Services Sector Contraction In March Screams Q1 Stagflation

Yields Spike As Producer Prices Explode Higher In April After yesterday's hotter than expected CPI (driven in large part by Energy, but seeing some contagion into Services costs), this morning's Producer Price print for April was expected to show a major surge in annual wholesale inflation. With the eight straight monthly increase, PPI rose by a massive 1.4% MoM (vs +0.5% MoM exp) - the biggest MoM jump since March 2022, lifting PPI by a stunning 6.0% YoY (vs 4.8% YoY exp). That is the hottest PPI YoY since Dec 2022... Source:...

OpenAI Rewrites 'Sloppy' Pentagon AI Deal After Backlash Over Surveillance Risks OpenAI - which millions of users trust with everything from legal documents to tax returns - is revising its newly signed contract with the US Department of War, just days after it was announced that they would replace Anthropic for use in government systems because the rushed rollout "looked opportunistic and sloppy."  Hours after negotiations collapsed between the Pentagon and rival startup Anthropic on Friday, the San Francisco-based company agreed to supply its AI models for use in classified military operations. The...

California Democrats Attempt To Sabotage Voter ID Initiative In November, California voters will have the opportunity to vote on Proposition 39. The measure, officially the Voter Identification, Citizenship Verification, and Registered Voter List Administration Initiative, would require Californians to show identification when they vote and force state officials to clean up the voter rolls and verify that the people on them are eligible citizens. All signs suggest it will pass. A poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found in May that 71% of Californians support requiring proof of...