In May, U.S. retail sales climbed 0.9 percent above those in April and 6.9 percent year on year as tax refunds averaging $3,500 put money in consumers’ pockets.
Category: 23 June 2026
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SPOTLIGHT: U.S. DOLLAR GLORY
The U.S. dollar has hit a one-year high and market players across the globe keep betting that it will keep climbing higher.
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UKRAINE RAMPING UP ATTACKS ON RUSSIAN ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE
Ukraine has been carrying out attacks on Russian energy infrastructure across the country, and the level of disruption “is unprecedented in the history of the Russia-Ukraine” war, the International Energy Agency said, according to a report Monday in The Wall Street Journal.
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VANCE DEFENDS TRUMP AMID CRITICISM FROM ISRAELIS WHO WANT THE WAR TO CONTINUE
Vice President JD Vance sent a clear message to Israeli critics of President Donald Trump last week that there is no greater supporter of the Israeli genocide in Gaza and land theft in Lebanon than the Trump administration and they should shut their mouths and get in line because they are bleeding support in the international community.
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SPOTLIGHT: BIGS GETTING BIGGER
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is trading $60 billion worth of its stock for the ownership of Anysphere, the company that operates Cursor, a popular AI coding agent.
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SPOTLIGHT: ASSESSING THE OIL SHOCK’S IMPACT
Asia is the region most dependent on oil and natural gas that transits the Strait of Hormuz.
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AI THREATENS BUSINESS SERVICE FIRMS, ASSET MANAGERS WARN
Accounting and law firms are among the most likely to be hurt as AI pervades professional services, private equity executives warned in recent interviews with the Financial Times.
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GOING OUT OF BUSINESS TRENDS
The wave of business failures and closures continues to accelerate, cutting across retail, restaurants, manufacturing, nonprofits, and even healthcare due to rising costs and weakening demand.
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WHEN THE ECONOMY FALLS, JOBS GO WITH IT
Layoffs continue to hit major sectors of the economy, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley to manufacturing and public services.
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FROM THE “AI BEHAVING BADLY” FILE…
Large language model AIs are learning bad habits, including violence, from each other even when there’s no reference to the bad behavior in their training data, researchers have reported.