A tale of two worlds

Job Openings Unexpectedly Surge By Almost 400K: Biggest Increase Since 2024 Is the mini recession in the US job market ending?  After slumping in late 2025, it has been a rocky road for the US labor market, especially after the February payrolls print shocked with how bad it was. But according to the latest JOLTS job openings and turnover report published by the BLS moments ago, by the time the February NFP picture was taking place, the seeds of a recovery may have been planted already thanks to a surge in...

One War & Five Scenarios To End It Authored by Amir Taheri, With the war between the Israel-US duo and the Islamic Republic in Iran entering its fourth week, two questions are asked in policy circles across the world. The first is: how long will it last? The answer is: how long is a piece of string? Which means: because no one knows, no speculation is warranted. The second question may be beyond a journalist's bailiwick: how does it end? As one of my mentors in journalism taught so many decades ago, we had better leave...

Asia Burns More Coal As Middle East War Sends LNG Prices to 3-Year Highs Submitted by Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com, Coal is back with a bang in Asia’s power generation, as countries scramble to contain the LNG supply shortage due to the war in the Middle East. Coal hasn’t really left most Asian economies, which rely on the fuel for much of their power generation. Amid the squeeze of natural gas supply due to the de facto closed Strait of Hormuz and the sky-rocketing LNG prices that few buyers in Asia can...