Bloom Energy Erupts On Beat, Guidance Upgrade As On-Site Data Center Power Demand Soars Clean-power company Bloom Energy surged early in the U.S. cash session after reporting earnings Tuesday after the close, raising its full-year revenue and margin guidance on rising demand from data centers and other commercial customers.  The maker of solid oxide fuel cell systems, branded as Bloom Energy Servers, that generate electricity […]

In Huge Win For Republicans, Supreme Court Curbs Use Of Race In Drawing Voting Districts In a sweeping 6-3 decision issued today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana’s congressional map with a second majority-Black district is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The ruling in Louisiana v. Callais (No. 24-109) delivers a major victory for Republicans by sharply curtailing the Voting Rights Act’s ability to compel the […]

Brent Pushes Higher After Trump Orders “Extended Blockade” – Huddles With Oil Execs Over Hormuz Summary Trump recently met this week with oil and gas executives at the White House to address energy fallout, and as oil pushes higher: Axios. Trump warns Iran to “get their act together” and to “get smart” – and for the second time writes “no more Mr. Nice Guy”. Trump in 4am Truth Social post: “Iran can’t get their act […]

Fed Chair Pick Warsh Approved By Key Senate Committee Along Party Lines The drama over Kevin Warsh’s nomination as Trump’s pick for next Fed chair appears to be over. Moments ago, Warsh won the backing of the Senate Banking Committee Wednesday in a 13-11 party-line vote, putting him on track to be confirmed by the full Senate before Jerome Powell’s term ends May 15, Bloomberg reproted.  Warsh’s nomination had been held up […]

Max Pressure: U.S. Prepares For Extended Hormuz Blockade As Treasury Warns Sanction Risks Linked To China’s “Teapot” Refineries The U.S. is intensifying pressure on Iran and China across two fronts. First, on the military side, The Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump told top aides to prepare for an extended U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a move that would strangle Tehran’s oil revenue. Second, on the […]

Bank of Canada Keeps Rates On Hold As It “Looks Through War’s Immediate Impact On Inflation” As expected, the Bank of Canada – which was the day’s first G5 central bank to hit the tape ahead of the Fed’s decision at 2pm ET – held interest rates unchanged at 2.25% as expected, saying adjustments to borrowing costs would likely be small if the economy and inflation evolve as expected, while stating that it is looking through the […]

JetBlue Plans 30-40% “Fuel Recapture” Fare Hikes, Capacity Cuts To Cover Rising Costs Thanks to the war in Iran, JetBlue Airlines is passing the cost along to us – announcing during Q1 earnings on Tuesday that while the airline had strong revenue performance, prices are going up due to rising fuel costs.  A JetBlue Embraer 190 taxis on the tarmac at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., on June 29, 2021. […]

Core Durables Goods Surge For 12th Straight Month, Push Bond Yield Higher After a recent string of ‘soft’ survey data, this morning we get some ‘hard’ data and it was far stronger than expected. Preliminary headline durable goods orders for March rose 0.8% MoM (better than the 0.5% MoM exp), and the first increase after a three month decline to start the year (which was the first 3-month decline since Nov 2019). The increase […]

O-I Glass Plunges As Gulf Energy Shock Hits Earnings Outlook Glass bottle and jar company O-I Glass plunged the most in premarket trading in more than six years after it slashed its full-year adjusted EPS outlook, blaming higher energy costs tied to the Gulf-related energy shock. The major glass-container manufacturer, producing bottles and jars for the beer, wine, spirits, beverage, and food-packaging markets, now expects adjusted […]

Housing Starts Surge To Highest Since 2024 As Permits Unexpectedly Crater With mortgage rates still relatively low, despite a recent jump in interest rates, and a top-down push for affordability, Housing Starts for March soared while the more forward-looking Building Permits disappointed, unexpectedly plunged. Housing starts soared 10.8% MoM in March (far more than the -0.4% expected drop) while Permits plunged 10.8% MoM (and worse […]

Wingstop Tumbles As Chicken Demand Falters, Guidance Cut Wingstop shares fell the most in six months in premarket trading after the company cut its full-year outlook and reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter sales, citing a pullback in traffic as management pointed to “continued pressure on consumer spending.” The chicken chain, with 2,653 locations across the US, now expects 2026 domestic same-store sales to decline at a low […]

US Gas Prices Hit Highest Level In 4 Years, Analyst Says Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The average price for a gallon of gasoline hit its highest level in four years on Tuesday as the cost of a barrel of oil remains elevated amid the conflict with Iran, according to a prominent analyst. Customers pump gas at a gas station in Miami on April 13, 2026. Joe Raedle/Getty Images The national average […]

Futures Flat Ahead Of Fed, Mag 7 Earnings Avalanche S&P futures are flat with Nasdaq outperforming ahead of a huge day for tech. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, representing nearly 20% of S&P market cap, report after the close, with traders focused on capex. The group has a combined options implied move of more than $750 billion of market cap in either direction. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures are unchanged; Nasdaq […]

Gabe Plotkin Plans ETF Comeback After Melvin Capital Collapse After closing his hedge fund in the aftermath of the meme-stock upheaval, Gabe Plotkin is exploring a new investment structure, according to Bloomberg. He’s looking to place a portion of his personal holdings into an exchange-traded fund, using a method that has become increasingly attractive for wealthy investors seeking to postpone capital gains taxes. As co-chair […]

$43,000 Front-Row Seats: How Soccer Fans Are Being Priced Out Of World Cup Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), First-round match ticket: $280 to $43,000. Stadium daily parking pass: $150 to $600. Public transportation to venues: $100 or more in some cities. In-person 2026 FIFA World Cup experience: Priceless, or somewhere between a mortgage payment and a year or two of college, depending on who you […]

Goldman’s State Of U.S. Consumer Outlook Gets More Grim Goldman consumer analysts Kate McShane and Bonnie Herzog cut their 2026 discretionary cash-inflow growth forecast for the second time this year, citing a worsening squeeze on U.S. households as slower disposable income growth collides with higher fuel prices at the pump. The revision points to a softening among cash-strapped consumers as the US-Iran conflict enters its third […]

Germany Scrambles For Polish Oil Route As Russia Halts Druzhba Flows Submitted by Julianne Geiger of OilPrice.com Germany is hunting for solutions to reroute crude oil supplies to the PCK Schwedt refinery after Russia said it would halt Kazakh oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline starting May 1, with roughly 43,000 barrels per day (bpd) now at risk. Berlin is now in talks with Poland over moving replacement barrels […]

Trump Tells Aides US Preparing For Extended Blockade, But Could Be Open To Interim Deal With Iran Summary Trump prepares for ‘extended blockade’ – WSJ reports he has informed aides of risky planning. Trump TS claim: Tehran has informed Washington they are in a “state of collapse” and that the Iranians want the US to “open the Hormuz Strait” – as ‘tank tops’ loom. Trump doesn’t appear open to Iran’s proposal which […]

Most Americans Expect Prolonged Conflict With Iran Most U.S. adults oppose the war with Iran and say the U.S. should make a deal to end the war as fast as possible. In a recent survey of 1,700 adults, conducted by the Economist and YouGov between April 17 and 20, only 12 percent said they thought that such a deal would be reached in the next two weeks. As Statista’s Anna Fleck shows in the following chart, roughly half (48 […]

After Record $19.50 Premium, Saudis Eye Sharp Cut To June Asia Prices Submitted by Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com The world’s top crude exporter, Saudi Arabia, is expected to slash its official selling prices (OSPs) for crude loading for Asia in June from the record-highs for May as the premiums of the Middle Eastern benchmarks eased this month. Saudi oil giant Aramco is widely expected to announce in early May a reduction of […]

NATO Mulls Nixing Annual Summits, Wary Of ‘Trump Drama’ Overshadowing Fresh reporting in Reuters says that NATO leadership is mulling ending its practice of holding annual summits as the Trump presidency has “cast a long shadow” over such meetings and as member states are looking for “less drama”. For example, at the 2018 summit Trump threatened to walk ⁠out after bitterly complaining over allies’ low defense spending. Jens […]

25,000 Ground Robots In Battlefield Planned By Ukraine For Frontline Logistics Authored by Mrigakshi Dixit via Interesting Engineering, In a move toward fully autonomous warfare, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry plans to procure 25,000 unmanned ground vehicles by mid-2026. This initiative aims to replace human soldiers with robotic systems for all frontline logistics and double the 2025 deployment rate. Reportedly, Defense Minister […]

Israelis Outraged After Govt Sent Vital Arrow Missiles To Germany Mid-Iran War There’s growing outrage and political division in Israel after news emerged that the government and defense ministry fulfilled a weapons contract with Germany, sending vital Arrow air defense missiles to Berlin during the middle of the Iran war. At the very moment the missiles were being delivered, Israeli citizens were dying under Iran’s fierce […]

Germany’s Anti-immigration AfD Party Soars To New Record High Support; Poll Finds Via Remix News, The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) has jumped to a new record high in a recent poll conducted by the opinion research institute Insa. In the poll, the AfD increased its lead over the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU). According to the “Sunday trend” poll, which is conducted on a […]

12 Signs That The Relentless Decline Of Our Society Is Accelerating Authored by Michael Snyder via End Of The American Dream, I have got some really crazy stuff to share with you in this article. For more than a decade and a half, I have been writing about the decline of our society. Sadly, over that period of time there has been an inexorable deterioration of our culture. We no longer agree on a generally accepted set of moral […]