Stock markets are near or at record highs, and the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet has been rising again since December 2025 at a pace of nearly a billion dollars a day. Now inflation, after two years of decline, has started turning back up, and the Fed’s conventional tools may not address what is actually driving it.

The Strait of Hormuz carries about a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade. The International Energy Agency describes the recent disruption in the Strait as the largest oil supply disruption on record.

Energy shocks feed directly into inflation in ways monetary policy cannot directly fix. What happens when financial markets are running hot, and an energy shock is pushing inflation higher at the same time?

Economic researcher and energy analyst Chris Martenson, founder of Peak Prosperity, has spent years tracking how money, energy, and markets connect. He joins us to explain what that combination means for anyone holding stocks, bonds, or cash right now.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.