MMN Editor

Elon Musk’s company reported vehicle sales and energy-storage deployments well below Wall Street’s expectations.

raditional grocery stores face competition on multiple fronts, creating a price-driven, margin-squeezing battle for market share.They have always had to fend off warehouse clubs including Costco and Sam’s Club while battling Walmart and Target, which have increased their investment in the grocery space in recent years.Now, supermarkets also have to battle competition from dollar stores and Amazon, which has pulled back from non-Whole Foods grocery stores, but has doubled down on quick delivery. That has created an incredibly challenging market.”U.S. grocery consumers are increasingly focused on low prices…To win greater market share, they need to differentiate themselves on at least one of these fronts — and preferably more: quality products, including fresh food offerings, and a favorable shopping experience,” according to industry analyst Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Sprouts Farmers Market has always offered a differentiated shopping experience, but its CEO Jack Sinclair said during the recent Roth Conference that it has to do better when it comes to value. Sprouts operating from a position of strengthWhile many grocery chains struggled as consumers have pulled back on their spending, Sprouts actually had a very strong year.“Sprouts delivered strong growth in 2025,” Sinclair said in the chain’s fourth-quarter earnings release. “These results were a testament to the strength of our business and our team’s commitment to serving our unique target customer. We are committed to helping our customers live and eat better and remain laser focused on executing our strategy in the coming years.”Sproutsfull year highlights:Net sales totaled $8.8 billion; a 14% increase from 2024Comparable store sales growth of 7.3%Diluted earnings per share of $5.31; compared to diluted earnings per share of $3.75 in 2024Opened 37 new stores, resulting in 477 stores in 24 states as of December 28, 2025The company also has a strong cash position. Ended the year with $257 million in cash and cash equivalents and zero balance on its $600 million revolving credit facility.Authorized a new $1 billion share buyback program and repurchased 4 million shares of common stock.Generated cash from operations of $716 million and invested $224 million in capital expenditures, net of landlord reimbursement.
Source: Sprouts Investor relations
Despite that, Sprouts’ guidance predicted a drop in same-store sales in the first quarter between 1% and 3%.Sprouts sees room to improveDuring the Roth Conference Sinclair made it clear that Sprouts has to offer a better value proposition for customers.”And as you look at going forward, the challenges of gas pricing and some of the dynamics that are going on at the moment, we’ve got to work hard at making sure our affordability of the products that we’re selling our value,” he said.Value, Sinclair noted, isn’t just about having low prices. “And value, meaning at any price point as opposed to trying to change the profile of our price points in the business. So we’re focused very much on value. We think that will help us with traffic going forward. We’re very confident in our margin profile,” he added.Sinclair also shared that Sprouts’ product mix gives it an edge over rivals.”We’ve got differentiated products. So that makes the price comparisons in what you invest in are a little bit different for the world,” he said.More Retail:Walmart fires OpenAI in playbook-changing moveCostco CEO just gave members a new reason to renewBath & Body Works makes big change customers will notice right awayThat’s not true in all areas of the store. “I’ve lived in through my career in a grocery world where everyone’s got the same thing, you’re always looking at everyone else’s prices. We do so in produce. So we’re looking hard in a very volatile marketplace, making sure our value in organic produce is significantly better than anyone else in the industry,” he shared.

Sprouts offers a specialized assortment of groceries.Shutterstock

Americans want value when buying groceriesAmericans have been trading down when it comes to groceries, according to BCG’s data.31% of consumers say that rising prices have made them switch to a lower-cost or discount grocer.46% of consumers are purchasing more store brands than in the past in order to save money.Outgoing Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos noted that his chain has seen a wider array of people shopping its stores, but they all want the same thing.”Customers across all income brackets continue to stress the importance of finding value as they shop, and we are meeting this need as we continue to grow penetration with households of all income levels,” he said during Dollar General’s fourth-quarter earnings call. PwC sees the grocery space as getting even more challenging for operators.”Grocery retailing is a dynamic and highly competitive industry, and it’s becoming more so,” the research firm shared.PwC also sees the need to deliver value as a long-term proposition grocery chains must embrace.”From the shoppers’ perspective, the recession or at least ‘recession-like’ behavior will not end soon, if ever. Shoppers’ value-seeking behaviors have become ingrained. At the same time, digital technologies will make ‘price shopping’ ever easier and more convenient, and the Internet and other new formats will drain volume away from traditional channels,” according to PwC’s Four forces shaping competition in grocery retailing Related: Shoe brand once worth $4B closes all stores, avoids bankruptcy

The imaginary fund created by MarketWatch that invests in stocks hated by Wall Street has outperformed the S&P 500, the Nasdaq and most active fund managers during the Iran war.

The crypto asset manager said investors are sidelined by Middle East tensions, but resilient valuations and structural adoption trends could set up the next leg higher.

When Will This Sh*t Stop?

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

A career criminal with 23 prior arrests and 70 charges was allowed to roam free until she stabbed a pregnant woman in broad daylight outside a Harris Teeter in Charlotte’s Cotswold Village Shopping Center on March 18. 

The 38-year-old victim was loading her car with her three-year-old child nearby when Marvina Marie Hardy (also known as Marvina Marie Hardy-Butler), 40, of Waxhaw, attacked her with a steak knife, stabbing her in the sternum. 

The victim fought back. Both she and her unborn baby are expected to recover.

🚨 HOLD JUDGES ACCOUNTABLE — RIGHT NOW.
Career criminal with 23 prior arrests and 70 charges just stabbed a pregnant woman in a North Carolina parking lot.
She should’ve been locked up for life years ago.
Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent pic.twitter.com/cW3vQUzVvV
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) March 31, 2026
Hardy was tracked to Flagler County, Florida, after public tips and surveillance video from inside the store helped identify her. 

She now faces extradition to North Carolina on charges of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill/inflict serious injury and battery of an unborn child. The motive remains unknown.

This preventable horror is the direct result of a revolving-door justice system that treats violent repeat offenders like minor nuisances. 

The same deadly pattern has repeated across blue cities and states. In Chicago, a man fresh out of jail threatened to kill white people with hammers on a CTA train, ranting racial threats just two days after release.

That city’s transit system has faced the same chaos, with officials scrambling to meet federal demands after repeated attacks — including one where a career criminal with 72 prior arrests set a woman on fire on the Blue Line.

Even more grotesque is the case of a cannibal axe murderer released back into society despite his sick crimes. In 2012, Tyree Smith hacked a homeless man to death with an axe in Bridgeport, Connecticut, then ate portions of his brain and eyeball.

Found not guilty by reason of insanity, he was committed to a psychiatric hospital — only for the Connecticut Psychiatric Security Review Board to grant him conditional release after just over a decade, citing “clinical progress” through medication. 

As we have highlighted, there are so many examples of recurring failures occurring weekly:

These stories expose the same broken system: activist judges and soft-on-crime policies that rack up dozens of arrests and charges for predators, then slap them with low bonds or early releases. 

From pregnant women in parking lots to transit riders, random innocents pay with blood while officials chase “rehabilitation” and “equity.”

The public stepped up with tips that helped catch Hardy in Florida. That same energy must now demand real accountability from judges who keep unleashing monsters. Law-abiding Americans deserve to shop, ride trains, and walk streets without fear.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 04/02/2026 – 09:50

Oil Nears War-Highs As Iran-Israel Strikes Intensify After Trump Speech Set No Off-Ramp Timeline

Summary

Oil prices surge after no mention of ceasefire while vowing to keep hitting Iran ‘extremely hard’ in Wed. night Trump speech. Surge in tit-for-tat overnight strikes.

US intelligence assessments say Iran is not ready to negotiate given it believes it has the strategic upper-hand, and doesn’t believe Trump is ‘serious’ about talks: NYT

Highest bridge in Iran, connecting Tehran and Karaj, destroyed – amid reports of expanding attacks on civilian infrastructure

UK’s Starmer chairs virtual summit of over 30 countries to discuss methods of how to reopen Hormuz Strait

*  *  *

Tit-For-Tat Escalation of Strikes in Overnight Hours

By many accounts the overnight hours saw one of the largest Iranian missile attacks on Israel, with multiple salvos sent since midnight and many cluster munitions. Several Israelis were wounded, including reports of children and infants.

One particularly alarming escalation is that the Houthis have now joined in on Iran’s ballistic missile attacks, with the Yemeni group said to be coordinating the strike waves with Tehran, and alongside Hezbollah in the north. At least 50 rockets were fired out of southern Lebanon alone on northern Israel and Haifa, resulting in some injuries but no reports of fatalities. Israel has hit back, bombing at least 40 Hezbollah infrastructure targets in Lebanon in the past 24 hours, killing 10 operatives – per regional military reports.

Among overnight Iranian targets included a Ground Forces base, ballistic missile storage, and sites near Isfahan, international reports say. There have also been reports of recent strikes on Jordan, northern Iraq, as well as the Gulf states, with Qatar demanding that Tehran pay compensation for its immense losses and damage.

Oil Prices Surge After Trump Vows To Hit Iran ‘Extremely Hard’ In Speech

“Tonight, Iran’s navy is gone, their air force is in ruins, their leaders, most of them… are now dead. Their command and control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is being decimated as we speak,” President Trump stated in his address from the White House last night. “Their ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces, very few of them left.” Trump said further that the United States is “on the cusp of ending Iran’s sinister threat to America and the world.”

He declared that Israel and the United States are nearing their main goals in the war against Iran and that the conflict would end soon, though he gave no clear timeline. He repeatedly emphasized the war was close to finishing in his address, but didn’t define what ‘mission accomplished’ would look like exactly. The key thing is that no concrete timeline was given.

In the speech, Trump highlighted the “swift, decisive and overwhelming” blows delivered to Iran over the past four weeks, calling them “victories like few people have ever seen before.” He did not specify when operations would end but said the US would strike Iran “extremely hard” over the next two-three weeks while negotiations continue. There was more talk of sending Iran “back to the stone age” – after in the past declaring that the US would “help” them:

“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”

The result of all this was to send oil prices back near the highs since war started…

Iran is continuing to target US bases and assets across the region – even in Jordan and Israel (tech companies):

⚡️Insane video shows Iranian missile striking a US base in Jordan. pic.twitter.com/A56X10tSuq
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) April 2, 2026
NYT: US Intelligence Contradicts Trump, Says Tehran Not Ready to Negotiate

The New York Times has meanwhile reported that several US intelligence agencies believe Iran is currently unwilling to engage in serious negotiations. “The assessments say the Iranian government believes it is in a strong position in the war and does not have to accede to America’s diplomatic demands, the officials said. And while Iran is willing to keep channels open, they said, it does not trust the United States and does not think President Trump is serious about negotiations,” NYT says.

However, there’s a glimmer of hope, per the report: “The Iranian government could engage diplomatically under the right conditions, said two Iranian officials and a Pakistani official. Tehran wants to see that Washington is willing to talk seriously about ending the war and not just negotiate a temporary cease-fire, they said. They added that the language in public statements from Iran has been harsher than that of private messages it has passed to the United States.”

More shifting war aims and objectives…

Three days ago Rubio omitted nuclear capabilities from the list of war aims. Now they are back on. Every day is an adventure. https://t.co/3LtzZ49kA5 pic.twitter.com/YBSAk0ewSD
— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) April 2, 2026
‘Highest Bridge in Middle East’ Hit by Airstrikes

There’s more evidence of US-Israeli attacks on Iran civilian infrastructure, as it’s being reported Thursday that fresh airstrikes hit a highway bridge connecting Tehran and Karaj, according to Fars News Agency. Several people were injured, and multiple areas of Karaj were also struck. The bridge was actually just constructed, having been inaugurated earlier this year.

Fars identified it as the B1 bridge, dubbed the highest bridge in the Middle East. Tehran also continues to get pummeled hard, amid reports that the prior 24 hours saw the biggest wave of Iranian missiles and cluster munitions on Tel Aviv to date.

B1 bridge in Karaj has been hit in US-ISRAELI attacks.
This bridge is reportedly the “highest bridge in West Asia.” pic.twitter.com/rZUhmeT9ph
— Alireza Akbari (@itsalireza_akb) April 2, 2026
Operation Epic Fury seems to now be going after buildings and centers which play a vital role in terms of civilian infrastructure and maintaining day-to-day life in the country…

Established in 1920, the Pasteur Institute of Iran in Tehran is historically significant as the oldest leading public health and vaccine production center in the Middle East – Now its bombed pic.twitter.com/6ATW7wlmr8
— Alex Vatanka (@AlexVatanka) April 2, 2026
UK Gathers Over 30 Countries to Discuss How to Open Strait of Hormuz

Nearly three dozen countries are holding virtual meeting Thursday to coordinate diplomatic and political pressure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. But notably the United States will not be represented in the virtual summit.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the meeting, chaired by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, “will assess all viable diplomatic and political measures we can take to restore freedom of navigation, guarantee the safety of trapped ships and seafarers and to resume the movement of vital commodities.”

Iranian attacks on commercial vessels and continued threats have halted nearly all traffic (there have been some exceptions) through the waterway linking the Persian Gulf to global oceans, cutting off a critical oil route and driving petroleum prices sharply higher – with some 16 or more tankers having been directly attacked so far, per Bloomberg estimates.

Aftermath of Wednesday drone strike on oil warehouse in the Kani Qirzhala area on the outskirts of Erbil, northern Iraq:

Meanwhile Qatar has submitted another letter to the UN demanding that Iran “provide compensation for all damages” and to cease its attacks on Gulf countries.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 04/02/2026 – 09:45

A year ago today, President Donald Trump announced a sweeping new round of global tariffs, escalating trade tensions with key allies and adversaries alike, raising fresh concerns about the outlook for the U.S. and global economy.The “Liberation Day” tariffs were introduced as a broad set of import taxes that Trump said would correct long-standing trade imbalances and reduce U.S. reliance on foreign goods.In the months that followed, markets experienced bouts of volatility as businesses and investors adjusted to the shifting trade landscape. Policymakers and economists, meanwhile, debated the longer-term impact on growth, inflation and global trade flows.Many economists warned of potential consequences, including higher prices, slower growth and rising uncertainty for businesses and investors. TRUMP SAYS US WOULD BE ‘DESTROYED’ WITHOUT TARIFF REVENUEBut not everyone agreed.”Trump proved 12 Nobel Prize economists wrong,” economist Stephen Moore told Fox News Digital.”Inflation didn’t rise. Why? Because the tax cuts, deregulation and ‘drill, baby, drill’ policies lowered prices and offset the tariffs,” added Moore, a former Trump adviser and co-founder of the free-market advocacy group Unleash Prosperity.But Moore’s view was not widely shared. Here’s a look back at what other economists said at the time.Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers called the ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs “masochistic,” saying they were the worst levy the U.S. had imposed in decades.”Never before has an hour of Presidential rhetoric cost so many people so much,” Summers wrote on X. “The best estimate of the loss from tariff policy is now closer to $30 trillion or $300,000 per family of four.”Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize–winning economist, said Trump had “gone full-on crazy” in the hours after the “Liberation Day” tariffs were announced.”If you had any hopes that Trump would step back from the brink, this announcement, between the very high tariff rates and the complete falsehoods about what other countries do, should kill them,” Krugman, a former MIT and Princeton University professor, wrote in his Substack newsletter.Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, warned that the tariffs would be “negative the world over,” in an interview with Ireland’s Newstalk.She said Trump’s trade policy would weigh on global growth and carry broad consequences.”It will not be good for the global economy, and it will not be good for those who impose the tariffs or those who retaliate,” Lagarde said.Economist Joseph Stiglitz said Trump’s tariff threats have made the U.S. “a scary place to invest” and could unleash stagflation. Stagflation refers to a combination of slow economic growth and rising prices. Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor and former World Bank economist, warned in an interview with The Guardian that he does not see a strong economic outlook ahead.”I cannot see a really robust economy,” said Joseph Stiglitz, former chair of President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers. “I see the global economy suffering greatly from the uncertainty that Trump poses.”He also said the inflation triggered by the tariffs is moving in the wrong direction and that the only thing the Trump administration will succeed in doing is “to crater the economy.”Jared Bernstein, the former White House chief economist under President Joe Biden, said the U.S. is a “large, dominant economy” that is relatively closed, meaning it relies less on trade than most countries.”That means, as Trump has argued, we can hurt other countries more than they can hurt us,” Bernstein said. “But he hasn’t offered a clear rationale for why we should start a trade war with traditionally reliable partners like Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Europe.”Bernstein said Trump may reverse course if mounting economic pressures—such as higher inflation, slower growth, falling stock prices and rising recession risks—intensify from the tariffs.”So far, that may have been the approach in Trump’s first term; it doesn’t appear to be the approach this time around,” he said.Allianz chief economic adviser Mohamed El-Erian called for clarity from the White House. “If we get clarity on this, this is an economy that can adjust,” he told FOX Business.El-Erian, the former CEO of bond giant PIMCO, wrote on X that “the price action in global financial markets in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. tariff announcement points to major worries about global economic growth.”Bill Gross, the co-founder of Pacific Investment Management Co., known as Pimco, said the latest round of tariffs is “similar to going off the gold standard in 1971″—an “epic” shift that markets won’t quickly recover from.”It’s not something where you can time a market bottom quickly,” Gross told CNBC. “It’s something we’re going to have to live with as long as President Trump maintains this stance.”Gross, dubbed the “Bond King,” added that he does not expect Trump to reverse course. “To be very blunt, President Trump is a macho male, and this macho male is not going to back down tomorrow simply because the Nasdaq is down 5%,” he said.

The new incentives for the coffee shop’s baristas are part of the company’s major “Back to Starbucks” initiative.

Yonex Muse tennis racket a new design direction focused on rallies and recreational play

If you have been tuned into the left wing media since the start of the war with Iran, you have heard a continuation of what you’ve been hearing for the last 10 years, Donald Trump is a liar, who is now lying about everything related to the conflict.

He lied about why we went to war, the status of the war, he’s even lying about conducting negotiations with Iran in an effort to end the war, say those who will repeat the accusations whether they know them to be true or not, which led to a revealing discussion Tuesday on Fox News’s The Five.

After playing a few examples of those left wing talking points, Panelist Greg Gutfeld nudged fellow panelist, liberal Jessica Tarlov with a good one.

GUTFELD: I have a thoughtful question for a change to you. So I don’t know what’s true. So I try to fill the gaps between the facts, with hope and faith that this will work out, it will work out effectively. Because I have faith in this country, I have a faith in the President. I’m curious, because I don’t think you believe you know everything either. You’re like me. What do you fill your gaps with if you don’t know the truth, what do you rely upon?

And Tarlov said exactly what one might expect her to say.

TARLOV: I rely upon reporters who have had long careers in foreign policy who are based in the region or have excellent sourcing in the region. Can’t really talk to many Iranians at this point….But The New York Times, The Economist. 

A sad admission, but Gutfeld wanted to dig deeper.

GUTFELD: I would say that falls in the fact area. What about the things you don’t know? When you come here, you sit down, how do you talk about something you don’t know?

TARLOV: I think that I admit that I don’t know things and that I want to err on the side of optimism where there’s opportunity to do that. But I also want to be clear-headed, based upon the things that I do know from the reporters who have experience in this and know better. So that’s how I prepare to come here on a daily basis to address, loosely speaking, the same question every day. 

She loves those reporters doesn’t she? When Panelist Emily Compagno responded, the difference was startling.

COMPAGNO: Well you didn’t ask me but I’m going to take a stab at answering that question…. Because I was thinking about how, you know as these journalists and these talking heads are all saying that this President is lying. They know with certainty that everything out of his mouth is a lie. I think about to myself, what establishes veracity and credibility when you do trust someone? When you trust your spouse going out and your parents growing up in these things. It’s what is demonstrated.

And so I look at this President, his first term and this one. And I think about how he has demonstrated to me with every policy decision, every action, that he is prioritizing American interests. And he’s doing it in a macro sense. Which means policy, which means judicial appointments, which means everything from voting approaching to trade negotiation and tariffs and everything. And the micro sense of protecting our soldiers.

She then compared Trump to his  predecessors.

COMPAGNO: And I think about in the Obama administration when he prosecuted journalists. And you contrast that with this President who gives ten off the cuff interviews a day at least. I think about the Biden administration that prosecuted soldiers for murder….I know too that I don’t know anything, but what I fill the gaps in with is a faith that this President has my best interest in mind. Both in that macro and in that micro sense that he will with every decision, determine what is best for our country and for our soldiers.

GUTFELD: Hmm, well said.

The difference is striking and revealing. Tarlov’s liberal mindset, is all about filling in the gaps by relying on “reporters”, in other words, listening to what the media says, while Compagno thinks for herself, looking at what she does know, and analyzing it to come up with her own take on the issues. Speaks volumes.