The order of the day is outrage.
Just a little bit, on the side, to go with your main course of failing to keep up with the cost of living.
The average price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. is $4.41, according to gasbuddy.com. A year ago, that price was $3.17, a 39% increase. For those unfortunate enough to be living on or near the west coast, average gas prices are above $5 in Washington, Oregon, and Nevada, and $6.04 in California.
Friday morning, ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX), America's two oil giants (or, in Wall Street parlance: "supermajors") posted first quarter results.
CNBC blared this headline:
Exxon Mobil and Chevron earnings fall as Iran war disrupts oil shipments
ExxonMobile reported a net profit of $4.2 billion. Chevron reported net income of $2.2 billion.
But wait, there's more!
Exxon’s net income declined 45%, while Chevron’s tumbled 36%. Ohh! Poor babies! However, both companies recorded charges in the quarter to offset losses related to "unfavorable financial hedges", so, adjusted earnings per share for both companies beat estimates handily.
Chevron earned $1.41 per share to beat Wall Street’s estimates of 95 cents. It was the biggest earnings beat since October 2020. ExxonMobile's adjusted first-quarter net income of $1.16 a share was 20 cents higher than the average Bloomberg estimate.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Shares of both stocks are steady in pre-market trading even though Exxon’s net income declined 45%, while Chevron’s tumbled 36%, according to the best bean-counting, tax fraud accountants money can buy.
Americans must think that all of this is just swell. While Joe and Jane Sixpack spend about 40% more to fuel up their monster trucks, Big Oil makes nice profits, which is always the case, except this time, CNBC proudly states, "Surging oil prices due to the Iran war did not result in a windfall for Exxon Mobil and Chevron in the first quarter."
No, nobody profits from war. Never, ever.
But wait, there's even more!
Certain rational people might think it's time to buy an electric vehicle and charge it with one's very own rooftop solar system. Great idea, except that all the tax credits for installing solar have expired and buying a BYD or other efficient Chinese-made EV will cost double in the U.S. thanks to President Trump's 100% tariff on EVs imported from China, because, "drill, baby drill" and "China bad."
Nice timing.
It's OK. Stocks made new all-time highs on Thursday and the Shiller PE struck a new tone at 40.94, so everything's just fine.
At the Close, Thursday, April 30, 2026:
Dow: 49,652.14, +790.33 (+1.62%)
NASDAQ: 24,892.31, +219.07 (+0.89%)
S&P 500: 7,209.01, +73.06 (+1.02%)
NYSE Composite: 23,144.64, +393.13 (+1.73%)
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