Oil prices dip on de-escalation news

Summary

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Marketplace Morning Report — "Oil prices dip on de-escalation news"

Host: David Brancaccio
Date: April 8, 2026
Episode Theme:
A fast-paced overview of overnight business and economic news, focusing on the dramatic drop in oil prices following de-escalation between the US and Iran, and a roving look at New Mexico’s “K-shaped” economy one hundred years after Route 66’s debut, juxtaposing the region’s tech potential, poverty, and innovation challenges.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Oil Prices Tumble on Ceasefire News

• [01:10] David Brancaccio reports a major overnight shift:
  • US-Iran conflict has entered a two-week ceasefire, with both sides “asserting victory.”
  • Oil prices plunged nearly 16%: from highs near $118 down to under $95 per barrel.
• Market Reaction:
  • Stock markets respond with rallies:
    • Dow futures up more than 1,000 points (2.5%)
    • S&P futures up 2.6%
    • Nasdaq up 3.4%
    • The VIX volatility index falls by 20%
    • US Treasury bonds rise, 10-year rate drops to 4.24%
• [01:41] Dan Coatsworth (Head of Markets, AJ Bell) provides caution:

  “Just because we’ve got a two-week ceasefire doesn’t mean to say this situation has been resolved. It 100% has not been resolved. It simply reached a turning point in the narrative and I think that the market reaction shows that there’s some relief. But people aren’t saying, phew, thank God this is all now done and dusted.” — Dan Coatsworth [01:41]

2. A Drive Down Route 66: The “K-shaped” Economy

• [02:06] Brancaccio transitions to the real economy via his journey along Route 66 in New Mexico, reflecting on:
  • Technological change’s uneven impact: Some towns thrive or stagnate.
  • K-shaped recovery: Part of the economy (one “leg” of the K) surges, others fall behind.

3. Workforce Innovation in Albuquerque

• [03:23] Stops at Ancora Bakery and Cafe, a nonprofit and recovery program:
  • Job training focus: 70-100 people trained and placed per year, especially as baristas and food service workers.

    “When people are getting sober, they’re real cranky or when they’re getting out of relationships, there’s dysregulation and we’re gonna be extra supportive and get them working and regulated. We get them a resume, get them outfits, we get them mock interviews and prepare them to go get a permanent job out in society.”
    — Dominic Cagliostro, co-founder [03:51]

  • The cafe briefly closed, but has reopened. It’s also engaged in food rescue for the unhoused.

4. Albuquerque’s Science and Tech Scene

• [06:04] Brancaccio visits the Museum of Nuclear Science, playing a 1945 Truman announcement, reminding listeners:

  “A lot of that work was done in this region, which is now home to three national labs... still one of the greatest collections of scientific minds, with many working at the frontiers of artificial intelligence.”

• [06:58] New Mexico recognized as an “AI mini-cluster” (Brookings report), but remains far from a “superstar AI hub.”

5. Tech Commercialization Challenges in New Mexico

• [07:04] Mark Montgomery, AI scientist and Kyield founder, describes persistent obstacles:

  “We have quite a few small companies that have been successful, but we’ve never had a major company succeed in New Mexico in technology, which is probably the biggest gap... between the R&D dollars that are spent versus the commercialization and the opportunities for employment.”
  — Mark Montgomery [07:09]

• [07:57] On why these gaps persist:

  “Since government dominates the economy... We don’t have what typically you have are a bunch of wealthy angel investors who have existing businesses that are also early stage customers... Most of them will take that route or the route west on 66 toward the coast.”
  — Mark Montgomery [07:57-08:22]

• [08:27] “A lot of times they fly after they’ve been acquired by companies on the coast. Silicon Valley is pretty well known for cherry picking New Mexico tech transfer.”
  — Mark Montgomery

6. Wealth, Poverty, and Policy in New Mexico

• [08:39] Brancaccio notes New Mexico’s contradictory distinctions:
  • Built a $70 billion sovereign wealth fund from oil and gas revenues to foster local entrepreneurship.
  • Number one in the nation for median family income growth (recent data).
  • Still in the bottom three nationally for poverty rate.
  • Describes New Mexico’s journey as yet another “bend in the road” on the “K-shaped” Route 66.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Just because we’ve got a two-week ceasefire doesn’t mean to say this situation has been resolved. It 100% has not been resolved.”
  — Dan Coatsworth [01:41]
• “We’re gonna be extra supportive and get them working and regulated. We get them a resume, get them outfits, we get them mock interviews and prepare them to go get a permanent job out in society.”
  — Dominic Cagliostro [03:51]
• “We have quite a few small companies that have been successful, but we’ve never had a major company succeed in New Mexico in technology…”
  — Mark Montgomery [07:09]
• “Most of [New Mexico’s entrepreneurs] will take that route or the route west on 66 toward the coast.”
  — Mark Montgomery [08:22]

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Key Timestamps

• [01:10] – US-Iran ceasefire, oil price plunge, market rally
• [01:41] – Market commentary with Dan Coatsworth
• [02:06] – Route 66 road trip, tech change impacts
• [03:23] – Ancora Cafe: Job training + recovery work in Albuquerque
• [06:04] – Museum of Nuclear Science: Region’s legacy in science/AI
• [07:04] – Tech industry and economic hurdles in New Mexico (Mark Montgomery)
• [08:39] – Contradictions: New Mexico’s income growth v. poverty, sovereign fund

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Tone & Style

Upbeat and observant, with Brancaccio’s blend of wit and human interest. The episode weaves big-picture business headlines with personal and regional stories, balancing hard statistics with narrative color, and capturing the challenges and opportunities of economic change in real communities.

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For more: All “Economy 66” features are accumulating at marketplace.org.

Transcript

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[David Brancaccio]

oil prices deflate as stock markets cheer the decision to de escalate in Iran. I'm David Brancaccio. With both countries asserting victory. We're now in the first hours of a two week cease fire in the US Iran conflict. The wholesale price of oil has just plunged nearly 16%. The New York price was pushing 118. At the moment it's just below $95 a barrel. Dan Coatsworth is head of markets at the UK based investment platform AJ Bell.

[Dan Coatsworth]

Just because we've got a two week ceasefire doesn't mean to say this situation has been resolved. It 100% has not been resolved. It simply reached a turning point in the narrative and I think that the market reaction shows that there's some relief. But people aren't saying, phew, thank God this is all now done and dusted.

[David Brancaccio]

Two and a half hours before US Stock markets open. Officially, Dow futures are up more than 1,000 points, 2.5%. S&P futures are up 2.6%. Nasdaq futures I see are up 3.4%. Now the VIX index of stock market volatility is down 20%. US treasury bonds up sharply. The 10 year interest rate down at 4.24%. Now from markets to the real economy in which we live. It's from my drive down a stretch of Route 66 in the southwest to see what the economy looks like 100 years after the storied highway from Illinois to California came into being. We are now living through ferociously fast technological change which is hitting and sometimes Missing towns along this route at the biggest Route 66 town in New Mexico, I experienced what many experts call our K shaped economy. One leg up, one leg, one down. To stop that get yout kicks on Route 66 playing on repeat in my head while on the long road a little Neil Young does the trick.

[Dan Coatsworth]

Find some Friday.

[David Brancaccio]

In Search of Fried Eggs the Yelp app gives top marks to a place called Ancora Bakery and Cafe in Albuquerque. It's got eggs, chorizo and surprise Job

[Dominic Cagliostro]

training well, we usually get about 70 to 100 people trained per year and

[David Brancaccio]

we always get people placed trained as baristas in food service. Dominic Cagliostro is one of the founders of this nonprofit cafe and recovery program.

[Dominic Cagliostro]

When people are getting sober, they're real cranky or when they're getting out of relationships, there's dysregulation and we're gonna be extra supportive and get them working and regulated. We get them a resume, get them outfits, we get them mock interviews and prepare them to go get a permanent job out in society.

[David Brancaccio]

It's a 501 nonprofit and cash flow's not easy for a time. Recently the cafe, part of the recovery center, went on hiatus and and we found Google Maps listing it as permanently closed but wrong. It is back open and there was a solid breakfast and an excellent latte.

[Dominic Cagliostro]

Donations. Philanthropists me and my wife, we collaborate with other places.

[David Brancaccio]

Contributing to the operation is Ancora's work moving surplus restaurant food out to unhoused people in and around the neon Corridors of Route 66 called Central Avenue in Albuquerque. In a moment, a different side of a city flush with AI science and tech money but not flush with big private tech companies.

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[Museum Narrator]

It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic Power of the Universe.

[David Brancaccio]

At Albuquerque's Museum of Nuclear science and history, six blocks from Route 66, there's a loop of President Truman's big announcement in 1945.

[Museum Narrator]

But the greatest marvel is not the size of the enterprise, its secrecy or its cost, but the achievement of scientific brains in making it work.

[David Brancaccio]

A lot of that work was done in this region, which is now home to three national labs, Los Alamos, Air Force Research and Sandia. Right here we still find one of the greatest collections of scientific minds, with many working at the frontiers of artificial intelligence. Recently a Brookings report identified this waypoint on Route 66 as an AI mini cluster, but certainly not a superstar AI hub.

[Mark Montgomery]

You would think even that by accident by now we would have very successful companies in New Mexico.

[David Brancaccio]

Mark Montgomery is a noted AI scientist and entrepreneur based here.

[Mark Montgomery]

We have quite a few small companies that have been successful, but we've never had a major company succeed in New Mexico in technology, which is probably the biggest gap in the world that I'm aware of anyhow between the dollars R and D dollars that are spent versus the commercialization and the opportunities for employment.

[David Brancaccio]

Montgomery is the driving force behind a pioneering company called Kyield that uses a neuro symbolic flavor of AI very different from the currently popular but often large language models. Among use cases for his tech is helping to predict and prevent corporate disasters. Despite all of this and his previous experience as a venture capitalist, Montgomery says he is not expecting a new Mexican Nvidia or anthropic to emerge.

[Mark Montgomery]

Since government dominates the economy. We don't have what typically you have are a bunch of wealthy angel investors who have existing businesses that are also early stage customers. Those are the things that are missing. We have and so the low hanging fruit is to become a military contractor. And after you beat your head against the wall as an entrepreneur in New Mexico for a while, most of them

[David Brancaccio]

will take that route or the route west on 66 toward the coast.

[Mark Montgomery]

A lot of times they fly after they've been acquired by companies on the coast. Silicon Valley is pretty well known for cherry picking New Mexico tech transfer.

[David Brancaccio]

On the flip side, New Mexico has taken its cut of burgeoning oil and gas revenues and built a $70 billion sovereign wealth fund to invest in entrepreneurial local companies. And using fresh data, New Mexico can boast it's now number one in the nation for growth in median or typical family income. Yet New Mexico also ranks in the bottom three worst in the country for its poverty rate. This bend in the road on 66 is shaped like a K. All of my economy 66 pieces are accumulating. At marketplace.org I'm David Brancaccio with the Morning Report from APM, American Public Media. Hey, David Brancaccio here. I hope you're well and that your passport is up to date because I am hosting a trip to Italy this fall and you, you are invited stay at a world class Tuscan villa and step into the world of the Medici, the formidable family whose influence and power helped give rise to the Renaissance and the art we still celebrate today, not to mention the banking system. We're going to visit the world's oldest bank, swim in the thermal spa waters in Montecatini and take in the art of the Uffizi. All of this, and then we'll try to put it all into context with great conversation over even better meals and wine tasting. Please join me and know this. Buying into this trip will provide essential support for public media. Discover more about this fall's tuscany [e-mail] travel to reserve your spot today, that's marketplace.org travel.