AI Price Wars Begin: OpenAI Considers "Drastic Price Cuts" In Pursuit Of Anthropic Customers

Nearly 70% Inflation, Mass Layoffs, And A Strangled Economy: Iran's Brutal Test Of Endurance Iran’s economy is undergoing one of the most brutal stress tests in its modern history. Official annual inflation has surged to 50% according to central bank figures released shortly after the ceasefire, while the year-on-year rate reached as high as 67% through mid-April, according to the Wall Street Journal. The rial has crashed to a record low of 1.8 million to the dollar, roughly two million workers have lost their jobs, and the US naval blockade of...

EU Finally Unblocks €90 Loan For Ukraine, Weighted Toward Military Spending Ukraine has hailed the long awaited approval and release of a whopping a €90 billion loan by the European Union, which belatedly happened Thursday after months of negotiations. "The European support loan for Ukraine has been unblocked - €90 billion over two years," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X. European Union photo "For us this is important, and it will strengthen, of course, our army, Ukrainian forces, and allow us to boost production of air defense systems and work more to protect our energy system...

Despite Record Low Sentiment, US Retail Sales See Strongest Annual Gain In 8 Months After a big jump in March, retail sales likely cooled in April, according to BofA's almost omniscient forecast as they see spending on gasoline providing a smaller boost and auto sales moderating, after an early Easter pulled forward some seasonal demand into March. The “holiday shift” dynamic also may have contributed to softer activity after Easter. However, the actual print was +0.5% MoM (as consensus expected - and hotter than BofA's forecast), lifting sales by 4.9% YoY...