, which runs from July 28 through July 29, marks the fifth gathering of 2026.
“The committee meets eight times a year, or about once every six weeks,” writes Kiplinger contributor Dan Burrows in his feature, “When Is the Next Fed Meeting?“.
The Federal Open Market Committee “is required to meet at least four times a year and may convene additional meetings if necessary,” Burrows adds, noting that “the convention of meeting eight times per year dates back to the market stresses of 1981.”
Fed meetings last two days and wrap up with the release of a policy decision at 2 pm Eastern Standard Time. This is typically followed by the Fed chair’s press conference at 2:30 pm, though this could change under Warsh’s leadership.
Here is the full remaining Fed meeting schedule for 2026:
- July 28 to 29
- September 15 to 16
- October 27 to 28
- December 8 to 9
– Karee Venema
The stock market trades mixed to start Fed week
Stocks are mixed at midday Monday as market participants weigh falling oil prices and a continued sell-off in semiconductor stocks.
At last check, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3% at 52,099, boosted by strength in mega caps Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOGL).
But the broader S&P 500 is down 0.04% at 7,408 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is off 0.2% at 24,924, with heavy losses for Micron Technology (MU) and SanDisk (SNDK) dragging on the indexes.
Over in the bond market, the yield on the 2-year Treasury yield is off 1.5 basis points at 4.316% and the 10-year Treasury yield is 3.2 basis points lower at 4.647%, though both remain near their highest points since early 2025.
– Karee Venema
With over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is the senior investing editor at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021, and oversees a wide range of investing coverage, including content focused on equities, fixed income, mutual funds, ETFs, macroeconomics and more.