Trump Threatens to Cut Arms Sales to Ukraine If NATO Does Not Aid War Against Iran

American Consumers Have Never Been Less Confident Despite Inflation Fears Easing; UMich With the "mini war" still ongoing (albeit with a 'ceasefire' in place), expectations were for a continued slide (already at record lows) in the American consumer's sentiment in preliminary UMich data for May released today. And while the expectations were correct in direction, once again they underestimated just how bad things are as the headline UMich print fell from 49.8 to 48.2 (a new record low and below the 49.5 expectation). Under the hood was more mixed with Current Conditions tumbling...

How Global Economic Power Shifted In The Last 10 Years The global economic order has shifted dramatically over the last decade, with countries reshuffling positions amid inflation shocks, geopolitical tensions, pandemic disruptions, and the rapid rise of AI-driven industries. This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Gabriel Cohen, compares the world’s 15 largest economies in 2016 and 2026 using IMF World Economic Outlook data, revealing which countries gained ground, which fell behind, and which surprised the most. The U.S. remains the world’s largest economy at $32.4 trillion in 2026 forecasts, while China crossed the $20 trillion...

Visualizing The Stunning Global Fertility Divide A widening gap is emerging in global birth rates. This chart, via Visual Capitalist's Niccolo Conte, shows population-weighted total fertility rates (TFR) across major world regions, based on data from the UN World Population Prospects 2024 Revision, and how they compare to the 2.1 replacement level. While Africa remains far above this threshold, most of the world, including Asia, Europe, and the Americas, has already fallen below it. This split highlights where future population growth is likely to be concentrated. Africa Stands Apart Africa’s fertility rate of 4.0 children...