Hi! Four of the world’s biggest companies — Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon — are set to report after the bell today; if they are released at around the same time as last quarter, some $12 trillion of market cap in the US could see its fate decided in just 80 seconds. Today we’re exploring:

TOGETHER WITH

Maryland is set to be the first state to ban dynamic pricing at grocery stores

Anyone who’s attempted to score seats at the World Cup, or tickets to a number of major concerts, or just tried to hail an Uber at rush hour will know how dynamic pricing models can convert demand surges into sky-high prices.

But while booking giants like Ticketmaster have recently been scrutinized for deploying dynamic price algorithms in their ticketing systems, some US retailers are now introducing the models into grocery stores, carried out via electronic shelf labels that allow for instantaneous in-store price changes based on factors like inventories, demand, the time of day, and even data about the consumers themselves.

Grocer interest

Supermarkets such as Walmart, Kroger, and Whole Foods are already using digital shelf labels to adjust product costs (though Walmart has asserted that these are “unrelated to dynamic pricing”). In response to the trend, the state of Maryland announced the Protection from Predatory Pricing Act back in January, which was signed into law by Governor Wes Moore on Monday.

As well as ensuring on-shelf prices stay steady for at least one business day, the first-of-its-kind legislation will prohibit retailers from using surveillance data, including inferred income and ethnicity, to determine prices — interestingly, something that Americans object to far more than when dynamic pricing is based on purchasing behavior alone.

In a recent survey conducted by Morning Consult, at least half of US adults said that inputs that are traditionally factored into fee setting — like customer demand (53%), competitor prices (52%), and how far in advance the purchase is happening (50%) — were reasonable grounds to adjust prices. 

However, identity-based factors such as race, gender, and age, which may be used to discriminate against customers, were considered to be unreasonable by a majority of respondents.

Read the full story on the web

The UAE’s OPEC departure will hit the group in the barrels

After just shy of 60 years in OPEC, its membership predating its status as a nation state, the United Arab Emirates yesterday announced its shock departure from the oil production group, effective from May 1st, as the knock-on effects of the Iran war continue to play out across the Middle East and the energy landscape.

For context, the UAE produces the third-highest amount of oil in the group per April data and, according to OPEC’s latest set of annual statistics, it’s in third place on daily crude exports, too. 

UAExit means UAExit

According to the cartel’s 2025 Annual Statistical Bulletin, the OPEC group was collectively exporting some 19 million barrels of crude oil a day, with the United Arab Emirates accounting for some 14% of that daily output.

The nation, whose Energy Minister yesterday told Reuters that the decision was taken “after a careful look at current and future policies related to level of production” and wasn’t made following discussions with any other country, made up a healthy share of the group’s total confirmed crude oil reserves as well. 

Of the 12 nations in the core group, which was founded by just five oil powers back in September 1960, only two (Iraq and Saudi Arabia) exported more barrels of daily crude oil than the UAE, pumping out 3.36 million and 6.05 million barrels, respectively, around the world each day. 

For its part, the UAE said it will “continue its responsible role by gradually and thoughtfully increasing production, in line with demand and market conditions,” per the official state news agency. Clearly, the nation now wants a little more control of how much oil it can pump around the world, with the UAE having to eat a large proportion of lost revenues due to its healthy abundance and OPEC restrictions.

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Is The Golden Rule Unraveling?

For years, conventional wisdom has held that when interest rates go up, gold prices come down. 

The past two years have debunked that trend. Gold prices have been soaring despite increased interest rates, driven by a structural shift in global demand. For investors, the rules are being re-written — and the need for a smart entry point has never been greater.

As a royalties company, Versamet (Nasdaq: VMET) provides capital to precious metals mining projects across the Americas, Africa, and Australia in exchange for a protected percentage of their production. That means Versamet’s stake is shielded from operational headaches or inflationary cost rises, allowing investors to own the cut that consistently generates cash flow.

With over $750M in acquisitions since 2022 and production that could double by 2026,¹ VMET offers a secure foundation and the potential for large-scale growth.

Align your strategy with gold’s structural strength. 

1 Potential for attributable GEO production to be over 20,000 GEOs in 2026 based on assumption that Greenstone, Kiaka, Toega, Kolpa, Rosh Pinah Zinc, Santa Rita and Blackwater and Mercedes production is at a rate that is within 15% of the latest publicly disclosed forecast by each mine operator as of March 2025.

Ship-tracking app surges as Iran war continues

In other Middle East news: while peace talks stretch on, with Tehran reportedly offering to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the US lifts its blockade and ends the war, the owner of shipping intelligence platform MarineTraffic revealed that the app has gained millions of new users since the conflict began.

MarineTraffic’s user count jumped to 8.5 million this April, up from 3.5 million a year ago, said its parent company Kpler in an interview with the Financial Times, published Tuesday. Over the same period, Paid subscribers — often workers within companies and governments looking for more data on supply chains and commodities trading — rose by 11,000 in the same period.

Kpler, which also owns shipping intelligence platform FleetMon, draws its data from a range of sources, including the Automatic Identification System, satellites, and more than 500 people on-site, like port terminal operators.

Appfigures estimates that MarineTraffic raked in almost $1 million across March and April in app revenue (through April 27), more than double the ~$346,500 from the same months last year. Across the full year, Kpler expects to earn between $300 million and $400 million in annual recurring revenues.

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In recent years, gold has decoupled from interest rates, soaring to record highs despite positive yields. Versamet (Nasdaq-CM: VMET) provides diversified exposure to gold’s new paradigm through a high-margin, low-overhead portfolio. Discover VMET.

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Off the charts: Which beverage company reported its second consecutive quarter of North American sales growth earlier today, breaking away from a prolonged slump? [Answer below]. 

Answer here.

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