Daily Brew // Morning Brew // Update

April 20, 2026

Happy 4/20. A married couple in Temecula, CA, may have the wildest story of inflation impacting their lives. On Saturday morning, they got a motion detection alert from their home camera system. That’s when they found a hot air balloon with a dozen smiling strangers in the basket grounded in their yard.

Turns out, the pilot had to make an emergency landing due to low wind conditions and managed to park the balloon right between the fence and the patio of the residential home. If they reported this happening today instead of two days ago, people would assume they were just blowing smoke.

—Holly Van Leuven, Brendan Cosgrove, Neal Freyman

In today’s newsletter, we’ll look at:

The latest on the US–Iran peace talks
The tariff refund portal is now open
Humanoid robots absolutely dominated a half-marathon

MARKETS: YEAR-TO-DATE

Nasdaq

24,468.48

+5.28%

S&P

7,126.06

+4.10%

Dow

49,447.43

+2.88%

10-Year

4.246%

+8.3 bps

Bitcoin

$74,790.73

-14.53%

Alaska Airlines

$45.40

-9.74%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 3:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: All three major indexes finished up big last week, but Iran developments could disrupt the rally, as the saloon door on the Strait of Hormuz keeps swinging from open to closed (more on that below).
Stock spotlight: Alaska Airlines reports earnings today, offering up some data on how the airline industry is navigating higher fuel prices. United will deliver results tomorrow, followed by Southwest and American on Thursday.

Markets Sponsored by The Crew

Want daily analysis of the investing landscape? Brew Markets is our newsletter designed to help you make sense of market moves. Subscribe now.

GEOPOLITICS

US seizes Iranian cargo ship as tensions rise

The cargo ship Touska in 2017. South China Morning Post/Getty Images

The US’ continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz resulted in the first known use of force to maintain it yesterday, creating an interstice in global shipping. Meanwhile, the world is waiting to see if peace talks between Iran and the US will resume in Pakistan today, or whether the tenuous ceasefire agreement will hold.

What happened: The US Navy attacked and seized the Touska, an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel, after issuing multiple radio orders for it to stop over a period of six hours. Many shipping companies are pausing their plans to resume operations in light of fresh confusion:

On Friday, in response to Israel and Lebanon agreeing to a 10-day ceasefire, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said, “The passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire.”
In response, President Trump thanked Iran on Truth Social, but then said the US would maintain its blockade of the strait “AS IT PERTAINS TO IRAN” until a peace deal between the US and Iran is complete.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps then announced that the strait had “returned to its previous state” due to the US blockade, meaning it would stay under “strict management” by the IRGC.

Confusion ensued. On Saturday, India reported that Iran fired on two of its merchant ships in the strait after having let other ships through earlier. Then came yesterday’s US seizure of the Touska, which Iran denounced as an act of piracy, warning it would soon retaliate against the United States for it.

What about peace talks?

Those plans also generated mixed messages over the weekend. Yesterday, Trump said his team of negotiators would arrive in Islamabad, Pakistan, for round two of peace talks today. But hours later, Iran said there was “no clear prospect” for face-to-face talks given current realities.

Looking ahead…the original two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran expires on Wednesday, though it risks crumbling before then. The markets seem to have lost their optimism of a tidy resolution, as stock futures fell and oil prices rose last night in response to the renewed tensions.—HVL

Presented by Slack

Find your sweet spot for productivity

Already invested in Microsoft 365? There’s a better way to unwrap its full potential.

Over 150,000 Microsoft customers use Slack to transform their productivity suite into an intelligent work operating system. It connects every tool, automates workflows, and puts AI at the center of collaboration.

Watch this on-demand webinar to learn how leading businesses bring their essential Microsoft apps inside Slack to supercharge productivity and maximize existing technology investments.

You’ll see how Slack’s open, flexible platform helps you move beyond single-vendor constraints and build a connected, future-ready workplace.

Stop creating silos and start creating something sweeter. Watch the webinar.

WORLD

Tour de headlines

Andrej Ivanov/Getty Images

Canadian PM Mark Carney says US economic ties are “weaknesses” to be corrected. Carney’s assessment came yesterday in a YouTube video, which the prime minister said was intended to speak directly to Canadians about the challenges the country faces. “The US has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression,” he said. On Friday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, “They suck,” in reference to Canada while speaking at a conference. The United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, which replaced NAFTA, is due to be renegotiated by July.

The tariff refund portal opens today. It’s not an energy vortex—just a website administered by US Customs and Border Protection. The Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries portal, known as CAPE, will allow businesses that paid tariffs levied under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or customs brokers who paid tariffs on their behalf, to submit a refund request. But the refunds won’t be automatic, and may take months or even years to resolve in some instances. For eligible parties who don’t want to take the time and effort to file, some hedge funds and financial services firms are buying up refund claims as if they were alternative assets.

Trump fast-tracked psychedelic drug review prompted by Joe Rogan. On Saturday, President Trump signed an executive order to accelerate the research of certain psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine and LSD, which may successfully treat depression, PTSD, and opioid addiction. Rogan stood behind Trump for the signing in the Oval Office. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said at the signing that the EO was an “unimaginable task” that came together in one week, “from a series of connections and communications with Joe Rogan.” Ibogaine is currently illegal in the US, but some Americans have traveled to Mexico for treatments.—HVL

ROBOT RACE

Technology’s latest milestone: 13.1

Anadolu/Getty Images

You can’t run from technology, especially not now. Over the weekend, event organizers in Beijing, China, hosted a half-marathon race featuring both humans and humanoid robots for the second straight year. The number of participating humanoid teams jumped nearly 500% this year, and, despite some hilarious moments, the machines ran away with the competition. This year’s winning robot outpaced last year’s by nearly two hours, but the real headline is that, for the first time, a robot beat the humans, proving that the only thing more powerful than mettle is metal.

We had a good run, humans: According to the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (known as Beijing E-Town), which hosted the race, a bipedal robot named Lightning completed the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, shattering the human record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds set by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo last month. To make matters worse, the robot added one of those 13.1 stickers to its car faster than Kiplimo, too.

Technological strides

Many of the participating robots were controlled remotely, but the winning Lightning robot, made by Chinese smartphone-maker Honor, navigated autonomously.

Battle bots: In the past year, China has hosted several humanoid sporting competitions, highlighting the progress the country has made since designating robotics as a key sector for rehabbing its technological image in 2015, per CNN.—BC

READER POLL

Is the humanoid robot outracing a human impressive?

Yes.
Meh, it’s merely interesting.
No, a car can beat a racehorse.
No, I distrust the robot.

Song trivia

What do the following songs have in common?

“Chocolate” by The 1975
“I Got 5 On It” by Luniz
“Got to Get You Into My Life” by The Beatles
“We Be Burnin’” by Sean Paul

SHARE THE BREW

Share the Brew, watch your referral count climb, and unlock brag-worthy swag.

Your friends get smarter. You get rewarded. Win-win.

Your referral count: 0

Click to Share

Or copy & paste your referral link to others:
morningbrew.com/r/?kid=71df84e8

ANSWER

They’re all about smoking weed. A very 4/20 trivia category…

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: interstice, meaning “a break in time between events.” Thanks to Caroline McNall of Spokane, WA, for continuing the run of good suggestions. Submit another Word of the Day here.

ADVERTISE // CAREERS // SHOP // FAQ

Update your email preferences or unsubscribe .
View our privacy policy .

Copyright © 2026 Morning Brew Inc. All rights reserved.
22 W 19th St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10011

☕ Mixed messages