Wall Street Lunch: Europe Stares At Jet Fuel Crunch Amid Hormuz Disruption

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IEA head warns on largest energy crisis ever. (0:15) Taiwan Semi raises 2026 outlook on strong AI chip demand. (1:50) Microcap stocks surge after adding AI to their names. (2:19)

This is an abridged transcript of the podcast:

Our top story so far, Europe may have “maybe six weeks or so” of jet fuel remaining, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol told the Associated Press, warning of what he called “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced” following the near-shutdown of oil and gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

The impact would mean “higher petrol prices, higher gas prices, high electricity prices,” and potential flight cancellations “soon,” Birol said.

The economic strain would hit unevenly, with countries including Japan, Korea, India, China, Pakistan and Bangladesh on the front line, along with poorer nations across Asia, Africa and Latin America. “Then it will come to Europe and the Americas,” he added.

“If the Strait is not reopened,” Birol warned, “soon we will hear the news that some of the flights from city A to city B might be canceled as a result of lack of jet fuel” in Europe.

Meanwhile, a senior Chevron executive told consumers facing high energy prices they may just want to “try to drive less” and turn out the lights.

“We should always be conserving energy, whether it’s your light switch or the miles you drive or what kind of car you buy,” Andy Walz, Chevron’s president of downstream, midstream and chemicals, told CBS. “I would encourage everybody to try to conserve, hang in there and hopefully prices will be coming down soon.”

Among active stocks, PepsiCo (PEP) reported improved Q1 results in its convenient foods segment after pledging price reductions in December. The company said its brand refresh efforts, innovation pipeline and affordability initiatives are gaining traction.

For the full year, Pepsi expects organic revenue growth of 2% to 4% and core constant-currency EPS growth of 4% to 6%, with midpoints ahead of consensus.

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) raised its 2026 revenue outlook on strong AI chip demand after Q1 net income surged 58% Y/Y. For Q2, the chipmaker guided to revenue of $39B to $40.2B, implying 10% sequential growth and 32% Y/Y growth at the midpoint.

PPG Industries (PPG) is rallying after announcing price increases of up to 20% across its global paints and coatings portfolio, citing higher raw material, energy, logistics and packaging costs.

In other news of note, echoes of the dot-com bubble and blockchain mania are reverberating in an AI-adjacent corner of the market this week.

Penny stock Myseum (MYSE) surged more than 250% today after the privacy-focused AI and social media technology company rebranded itself as Myseum.AI.

That follows a striking pivot from wool-based shoe company Allbirds (BIRD), which saw its market cap jump roughly $125M after announcing it would rebrand as NewBird AI, raise up to $50M in funding, and “seek to acquire high-performance, low-latency AI compute hardware and provide access under long-term lease arrangements, meeting customer demand that spot markets and hyperscalers are unable to reliably service.”

Understated quote of the year so far: AI infrastructure expert Bill Kleyman called it a “strange pivot.”

“I’ve been in this industry a while, and a company like Allbirds moving from shoes into AI infrastructure is not a very natural adjacency.”

If androids dream of electric sheep, perhaps wool-based AI has a future.

And in the Wall Street Research Corne, Goldman Sachs has rebalanced its Long Duration Basket following the recent rise in rates.

These are stocks whose expected cash flows sit further out in the future, making them more sensitive to interest rate moves. The basket is sector-neutral relative to the Russell 1000 (IWB).

Names in the group include Tesla (TSLA), DraftKings (DKNG), Costco (COST), AbbVie (ABBV), Snowflake (SNOW) and Broadcom (AVGO).

See the whole list in our story.

Editor’s Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.