Good morning, CFOs. The U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran puts the squeeze on everyone (but Americans are faring better); Trump administration may be nearing a rescue deal for Spirit Airlines; plus, IRS notches court win over ‘Project Soy’ corporate tax maneuver.

U.S. companies are showing remarkable resilience in the wake of the Iran war, and executives continue to monitor for any cracks showing up from American consumers, who are under pressure from higher inflation and rising gasoline prices.

Yet Americans, relatively speaking, are faring much better than European and Asian consumers when it comes to the squeeze from higher prices at the pump.

In the U.S. gas is now $4 a gallon. That’s the highest average price in four years, but still lower than gasoline prices in Germany, South Korea and most other developed countries, The Wall Street Journal's Chao Deng and Alana Pipe report. Read on here for why that is.

The war is also having knock-on effects on the airline industry facing surging jet fuel prices. The Wall Street Journal reported in an exclusive that the Trump administration is nearing a rescue deal for Spirit Airlines, according to people familiar with the matter.

Whether or not the deal happens soon, the squeeze will still be on for consumers and the airline industry alike. Fuel ranks among airlines’ biggest costs—and that won’t change any time soon.

Some related reads:

• U.K. Inflation Jumps as Iran War Pushes Fuel Prices Higher
• Eurozone Governments’ Budget Deficit Fell in 2025

📆 Earnings

• American Express
• Blackstone
• Comcast
• Freeport-McMoRan
• Honeywell International
• Intel
• Keurig Dr Pepper
• Lockheed Martin
• Nasdaq
• NextEra Energy
• PulteGroup
• Union Pacific

📈 Economic Indicators

S&P Global releases both its Manufacturing and Services Purchasing Managers’ Indexes for April.

More than one year later, here’s what everyone got wrong about President Trump’s crackdown on immigration, as the Journal's Paul Kiernan and Drew An-Pham report:

First off, there’s little evidence of widespread disruptions in the labor market, or of meaningful benefits to American workers.

Some other findings from their reporting:

• Unemployment is up slightly for U.S.-born workers;
• Wage growth has slowed;
• And wage growth has also stalled in the blue-collar industries that tend to employ low-skilled migrants, a sign that widely feared labor shortages haven’t materialized, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Labor Department figures.

Key quote: If turning off the immigration spigot was going to meaningfully boost wages or spark labor shortages, it “should be jumping out at us in the data” by now, said Wendy Edelberg, an economist at the Brookings Institution. “The effects aren’t there.”

***

In our latest Heard on the Street, Jonathan Weil asks: Which private-credit funds believe their own balance sheets? 

The question arises as Wall Street’s watchdogs ramp up their inquiries into how much risk has built up in the $3 trillion private-credit industry, as the Journal's Dave Michaels, Dylan Tokar and Gina Heeb report.

Meanwhile, StepStone Group has raised over $1.58 billion for its second credit opportunities fund, WSJ Pro Private Equity's Isaac Taylor reports.

📰 Other headlines 

• IRS Notches Court Win Over ‘Project Soy’ Corporate Tax Maneuver
• Crypto Billionaire Accuses Trump Family’s World Liberty of ‘Criminal Extortion’
• Anthropic Probes Possible Unauthorized Access to Mythos AI Model
• New York City Is Beating the Postpandemic Shoplifting Scourge
• USA250: The U.S. Has Long Been a Nation of Inventors—and Luddites
• U.S. Tariff Relief on Autos, Metals Must Be Part of Trade Pact, Canada Minister Says
• In a Slow Market, Some Houses Are Still Selling Fast

📈 Earnings wrapup

• Boeing’s Commercial Jet Business Improves, Reducing Quarterly Loss
• GE Vernova Lifts Outlook on Surge From Data Center Demand
• Philip Morris Sales Rise on International Growth

For more earnings news, click here.

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The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal offers corporate leaders and professionals CFO analysis, advice and commentary to make informed decisions. We cover topics including corporate tax, accounting, regulation, capital markets, management and strategy.

Follow us on X @WSJCFO. The WSJ CFO Journal Team comprises reporters Kristin Broughton, Mark Maurer and Jennifer Williams, and Bureau Chief Walden Siew.

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