September 25, 2026
Apollo's Slok warns the Fed is overlooking a diesel price surge that could reignite inflation.
What happened
Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok warned that the Federal Reserve may be overlooking a sharp rise in diesel prices. Oil prices have been volatile but are down 6.7 percent for the week overall.
Why it matters
Diesel is the fuel that moves goods through the economy. A sustained surge flows straight into the cost of shipping, farming, and manufacturing, pushing up prices on everything else. If the Fed misses it, it risks cutting rates into an inflation cycle it thought was dead.
The case against
Oil and refined fuels are down sharply for the week, and markets are even pricing in geopolitical de-escalation. A single economist's diesel worry is at odds with the actual price action in crude right now.
What settles it
The weekly diesel inventory and price trend over the next three weeks to see if the crude selloff drags diesel down or if it decouples higher.