Key Points — The World Bank’s Commodity Markets Outlook published Tuesday April 28 forecasts global energy prices to surge 24 percent in 2026 — the largest spike since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The World Bank commodity shock outlook projects overall commodity prices rising 16 percent in 2026 driven by the Iran war’s disruption of […]

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The Rio Times — USA & Canada Pulse Covering: Fed · Warsh · Powell · DOJ · Tillis · Mag 7 · Apple · Meta · Amazon · WHCD Shooting · Regime Change · Rate Cuts · Canada · Carney What Matters Today 1 DOJ Drops Powell Criminal Investigation — Pirro Closes Probe Friday — […]

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Key Points — President Trump’s favorability among Latino Catholic voters has fallen to 25% in the most recent Public Religion Research Institute survey — down from 37% just before the November 2024 election. The drop comes after the most public conflict between a sitting US president and a Catholic pope in the history of the […]

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Key Points — Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi delivered a new phased proposal to the United States via Pakistani mediators over the weekend. The plan would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, lift the US naval blockade, and extend the ceasefire toward a permanent end of the war — while postponing the nuclear-program negotiation to a […]

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Key Points — PwC’s April 2026 executive survey of 633 US CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and board members — conducted March 12-20 and published April 14 — found 86% treat tariffs as a permanent planning assumption. The survey marks the first institutional data showing US corporate planning horizons have normalized tariffs as a structural feature rather […]

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Key Points — Chinese President Xi Jinping broke his public silence on the Hormuz crisis Monday, using a rare phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — their first in over three years — to call for immediate ceasefire and full restoration of Hormuz transit. — The April 7 US-Iran two-week ceasefire expires […]

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The Rio Times — USA & Canada Pulse Covering: Canada · Housing · UnitedHealth · Fed · Warsh · Tillis · Tariff Refunds · Alaska Air · Apple · Marvell · Ceasefire What Matters Today 1 Canada: Business Sentiment “Bounced Back — Then the Middle East Happened” — Q1 Business Outlook Survey Captures the Whiplash […]

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Key Points — President Javier Milei and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed the “Isaac Accords” in Jerusalem on Sunday, April 19, a strategic framework explicitly modeled on the 2020 Abraham Accords and extended to Latin American and Western Hemisphere countries sharing judeocristian tradition. — The accords package includes a nine-article counter-terrorism intelligence cooperation memorandum, an […]

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The Rio Times — USA & Canada Pulse Covering: Treasury · Senate · Labour Market · Defence Secretary · Canada · Fed · Markets · Energy · Earnings · Tax Day What Matters Today 1 Bessent Declares US Launching “Financial Equivalent of Bombing Iran” — Treasury Threatens Secondary Sanctions on Banks in China, Hong Kong, […]

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This global economy briefing covers Monday, April 13 — the most paradoxical session of the war. The Islamabad talks collapsed over the weekend. Trump ordered a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. WTI surged above $104 and the Dow fell 400 points at the open. Then Trump said Iran had “called” and “wants a […]

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What Matters Today 1 US consumer confidence has crashed to an all-time record low of 47.6 — below the previous worst reading of 51.7 from the 1980 energy crisis, declining across every demographic group, age bracket, income level and political affiliation, with one-year inflation expectations spiking to 4.8% from 3.8% in the largest monthly jump […]

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Key Points — President Trump launched an extraordinary attack on Pope León XIV on Sunday, calling him “WEAK on crime and terrible on foreign policy” on Truth Social and telling Fox News “I am not a fan of Pope Leo”—escalating a rift between the White House and the Vatican that has been building since the […]

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