ECONOMICS

Since December's Trump-optimism-driven surge in Leading Economic Indicators (the first since last February), The Conference Board's headline index has decelerated rapidly with March data released today plunging 0.7% MoM – the biggest drop since October 2023…

Consumer Sentiment and Stock Prices were the biggest negative contributors, while Building Permits and Jobless Claims were the biggest positive contributors…

That dragged the total index level (more…)

Japan's already collapsing population just posted its biggest annual drop on record, falling by 898,000 people as of last October compared to a year earlier, Kyodo News reported.

This marked the 14th consecutive year of population decline in the country, according to a government estimate. The previous record drop was 861,000, reported in July 2024.

This was the largest demographic drop since 1968.

Some more details: according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and (more…)

Did you know that over one in five U.S. companies fail in their first year? 

Despite this brutal statistic, a rare few have stood the test of time, not just for decades, but for centuries.

In this infographic, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu takes a look at America’s oldest companies founded in the 1700s. For context, this timeline also includes a selection of younger companies that are widely known.

Data & Discussion

The featured companies are listed in the table below.

All of these businesses have survived economic upheavals, wars, (more…)