Wildfire And Drought Risks Spike As California Enters Dry Season With Just 18% Snowpack

Services Sector Contraction In March Screams Q1 Stagflation Following S&P Global's Manufacturing PMI's better than expected print higher (signaling resilience in the face of March's war in Iran), the data released this morning showed the US Services Sector experienced a contraction of activity at the end of the first quarter of 2026. The headline S&P Global US Services PMI Business Activity Index recorded 49.8 in March, down from February’s 51.7 and lower than the earlier ‘flash’ estimate of 51.1. It was the first decline recorded in over three years amid the weakest...

Key Events This Week: CPI, PCE, ADP, Durable Goods And More With the Fed in their self-imposed blackout period, the economic data will get a chance to do the talking ahead of the March 18th FOMC meeting. Of particular note will be the inflation data, namely Wednesday’s CPI report for February and Friday’s core PCE reading for January, but there will also be some scattered labor market data to help put context around last Friday’s disappointing February employment report. Of course, all of that assumes that traders can be dragged...

Days After Trump Delays Xi Summit, Chinese Carrier Unveils 101-Jet Airbus Deal Days after President Donald Trump delayed a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the now 26-day-old U.S.-Iran conflict, one of China's top state-owned airlines unveiled a major narrow-body aircraft deal with Airbus. China Eastern Airlines announced a $15.8 billion deal for 101 Airbus A320neo aircraft on Wednesday, with deliveries scheduled between 2028 and 2032. The Shanghai-based carrier, which operates domestic and international passenger and cargo flights, said it negotiated prices well below list value and expects to fund...