Prices
Nine drugmakers sign. The price at the counter is still a negotiation.
The White House calls it a historic cut. The pharmacy will be the judge.
The Rocket News · Economy · WashingtonSeptember 3, 2026 · 5 min read
President Trump announced agreements with nine pharmaceutical companies that, the White House says, will bring down the cost of treating Parkinson’s, macular degeneration, glaucoma, liver disease and a list of other illnesses that poll well. The companies get a handshake. Patients get a promise dated after the election.
Drug pricing deals are written in the language of victory and enforced in the language of formularies. A number that looks like a cut in a briefing can look like a copay in a drugstore. The Economy desk will believe the receipt.
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Meanwhile the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is at a forty-four-year low, and a Venezuela oil pact that is supposed to ease gasoline will take years to produce a barrel that matters. The administration is shopping for cheaper pills and cheaper crude at the same time. One of those is easier to announce than to pump.
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Prices
Wholesale prices rose 6.3 percent.
The producer-price index jumped 1.3 percent in September, the biggest monthly gain since March 2022. Energy prices for producers rose 10.8 percent. Economists had expected a much smaller move. Social Security’s cost-of-living raise for next year is 3.6 percent.
Prices
September prices rose 3.7 percent.
The Consumer Price Index gained 0.6 percent in the month, more than economists expected over the year. Gasoline did the lifting. Core inflation rose to 2.6 percent. The Fed meets again on Oct. 27.
Markets
Stocks were mixed at midday, and diesel was $6.27.
At 12:12 p.m. Eastern the Dow was up 228 points and the Nasdaq was down 0.2 percent. Energy shares rose with the oil price. AAA’s national diesel average on Monday was $6.27 a gallon.