Axios:

Posted on May 27, 2026 by michelleclarke2015

PRESENTED BY GOLDMAN SACHS
 
Axios PM
By Mike Allen · May 26, 2026
😎 Welcome back, Tuesday team. Today’s newsletter, edited by Alex Fitzpatrick and Natalie Daher, is 762 words, a 3-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.
 
 
1 big thing: Hormuz hangover
 
Illustration of an oil barrel seen double in psychedelic colors.
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
 
Even if a U.S.-Iran deal lands, the oil market will look different from its pre-war version, Axios’ Ben Geman writes. 

Why it matters: The emerging deal — which would reopen the Strait of Hormuz while nuclear talks proceed — could return large numbers of barrels to the market, but it will take time.

Related: U.S. Central Command disputed reports today that the Navy restarted escorting commercial vessels through the strait.What we’re watching:

1.  Confidence: Vessel owners and crews need to feel safe transiting the world’s most important energy shipping line. It’s unclear they will, said oil analyst Ben Cahill of UT Austin.

2.  Timelines: The International Energy Agency estimates at least two to three months are needed to reestablish steady exports after mines are cleared.Persian Gulf countries need time to resume production that declined after the main export route was cut off.

3.  Definitions: What “open” means for the strait is unsettled.Iran may not call it a toll, but Iranianofficials are floating new fees on tankers.This could be a boon to Iran even if the fee is relatively small, said Edward Fishman, an ex-State Department aide at the Council on Foreign Relations.

4. ⚠️ Vibes and market risk: Before the crisis throttled supplies, there was debate in oil circles about whether markets were blasé about threats to infrastructure or shipping.Even once the crisis passes, watch the level of geopolitical risk premium — the market’s willingness to preemptively price in risk — that elevates prices.

5.  U.S. oil production: Higher prices will likely push producers to increase output, as the broader market went from oversupplied to tight.

Between the lines: Restoring Gulf shipping, rebuilding crude inventories and restarting shuttered production will take months, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts said in a note today. 

That delay makes the timing of steep pump price cuts more uncertain.

The bottom line: The old normal is gone, and the new one is still being shaped.Share this story … Get Axios Future of Energy.
    
 
 
2. 🏓 Pickleball peters out
 
A heat table that ranks U.S. cities by pickleball courts per 10,000 residents in 2025. Madison, Wisconsin, leads at 2.6 courts, followed by Lexington-Fayette County, Kentucky, at 2. Honolulu is at 1.9. Tulsa is lowest among the 10 cities at 1.5. Values range from 1.5 to 2.6.Data: Trust for Public Land. Table: Alex Fitzpatrick/Axios

The pickleball craze may be cooling off, Alex Fitzpatrick writes from new Trust for Public Land data.The number of pickleball courts across the 100 most populous U.S. cities increased just 4% from 2025 to 2026.That’s compared to 13%–14% growth in each of the previous two years. Garden spending is up 8%, disc golf is up 4% and outdoor fitness zones are up 3%.Reality check: Parks in the country’s biggest cities now have 3,765 pickleball courts, TPL says. That’s up nearly 900% from 2017. Will Klein, TPL’s director of parks research, tells Axios that the slowdown “mirrors what we’re seeing more broadly in parks systems nationwide, where local leaders are balancing tighter budgets, aging infrastructure, and growing demand for many different kinds of recreational amenities.”Go deeper.
    
 
 
A MESSAGE FROM GOLDMAN SACHS
Oil disruption is driving U.S. consumer inflation
 
 
Rising prices, driven by disruptions to the flow of oil from the Middle East, are having a measurable impact on U.S. consumers, according to Goldman Sachs Research.The impact: Low-income households are facing the biggest hit proportionally.Read the outlook for U.S. consumer inflation.

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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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