Shutthiphong Chandaeng/iStock via Getty Images By Bryan Cutsinger March’s inflation spike looks alarming, but it’s driven entirely by energy shocks. Strip that out, and the trend looks largely unchanged. Inflation surged in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today . The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.9 percent last month - triple February’s 0.3 percent pace and the largest mon...
Shutthiphong Chandaeng/iStock via Getty Images By Bryan Cutsinger March’s inflation spike looks alarming, but it’s driven entirely by energy shocks. Strip that out, and the trend looks largely unchanged. Inflation surged in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today . The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.9 percent last month - triple February’s 0.3 percent pace and the largest monthly increase since early in the pandemic. On a year-over-year basis, headline inflation jumped to 3.3 percent from 2.4 percent, reversing months of steady disinflation in a single report. But strip out food and energy, and the picture looks entirely different. Core inflation rose just 0.2 percent in March, unchanged from February. Year-over-year, it edged up only slightly to 2.6 percent. In other words, the broad price pressures that keep Fed officials up at night barely moved. The culprit is no mystery: energy. The energy index surged 10.9 percent in March - the largest monthly increase since September 2005 - and gasoline prices jumped 21.2 percent, a record monthly increase, as the conflict with Iran and the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz sent oil prices sharply higher. Shelter, which accounts for about a third of the index, rose a modest 0.3 percent. Food prices were flat, with a small decline in groceries offset by a small increase in restaurant prices. Within core categories, the gains were concentrated in a handful of volatile items: airline fares jumped 2.7 percent, apparel rose 1.0 percent, and transportation services increased 0.6 percent. Working in the other direction, medical care fell 0.2 percent after a 0.5 percent increase in February, personal care declined 0.5 percent, and used cars and trucks dropped 0.4 percent for the second straight month. On balance, the decliners roughly offset the gainers, which is why core inflation held steady. The three-month trend makes the headline–core divergence even starker. Over January through March, h...
Police in the United States have arrested a man for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home and for making threats outside the artificial intelligence start-up’s headquarters. In a social media post, the San Francisco Police Department said an unknown man threw an incendiary device at a North Beach residence at 4.12am and then escaped on foot. The 20-year-old susp...
Police in the United States have arrested a man for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home and for making threats outside the artificial intelligence start-up’s headquarters. In a social media post, the San Francisco Police Department said an unknown man threw an incendiary device at a North Beach residence at 4.12am and then escaped on foot. The 20-year-old suspect was detained about an hour later after police received a call about a man threatening to burn...
McIlroy skipped PGA Tour events to practise at Augusta Defending champion has six-shot lead after two rounds Rory McIlroy has explained how scouting trips to Augusta National in the weeks leading up to the Masters have played a significant role in his domination of this staging of the major. McIlroy’s second round of 65 – which included six birdies in the closing seven holes – set a Masters record...
McIlroy skipped PGA Tour events to practise at Augusta Defending champion has six-shot lead after two rounds Rory McIlroy has explained how scouting trips to Augusta National in the weeks leading up to the Masters have played a significant role in his domination of this staging of the major. McIlroy’s second round of 65 – which included six birdies in the closing seven holes – set a Masters record, with the defending champion the first man to lead the tournament by six at the halfway point. Entering the Masters, it was assumed McIlroy’s three-week break from PGA Tour business was to conserve energy. Instead, he made smart use of his private jet as he looks to become just the fourth golfer to win back-to-back Masters titles. Continue reading...
Kremlin orders temporary truce from Saturday afternoon until Sunday, a 32-hour period during which Russia would stop fighting ‘in all directions’. What we know on day 1,508 Ukrainians on Friday were wary of Russia’s pledge to pause fighting for an Orthodox Easter ceasefire – first proposed by Kyiv – this weekend. The Kremlin said it had ordered a temporary truce to be in effect from Saturday after...
Kremlin orders temporary truce from Saturday afternoon until Sunday, a 32-hour period during which Russia would stop fighting ‘in all directions’. What we know on day 1,508 Ukrainians on Friday were wary of Russia’s pledge to pause fighting for an Orthodox Easter ceasefire – first proposed by Kyiv – this weekend. The Kremlin said it had ordered a temporary truce to be in effect from Saturday afternoon until the end of Sunday, a 32-hour period during which Russia would stop fighting “in all directions”. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy – who has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in the four-year war – said Kyiv was willing to reciprocate. But in Kyiv there was scepticism over whether Moscow would keep to its promise. “No one believes in these fairytales anymore,” Yevgeniy Lamakh, an IT specialist, told AFP in central Kyiv. “The Russian military lie a lot, usually, as history shows. And in general, they say one thing, but in fact do something completely different,” the 29-year-old said. “Even today... Shaheds, missiles are flying at Ukraine. Well, come on then, start the ceasefire,” Dmytro Sova, a 42-year-old actor, told AFP in Kyiv on Friday. Just hours before the Orthodox Easter truce, two night-time Russian attacks in Ukraine left one dead and 15 injured , authorities said . The fatal attacks included an “enemy drone attack” on a store and a cafe in the central town of Poltava, killing one person and injuring another, the regional head of the military administration, Vitalii Diakivnych, posted on Telegram. In the north-eastern region of Sumy, bordering Russia, drone strikes on residential areas wounded 14 people including a 14-year-old boy and an 87-year-old woman, according to Oleg Grygorov, head of the regional military administration there, via Telegram. Moscow has rejected calls for a longer-term unconditional ceasefire, something that Kyiv has called for, saying it is instead pushing for a final peace settlement. Negotiations between the two sides, brok...
US-Vatican Relations Extremely Strained As Pentagon Denies It Berated Pope's Diplomat Washington's attack on Iran alongside Israel has come under repeat condemnation from the Vatican, leaving US relations very strained. What hasn't helped things are widespread allegations that US officials berated the Vatican's top diplomat in Washington. Pentagon and Vatican officials are denying reports that US ...
US-Vatican Relations Extremely Strained As Pentagon Denies It Berated Pope's Diplomat Washington's attack on Iran alongside Israel has come under repeat condemnation from the Vatican, leaving US relations very strained. What hasn't helped things are widespread allegations that US officials berated the Vatican's top diplomat in Washington. Pentagon and Vatican officials are denying reports that US authorities gave the Holy See’s ambassador a "bitter lecture" demanding the Church align with the Trump administration following criticism of the Iran war by Pope Leo XIV. via The Associated Press "Today, as we all know, there has also been this threat against the entire people of Iran. And this is truly unacceptable ," the pope had told reporters Tuesday evening in Italy, in reaction to Trump threatening to wipe out a whole "civilization". "There are certainly issues of international law here, but even more, it is a moral question concerning the good of the people as a whole, in its entirety," the pontiff added. The Pentagon has meanwhile also rejected claims that the Vatican's US envoy was summoned in January for the "bitter" reprimand. The Free Press had specifically reported that Cardinal Christophe Pierre received a "bitter lecture" from US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby. Colby is said to have told the Vatican representative that Washington "has the military power to do whatever it wants — and that the Church had better take its side." The report also stated that a US official referenced the Avignon Papacy , when the French crown used military force to dominate papal authority in the 14th century. The suggestion was that the US could overpower and dominate the papacy - or something along those lines. But again, both sides appear to be denying the entirety of this, instead saying the exchange was actually normal and cordial . 🚨 FCC Chair Brendan Carr drops a truth bomb: “Today, I saw the Vatican call out US news outlets for being fake news — they ra...
Dan Ives is calling the turn. With geopolitical tensions easing after Iran ceasefire developments, the Wedbush analyst sees a risk-on shift underway—and argues that tech stocks, especially Microsoft Corporation, Salesforce, Inc. and ServiceNow, Inc, are mispriced right as AI demand accelerates. AI Demand Is Hitting Now, Not Later After weeks of industry checks, Ives says the message from CIOs is c...
Dan Ives is calling the turn. With geopolitical tensions easing after Iran ceasefire developments, the Wedbush analyst sees a risk-on shift underway—and argues that tech stocks, especially Microsoft Corporation, Salesforce, Inc. and ServiceNow, Inc, are mispriced right as AI demand accelerates. AI Demand Is Hitting Now, Not Later After weeks of industry checks, Ives says the message from CIOs is clear: AI adoption is moving fast from experimentation to deployment. Enterprises are actively identi
NASA’s Artemis crew of four astronauts returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, capping humanity’s first return to the moon in more than 50 years. (Source: Bloomberg)
NASA’s Artemis crew of four astronauts returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, capping humanity’s first return to the moon in more than 50 years. (Source: Bloomberg)