06 Market

Oil Sneaks Through Strait – thebethlehem.com

pgnewser June 11, 2026 0

The U.S. has announced it has secretly navigated more than 100 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump announced, “… More than 200 Commercial Ships have safely traveled through the Strait. This wildly successful effort is because the UNITED STATES of AMERICA CONTROLS the Strait of Hormuz — NOT Iran. Their military is defeated, and their economy is lost. It’s over for Iran! 

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Inflation rises to a 3-year high on spiking gas prices, squeezing Americans financially– abcnews.com

pgnewser June 10, 2026 0

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WASHINGTON — Spiking gas prices pushed inflation to its highest level in three years last month, a headache for the Federal Reserve and a potential political challenge for the Trump administration as midterm elections near.

Consumer prices rose 4.2% in May from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday, up from 3.8% in April and the third straight increase. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.5% last month, after big gains of 0.6% in April and 0.9% in March.

Rising inflation has soured many Americans on the economy, as the cost of gas, groceries, and other necessities hammer many Americans financially.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.9% in March from a year earlier, up from 2.8% in April. On a monthly basis, core prices increased a modest 0.2%.

Los Angeles Hotel Industry Sheds Jobs as Soaring Wage Mandates Take Their Toll– slaynews.com

pgnewser June 10, 2026 0

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Los Angeles’ hotel industry is losing jobs at its fastest pace in a decade outside of the pandemic, raising fresh concerns about the economic fallout from some of the most aggressive minimum wage mandates in the nation.

A new analysis of federal labor data found that Los Angeles County hotels and motels saw their workforce shrink by 1.7% in December 2025 compared to the same month a year earlier, as businesses grappled with rapidly rising labor costs imposed by city and county officials.

The decline comes as Los Angeles prepares to host a series of major international events, including the 2028 Summer Olympics, while hotel operators warn that mounting costs are threatening the industry’s ability to expand and meet future demand.

Wage Mandates Coincide with Sharp Employment Decline

According to an analysis by the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) of newly released U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the contraction represents the steepest year-over-year decline in Los Angeles County’s hotel industry in a decade, excluding pandemic-related disruptions.

The losses followed a series of government-mandated wage increases.

Blind to irony, UN holds climate summit in nation crippled by green mandates– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser June 9, 2026 0

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This week, United Nations climate negotiators will gather in Bonn, Germany, to tell the rest of the world how to save the planet.

The irony is staggering. Germany is the poster child of failed green paternalism. It shut down its nuclear plants, bet everything on renewables, and ended up burning more coal and buying gas from Russia. Germany has no idea how to save the planet — it cannot even save itself.

That’s because Germany and other big-government climate warriors assumed the only force capable of protecting the environment was mandates, all while the market was quietly working.

EXCLUSIVE: GOP Rep Wants To Give America’s Power Plants, Data Centers An Anti-Drone Upgrade– dailycaller.com

pgnewser June 9, 2026 0

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One congressman is moving to protect the soft underbelly of America’s critical infrastructure with a new bill.

Republican Tennessee Rep. Matt Van Epps unveiled a House version of Sen. Tom Cotton’s Critical Infrastructure Airspace Defense Act Tuesday, which aims to shield hospitals, power plants, water treatment sites, and dams from potential drone attacks. The bill would make grants available to private companies to purchase government-approved anti-drone technologies, and could even extend to data centers.

“The bill gives the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy and others, the ability to determine which critical infrastructure facilities need these authorities,” Van Epps told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This could include anything from critical water systems to power plants and potentially even data centers.”

Demand Is Booming for New No Tech, Repairable Tractor– www.404media.co

pgnewser June 5, 2026 0

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The secondary market for decades old, low-tech John Deere tractors has been booming for years as farmers have sought reliable tractors that they can actually fix without having to deal with John Deere’s repair monopoly. A Canadian company has seen that demand and came up with a radical thought: What if they made a new, repairable, “no-tech” tractor to solve what has become a gigantic pain point for farmers?

Alberta’s Ursa Ag says that it has been inundated with demand after announcing its tractor, which costs roughly half as much as a Deere and has the benefit of not being a repair nightmare. We have for years covered the frustration that farmers have felt as they have been locked out of their Deere tractors with digital rights management systems that prevent them from fixing their machinery, tractors that won’t run because of minor sensor failures, and crops that literally die on the vine as they wait for an “authorized” repair person to fix tractors during critical harvesting periods.

Australia’s Slowing Economy Propped Up by Data Center Boom– financialpost.com

pgnewser June 3, 2026 0

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G­­­ross domestic product advanced 0.3% in the first three months of the year, just one-third of the pace recorded in the final quarter of 2025 and missing estimates, government data showed Wednesday. Private investment climbed by almost 4%, led by higher outlays on data centers, with a 16% jump in spending on machinery and equipment the largest gain in almost 30 years.

Japanese government postpones proposals to restrict real estate purchases by foreigners– japantoday.com

pgnewser June 3, 2026 0

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In December, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party announced its intent to introduce legislation to add new restrictions to the ability of foreigners to purchase real estate in Japan. In March, a government expert panel began holding meetings to discuss possible changes legal changes in order to address the economic and security concerns being voiced by proponents of increased regulation, with the aim of making a proposal by the end of the currently ongoing parliamentary session, which is scheduled to end in midsummer.

That timetable is now getting shifted back, as the panel is now saying that it is postponing any possible recommended bans on foreigners purchasing property until this coming fall.

Cognizant CEO is swimming against the tide on AI: he’s hiring over 20,000 graduates this year and says AI tokenmaxxing is a ‘vanity metric’– fortune.com

pgnewser June 2, 2026 0

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For months, the loudest voices in artificial intelligence—including OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei—warned that entry-level white-collar jobs were headed for extinction. In recent weeks, both have walked back those statements.

And according to Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S., who oversees a workforce of more than 350,000 employees, the outcry wasn’t just a prediction gone wrong—it was fearmongering.

“There was a little bit of fearmongering from reading about the fact that there’s going to be a collapse of jobs,” Kumar said at Fortune’s COO Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona on Monday. “I think there will be more jobs.”

Trump is facing a new inflation warning from the bond market, adding to his midterm challenges– abcnews.com

pgnewser June 2, 2026 0

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WASHINGTON — The world is getting more uptight about lending money to President Donald Trump’s government — causing interest rates to climb in ways that are worsening affordability pressures, hampering economic growth and creating a new risk for Republicans in November’s midterm elections.

The energy price spike triggered by the Iran war has seeped into the price of bonds that help fund the U.S. government. Interest rates on a 10-year U.S. Treasury note are topping 4.44%, up from 3.95% before the war started at the end of February. Average mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels in nine months, while auto sales are slumping.

AI giant Anthropic files for US IPO as investors bet big on AI future | Technology News– www.aljazeera.com

pgnewser June 2, 2026 0

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Anthropic, which operates AI chatbot Claude, did not disclose the size or the terms of the offering.

Published On 1 Jun 2026

Artificial intelligence giant Anthropic has confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States, teeing up what could become a watershed moment for Wall Street’s AI frenzy.

The move, announced on Monday, sets up a high-stakes test of whether investor appetite for the AI revolution that has reshaped white-collar work around the world can match the sky-high expectations surrounding the booming sector.

AI Investment Boom Across the UK is Fuelled More by Fear of Missing out Than Actual Results, According to Expereo– financialpost.com

pgnewser June 2, 2026 0

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Expereo is a world-leading Managed Network as a Service provider that connects people, places, and things anywhere. Solutions include Global Internet, SD-WAN/SASE, and Enhanced Internet. With an extensive global reach, Expereo is the trusted partner of 60% of Fortune 500 companies. It powers enterprise and government sites in more than 190 countries, with the ability to connect to any location worldwide, working with over 2,300 partners to help customers improve productivity and empowering their networks and cloud services with the agility, flexibility, and value of the Internet, with optimal network performance.

Massive UK crackdown will stop homes from streaming Sky TV for free– www.mirror.co.uk

pgnewser June 2, 2026 0

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Thousands of households across the UK could suddenly find they lose access to premium television channels, including popular content from Sky. The huge block follows a major crackdown on illegal streaming with Police confirming that they have shut down a large illicit data centre.

It’s thought this platform was supplying thousands of users with unauthorised access to premium sports broadcasts, blockbuster movies, and subscription-based television channels. The operation has now caused widespread disruption to pirate streaming networks across the country, leaving many unable to access the services they were enjoying without paying for official subscriptions from Sky.

Fall to $4.39 per gallon, dropping 16 cents in one week– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser May 29, 2026 0

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The national average price for regular gas continued to fall on Friday, dropping to $4.391 per gallon, a 16-cent decrease over the past week, according to AAA.

Gas prices have trended downward since setting a high for the year on May 21 at $4.564 per gallon. Moreover, fuel costs have dropped every day this week, starting at $4.507 per gallon on Monday, Memorial Day, dropping to Friday’s current price point, an 11-cent drop in less than 100 hours. The decrease in fuel costs comes at a time when gas prices start to rise, after Memorial Day and the beginning of what is recognized as the summer driving season.

AI giant Anthropic reaches near-trillion dollar valuation, surpassing OpenAI– www.channelnewsasia.com

pgnewser May 29, 2026 0

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SAN FRANCISCO: Artificial intelligence company Anthropic said Thursday (May 28) it had raised US$65 billion in a new funding round that values the Claude maker at US$965 billion, more than its archrival OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.

The latest fundraising round confirms Anthropic’s place as one of the most significant players in AI, with the startup led by Dario Amodei having drawn fans for its coding powers and state-of-the-art models.

Anthropic’s rise came by doubling down on delivering generative AI to enterprise clients rather than general users, the path initially chosen by archrival OpenAI.

Americans Savings Rate Falls to Lowest Level Since 2022 › American Greatness– amgreatness.com

pgnewser May 29, 2026 0

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Americans are saving less money than they have in nearly four years as rising living costs strain household finances and force many families to rely increasingly on credit cards and debt to get by.

The personal saving rate dropped to 2.6 percent in April, according to new Commerce Department data, marking the lowest level since June 2022 and a steep decline from the 5.5 percent rate recorded one year earlier.

The savings rate measures the share of disposable income households set aside rather than spend.

AI giants split on ‘jobs apocalypse’ — RT World News– www.rt.com

pgnewser May 29, 2026 0

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OpenAI’s Sam Altman has said mass white-collar layoffs have not materialized, while Anthropic has warned of major disruption

The heads of two leading artificial intelligence companies have offered sharply different forecasts on whether the technology will trigger mass job losses. The split comes as as Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and other tech giants continue large-scale layoffs tied to AI restructuring.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on Tuesday that AI is unlikely to trigger a global “jobs apocalypse,” admitting that he had been wrong about how quickly the technology would eliminate white-collar jobs.

“I’m delighted to ⁠be wrong about this, I thought there would have been more impact on entry-level white-collar jobs being eliminated by now than ​has actually happened,” Altman told Commonwealth Bank of Australia CEO Matt Comyn.

Billionaire wars: Jeff Bezos steals $230M Moon deal from Elon Musk as NASA selects Blue Origin for the first of three uncrewed lunar missions |– timesofindia.indiatimes.com

pgnewser May 28, 2026 0

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The rivalry between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk has officially reached the Moon. NASA announced on Tuesday that it had selected Bezos’s Blue Origin to carry out the first in a planned series of three uncrewed lunar missions aimed at preparing for a future Moon base, handing the company a contract worth about $230M. The mission, expected no earlier than fall 2026, will use Blue Origin’s Blue Moon cargo lander to transport scientific payloads and test technologies near the Moon’s south pole. While SpaceX remains deeply involved in NASA’s Artemis programme, the decision marks a symbolic win for Bezos in the increasingly intense billionaire battle shaping the future of space exploration.

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin takes centre stage in NASA’s Moon base ambitions

For years, NASA’s idea of building a long-term human presence on the Moon existed mostly as an ambition tied to the Artemis programme. Tuesday’s announcement showed the agency is now moving into the practical phase.NASA administrator and entrepreneur Jared Isaacman said the first three uncrewed missions will help test landers, rovers, cargo systems and survival technologies needed to support astronauts on the lunar surface in the future. More than a dozen additional missions are expected later as the agency works towards creating an operational Moon base sometime in the next decade.The first mission will target the Shackleton de Gerlache Ridge region near the lunar south pole, an area scientists believe may contain water ice. NASA sees the region as critical because future explorers could potentially use the ice for drinking water, oxygen production and rocket fuel.