Trump Still Won’t Admit the US Is Responsible for the Minab School Massacre

How Resilient? By Bas van Geffen, senior macro strategist at Rabobank A cargo ship was hit by an unknown object near the coast of Oman yesterday. The vessel took some damage, but the company reported that “crew, vessel, and cargo are all safe.” The ship has since left the strait, and tankers continue to transit. Still, these attacks force a rethink about the safety of the Strait of Hormuz, just as shipping from the Gulf region was starting to pick up again. The International Maritime Organization temporarily halted its evacuation plan for...

60,000 Microsoft Workers Offered Buyouts As AI Spending Boom Reshapes Workforce Job cuts and downsizing announcements across corporate America have gained momentum, a trend we featured in a report last week titled "Tech Layoffs Surge As Corporate America's AI Blitz Raises Fears The Worst Is Yet To Come." Days later, Bloomberg reports that Microsoft will offer voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees while spending heavily on artificial intelligence and data center expansion. NEARLY 1 OUT OF 3 (60,000 EMPLOYEES) AT MICROSOFT BEING OFFERED VOLUNTARY TERMINATION Emails should be going out any minute to...

Cocoa Grindings Crush Estimates, Chocolate Stocks Rise: Is Hershey A Buy? A new Bloomberg survey found that third-quarter cocoa processing in Asia and Europe exceeded estimates, signaling a potential demand recovery as lower bean costs improve processing margins. The rebound follows a period of record-high cocoa prices that sparked demand destruction among consumers. Asian processing soared 29% in the third quarter to its highest quarterly level since 2011, according to the Cocoa Association of Asia. In Europe, grindings rose 3.2% from one year ago, marking the region's first quarterly year-on-year increase...