I know this isn’t exactly news: Prices are high and it seems like it stings to buy, well, almost anything these days, right? It’s not your imagination. Inflation is the highest it has been in three years.

The consumer price index hit 4.2% in May, up from 3.8 percent in April, according to fresh inflation data out Wednesday. Prices have soared in particular on a lot of things Americans buy every day, including coffee, lettuce and more. While the war in Iran has fueled most of the run-up in prices, tariffs and drought conditions also have been playing a role.

“It’s kind of the perfect storm,” said one economics professor, about all the factors contributing to rising food costs. Soaring fuel prices have pushed up the cost to transport fresh produce and beef, which must be shipped in refrigerated trucks that tend to be less fuel-efficient. “So you’re not only paying energy to ship it, you’re paying energy to keep it cool.”

Economists told the Wall Street Journal that May’s reading was in line with expectations. And it’s likely to be the high water mark in the recent run-up in inflation from this year’s energy-price shock. That’s assuming gasoline prices, which have ticked down in June, don’t accelerate again on renewed conflict in the Strait of Hormuz (more on that below).

President Trump on Wednesday showed how he had learned to stop worrying about inflation and took a surprisingly optimistic tack with the challenging news. He didn’t dismiss the affordability issue as a “hoax” that was started by Democrats, as he has done previously. Nor did he claim that he was bringing down the cost of living. Instead he said, “You know what I really love? I love the inflation.” Not sure how that plays for the majority of Americans who say they are frustrated with the direction of the economy, but … yeah, sure.

The U.S. military launched strikes on Iran on Wednesday for the second consecutive evening. U.S. officials said the intent was to pressure Tehran to sign a deal, but the strikes also carry a risk of military escalation. President Donald Trump had said Iran would have to “pay the price” after it responded to earlier U.S. strikes with a wave of attacks targeting U.S. assets across the Middle East overnight, adding to a fresh cycle of violence that threatens to upend the increasingly shaky ceasefire between the two countries.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said that it fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. airbase and its control center in Jordan. They also announced that the Strait of Hormuz is now closed to all marine traffic in response. However, U.S. Central Command maintained the key waterway was still open.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth explained that Washington was “clearly signaling” to Iran’s leaders and hoped to “enhance” its diplomatic position. “If we need to negotiate with bombs, we will negotiate with bombs,” he said. CNN reports that sometimes in warfare, adjustments in strategy and strikes that reach a critical mass can change outcomes. But the risk is that this new offensive may simply prolong a pattern that has confounded Trump. While U.S. forces repeatedly chalk up tactical wins, military options are yet to secure an overall strategic triumph.

Every morning, financial news follows the same script. Headlines panic, coverage catastrophises, and somewhere inside the noise is the story that actually matters — the one that tells you where the opportunity sits, not just where the fear is pointing.

Most sources have stopped looking. The alarm is easier to sell.

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The electric comeback by the Knicks in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night unleashed a chaotic and optimistic energy in Madison Square Garden and the streets of New York City. I watched much of via fancy friends’ Insta stories and the vibe was rowdy but looked fun as hell.

The Athletic put it like this: OG Anunoby soared from—where? Maybe the Empire State Building?—for the greatest put-back in New York Knicks history, finishing off the biggest in-game comeback in NBA Finals history and moving the New York Knicks to within one win of their first title since 1973. Trailing by 29 early in the second half, New York clawed its way back to win 107-106 on Anunoby’s put-back of a Jalen Brunson miss with just 1.2 seconds left.

The Knicks now lead the series 3-1, having become the first home team to get a win in the 2026 finals. The series now shifts back to San Antonio for Game 5 on Saturday at the Frost Bank Center.