Axios PM

April 10, 2026
Happy Friday! Today's newsletter, edited by Alex Fitzpatrick, is 636 words, a 2ยฝ-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.
๐จ Bulletin: White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair is considering taking leave to help run President Trump's outside political operation, Axios' Alex Isenstadt reports. Go deeper.
โก๏ธ Situational awareness: Vice President JD Vance left today for Pakistan and the biggest challenge of his career: negotiating a deal with Iran, Axios' Barak Ravid writes.
- One U.S. official tells Barak: "This is a big deal for JD. He's going to the Super Bowl." Go deeper.
1 big thing: More inflation pain ahead

March's inflation numbers tell one key story: the surge in energy prices driven by the Iran war, Axios' Courtenay Brown writes.
- Big price spikes in other categories โ airfares, groceries, etc. โ will likely follow as the energy shock reverberates through the economy.
๐ By the numbers: Overall inflation rose 0.9% last month, the largest jump since June 2022.
- Gas prices surged 21%. That's their biggest monthly gain in nearly 60 years, accounting for nearly three-quarters of the total rise.
Core inflation โ which strips out food and energy prices โ rose just 0.2%, the same pace as the previous month.


โก๏ธ Energy shocks take time to have a broader effect.
- This one mostly hasn't registered yet in other, non-energy industries โ but they're bracing for impact.
โ๏ธ Airfares surged 2.7% in March, after February's 1.4% increase. More price hikes are likely amid skyrocketing jet fuel costs.
- Food prices were flat last month, though farmers and food manufacturers are warning about fertilizer shortages as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed.
๐ณ There's one bit of good news: Egg prices are down about 60% from this time last year as the bird flu crisis fades.
- Bloomberg's BEC index โ that's bacon, egg and cheese, for all the non-New Yorkers out there โย fell to $2.65 in March, down nearly 20% year over year.
- But coffee is up about 30%, fueled by tariffs and climate change.
The bottom line: The squeeze on Americans' budgets is just starting, with huge uncertainty about whether price increases will lead to less spending and an economic slowdown.
2. ๐ Mapped: Steepest electric bills

Americans are spending an average of $158/month on their home electric bills, Alex Fitzpatrick and Erin Davis report based on Heatmap News estimates.
- ๐ต Nantucket County, Mass. ($296); San Francisco County, Calif. ($282) and Nobles County, Minn. ($273) had the highest estimated average monthly electric bills in the continental U.S. in 2025.
Counties in Alabama and Texas dominate the top of the most-expensive list, broadly speaking.
- A new Alabama measure will freeze base rates until 2029, among other reforms to the state's utilities regulator.
๐ What we're watching: Whether efforts to contain energy prices โ like forcing tech companies to foot the bill for their AI power needs โ actually work.
3. โก๏ธ Catch me up

- ๐ช Artemis II's splashdown is set for just after 8 p.m. ET tonight off the coast of San Diego. How to watch.
- ๐ฅ Sazerac, the maker of Buffalo Trace bourbon and cinnamon-flavored Fireball, has reportedly made a takeover approach to Brown-Forman, maker of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey. Go deeper.
- โ๏ธ The U.S. Navy is decommissioning the USS Boise, an attack sub that has long sat idle and become synonymous with the service's maintenance backlog. More from Axios' Colin Demarest.
4. ๐ข 1 for the road: Titanic history unveiled

A letter written by a Titanic survivor just five days before it sank is on public display for the first time, Axios Denver's Esteban L. Hernandez reports.
- American writer Archibald Gracie wrote in a note dated April 10, 1912: "It is a fine ship this, but I shall await my journey's end before I pass judgment on her."
๐ Gracie's note is making its historic debut at Denver's Molly Brown House Museum, alongside other Titanic relics.
- Margaret Brown โ aka the "Unsinkable Molly Brown" โ was also among the survivors.
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