United States: Economic Analysis

Manufacturing PMI has accelerated to its strongest level since mid-2022, while spot trucking rates and crude oil prices have surged dramatically in early 2026. The Strait of Hormuz disruption has compounded cost pressures across consumer sectors, though an interim U.S.-Iran ceasefire may bring margin relief if peace holds through the critical Q3 retail build-up period.

Mobile spectrum licence renewal presents regulators with a critical policy choice: should renewal fees reflect full market value, or can below-market pricing serve as an investment instrument? This white paper models how pre-committed renewal fee structures affect operator investment decisions and social welfare, revealing that optimal fees may strategically deviate from market rates when private returns fall short of social benefits. The analysis further explores how success-dependent fee extraction create

Damages analyses in international arbitration are evolving to address emerging disputes in climate change, human rights, and space mining. The seventh edition of Global Arbitration Review's Guide to Damages in International Arbitration offers arbitrators a practical framework for evaluating economic harm and ensuring awards are grounded in solid economic theory.

Explore critical insights on data center partnerships, private credit defaults, AI governance, cybersecurity threats, and industry transformations across pet care, apparel, and fraud prevention. Discover how organizations are navigating disruption through strategic planning, business continuity management, and forensic oversight in an increasingly complex global environment.

Ankura's latest insights explore critical challenges facing modern organizations, from sophisticated cyber threats exploiting trusted software supply chains to the unexpected impact of GLP-1 medications on apparel industry sizing models. The collection examines how businesses can build operational resilience against disruption, strengthen fraud oversight in complex markets like China, and adapt to emerging technologies including AI-driven banking systems and ransomware tactics.

The breakfast customer represents the most valuable yet most demanding segment in convenience store foodservice, willing to pay premium prices but expecting QSR-level quality and freshness. A recent AlixPartners survey of over 2,000 customers reveals critical gaps between customer expectations and brand performance, particularly around freshness and food quality.

The latest of the Big Law Redefined Podcast, Texas Business Court Watch episode is now live.

Procurement leaders face mounting pressure to deliver 2-5% annual cost reductions while navigating tariffs, geopolitical shifts, and talent shortages. Agentic AI is emerging as a structural solution to these constraints, with early adopters already seeing EBITDA impacts of 4.7 percentage points compared to 3.6 for less mature peers. The critical question is whether organizations will successfully pair AI agents with human judgment to capture value, or fall behind competitors who are already compounding gain

U.S. consumers continue to spend, but resilience is increasingly strained. Real wage gains and essential-driven demand are sustaining near-term activity, even as sentiment weakens and household balance sheets...