Report: Saudi Arabia Launched Attacks Against Iran During US-Israeli Bombing Campaign

40,000 U.S. Retail Stores Could Close By 2030 UBS consumer analyst Michael Lasser told clients that a further rise in e-commerce penetration, from about 22% today to as high as 27%, could force the closure of 40,000 U.S. retail stores by 2030. The warning comes as more than 10,000 stores have closed since late 2023, and shows how the shift to e-commerce is pressuring brick-and-mortar retail footprints nationwide. Lasser's forecast is that e-commerce penetration rates in the U.S. will top 27% by the end of the decade, up from the current 22%. Many...

Core Durables Goods Surge For 12th Straight Month, Push Bond Yield Higher After a recent string of 'soft' survey data, this morning we get some 'hard' data and it was far stronger than expected. Preliminary headline durable goods orders for March rose 0.8% MoM (better than the 0.5% MoM exp), and the first increase after a three month decline to start the year (which was the first 3-month decline since Nov 2019). The increase took place despite continued weakness in aircraft orders manifesting as a 21.1% drop in nondefense aircraft and parts...

Fill 'er Up: Record Armada Of Tankers Bound For US Gulf To Load Oil An unusually large number of crude oil tankers on the open seas has the American Gulf coast as a destination as the ships are redirected to load cargoes bound for markets around the world already experiencing shortages. As Alton Wallace writes at The Center Square, second-term Republican President Donald Trump said Saturday on social media that “massive numbers” of “completely empty” oil tankers are en route to the United States to purchase American energy. “Foreign buyers are voting with their ships: American energy means stability, strength,...