Japan Approves Plan to Open its First Casino A group that includes US-based MGM Resorts and Japan's Orix Corp. won approval from Japanese officials on Friday to build the country's first-ever casino, a 5.3 million-square-foot resort in the city of Osaka that's estimated to cost ¥1.08T ($8.2B) by 2029.... Japan
US Inflation Eases to 5%, Lowest Since 2021 The US Labor Dept. reported Wednesday that the consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of US prices, rose 0.1% in March and 5% since last year, less than Dow Jones estimates and its slowest pace since 2021.... Economic conditions & trends
Iraqi Govt Signs Internal Deal to Resume Oil Exports Through Turkey Iraq's federal government and its Kurdistan autonomous region signed an accord Tuesday to restart oil exports through Turkey after oil shipments were halted 10 days ago.... Russia
Oil Prices Surge After OPEC+ Surprise Output Cuts Fuel prices rose sharply after Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ countries announced a surprise round of output cuts on Sunday. The 1.16M barrel-per-day ('bpd') cuts could potentially spell trouble for global inflation, which was slowing down just days after an optimistic report on US price data.... Russia
US House Passes GOP Energy Agenda On Thursday, the Republican-majority US House voted 225-204 to pass a wide range of energy proposals that would boost oil and gas production, increase the mining of critical minerals, and change the National Environmental Policy Act's project approval process.... Oil & gasoline
UK Budget 2023: Economy Set to Avoid Recession Following UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's announcement of the 2023 budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast that the UK won't enter a technical recession this year, with inflation reportedly set to drop to 2.9% — a reduction by more than half its current rate — by the end of 20... Taxation
Novo Nordisk to Cut US Insulin Prices Previously, some US states instituted price caps on insulin, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law last year, mandated that Medicare patients pay no more than $35 a month for insulin.... Prices
UK House Prices Fall at Fastest Rate in Over a Decade Last month saw the biggest decline in UK house prices in more than a decade — falling 1.1% in February against the same month last year — according to an announcement from mortgage provider Nationwide on Wednesday.... Mali
UK Energy Bills to Rise, Despite New Price Cap and Falling Energy Costs UK households will see their energy bills increase by an average of 20% (£500) this coming year, despite energy regulator Ofgem having announced that the energy price cap — which sets the maximum that companies can charge for a single unit of energy — will be lowered for the three months fro... Prices
Survey: Half of Americans Worse Off Than Year Ago In a new Gallup survey, 50% of Americans have claimed that they are financially worse off now than they were the previous year — the highest percentage since the Great Recession over a decade ago.... Metaculus
Spotify Laying Off 6% of its Workforce Music streaming platform Spotify announced Monday the company will be laying off 6% of its global workforce, which is about 600 employees Computers & internet
US Fed Raises Rates by 0.25%, Signals ‘Ongoing Increases’ The US Federal Reserve (Fed) raised interest rates by 0 Money
Tesla Announces Record Profit On Wednesday, Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker Tesla reported nearly $3 Money