P.S. If you want to know what could drive all prices even higher, don’t overlook the impact of Saudi Arabia slashing oil production – not to mention the war in Ukraine heating up (see more below). This is something I’ve been talking about for months – but now it’s all coming to a head. Click here to see the predictions I made that are coming true today

WORD ON THE STREET 

• Crikey! Australia Raises Rates – Australia’s central bank has raised interest rates to an 11-year high – and it might just be getting started. After increasing rates by a quarter-point, the bank said inflation remains too high and removed references in its policy statement that most analysts had regarded as dovish.

• SEIU Seizes On UN To Attack Starbucks – Sometimes, virtue signaling has a cost. Starbucks is a member of the United Nations Global Compact, which guarantees workers’ rights to collective bargaining. But the SEIU and its affiliate Workers United argue that SBUX has fired hundreds of workers who tried to organize a union. More than 1,300 cases are currently before the National Labor Relations Board and the U.S. court system accusing SBUX of violating labor laws.

• Lululemon Defends Firing Workers Who Called Police – “We have a zero-tolerance policy that we train our educators on around engaging during a theft,” said Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald, defending the decision to fire two workers, uh, “educators,” who had called police on a theft. “It’s only merchandise,” he said. Well, it was only their jobs.

• AMC Tries Again To Get Investors Back – AMC CEO Adam Aron has seen better days when it comes to the stock price. Still, he’s always game for promoting his company to retail investors on Twitter – even shilling the concession stand. “Apparently our guests are coming to see movies hungry and thirsty,” he tweeted. “Food/Bev sales per patron in U.S. in May – the highest month EVER for AMC!” AMC was up 1.76% during the trading day.

HOT SPOTS: What’s Going on in Geopolitics

• Dam Destroyed In Russian-Occupied Ukraine – Ukraine and Russia are trading blame for the destruction of the Nova Khakovka Dam. Residents are fleeing from rising floodwaters. The dam’s destruction may also jeopardize water supplies to Crimea, which Russia claims as part of its national territory.

• Bukele’s War In El Salvador Has A New Front – Nayib Bukele is expanding his war against crime in El Salvador, promising to take on corruption. He also promised to build a new jail for white collar crime. The populist president’s get-tough approach has garnered media criticism internationally, but his approval ratings at home are sky-high.

• China Cracks Down On Protests In Hong Kong – At least 24 people were arrested in Hong Kong as scattered protesters attempted to honor the victims of Tiananmen Square. Authorities acted under the “national security law” passed in 2020 under cover of the COVID-19 pandemic that essentially outlawed vigils and protests.

CUTTING EDGE: What‘s Happening In Tech

• Startup Funding In Europe Drops By 39% – From $83 billion in 2022, funding for venture-backed startups in Europe has declined to just $51 billion. It is the second straight year of large-scale declines, after funding for European startups fell from $106 billion to $83 billion from 2021 to 2022.

• Democrats Unload On Musk – Four powerful Democratic senators, including Elizabeth Warren, have charged Elon Musk is ignoring federal privacy requirements. They were especially angry about the recent departure of Twitter’s “head of trust and safety” and its “head of brand safety and advertising quality.” “These departures,” the senators wrote in a letter, “following a string of high-profile resignations from Twitter’s lead privacy, information security, and compliance officers, raise concerns about Twitter’s ability to comply with its legal obligations.”

• SEC Files Suit Against Binance – The Securities and Exchange Commission listed 13 charges against cryptocurrency exchange Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao. The SEC was scathing towards the company, arguing that Binance had created separate entities “as part of an elaborate scheme to evade U.S. federal securities laws.” “We allege that Zhao and Binance entities engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler.

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