New inflation report

Good morning investors! The truce remains and so do the bulls.

Today we cover:

📊 Economy and News

The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge showed core PCE prices rising 3% annually in February, right in line with expectations and just before the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran drove energy prices sharply higher.

Headline PCE inflation came in at 2.8%. Both core and headline prices rose 0.4% for the month.

Consumer spending increased 0.5% in February, while personal income unexpectedly fell 0.1%. Economists had forecast stronger gains in both.

Separately, fourth-quarter 2025 GDP growth was revised down to just 0.5% annualized from a previous 0.7% estimate, signaling weaker economic momentum even before the war.

“Stagflation was a little worse than expected,” said TradeStation’s David Russell, noting growing parallels to the 1970s.

Reminder: First-class mail stamps would increase from 78 cents to 82 cents effective July 12 if the proposal by the U.S. Postal Service is approved.

👨 Sponsored

Operation Epic Fury showed the scale and speed at which modern warfare can mobilize - with the U.S. striking more than 2,000 Iranian military targets in just 96 hours.

Stealth bombers. Fighter jets. Cruise missiles. Autonomous drones… every one of those systems relies on titanium.

Today, the U.S. imports more than 95% of its supply, while China's share of global titanium metals has surged to over 75%.

As defense production ramps up and geopolitical tensions rise, that dependence is becoming a serious vulnerability.

Titanium just became a strategic chokepoint.

According to Project Blue, the West is heading toward a titanium supply crunch, with aerospace and defense expected to feel the pressure first.

That's the backdrop for what Saga Metals (OTCQB:SAGMF, CSE:SAGA) just found in North America.

📈 Stocks

S&P 500 6,824.66 (+0.62%)
DJIA 48,185.80 (+0.58%)
NASDAQ 22,822.42 (+0.83%)
BRENT CRUDE 95.21 (+1.85%)
* Prices as of Apr 10th, 12:20 AM UTC

OpenAI sent a memo to investors this week blasting chief rival Anthropic for “operating on a meaningfully smaller curve.”

OpenAI said it’s planning to have 30 gigawatts of compute by 2030, while it expects Anthropic to have roughly 7 to 8 gigawatts by the end of 2027.

Anthropic announced a powerful new model this week that will roll out to a select group of companies as part of a new cybersecurity initiative called Project Glasswing. To compete, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Pro, a new subscription tier that boosts usage limits for Codex, its AI-powered coding assistant.

The announcement comes as OpenAI looks to compete with Anthropic’s Claude Code, which has soared in popularity. Anthropic has four subscription tiers, with the priciest offering the most use of Claude Code.

But, these are not the only major players in AI. Meta debuted its first major AI model, Muse Spark, spearheaded by chief AI officer Alexandr Wang, who joined nine months ago and leads Meta Superintelligence Labs.

Meta said it is also experimenting with a new AI model revenue stream by eventually offering third-party developers access to Muse Spark’s underlying technology via an API.

This is having a global impact, even on education with 47% of college students having seriously considered changing majors due to AI:

Surprising: The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the NFL regarding potential anticompetitive tactics. Elsewhere, Amazon debuts Masters coverage, becoming the golf tournament’s fourth-ever media partner. Lastly, Disney expects to lay off as many as 1,000 employees, much of which will come from its marketing department.

💵 Personal Finance

Married couples filing taxes for 2025 have an important choice: file jointly or separately. This decision could significantly affect their eligibility for new tax breaks introduced in President Trump’s “big beautiful bill.”

The tax code generally favors “married filing jointly,” which combines both spouses’ income, credits, a

nd deductions on one return. It offers wider tax brackets and a higher standard deduction ($31,500 for joint filers vs. $15,750 for separate filers in 2025).

Filing separately, however, can cause couples to lose access to several new deductions, including those for tip income, overtime earnings, and seniors. It may also limit the boosted state and local tax (SALT) deduction and restrict other common breaks such as student loan interest, education credits, and the child and dependent care credit.

While most couples (over 55 million in recent years) benefit from filing jointly, filing separately can make sense in specific situations — for example, high-earning couples in high-tax states looking to maximize itemized deductions, or when one spouse has significant medical expenses.

Experts emphasize that filing separately is rarely a broad strategy and usually only pays off when detailed tax projections show a clear benefit for that year.

Bottom line: Run the numbers both ways — the best filing status can change annually, but joint filing remains the better choice for the majority of married couples.

💰 Be a Better Investor

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