Thursday’s highly anticipated Consumer Price Index update showed that prices “rose in May at the fastest rate since 2008, a bigger jump than economists had expected.” The 5% increase comes as prices “are rising for many goods as services, . . . the result of bottlenecks and strong consumer demand as a pandemic-stricken economy comes roaring back.” The news will likely keep inflation on the lips of many in D.C. and on Wall Street, even as Fed officials “and many economists have said much of the jump is likely to fade with time as the economy gets past a reopening bounce and supply catches up” - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

And while we’re talking bottlenecks, add Starbucks to the list of businesses affected by shortages. Stores across the country have been hit by a lack of ingredients and goods alike—from peach juice to cups and straws - NYTimes

Luxembourg’s privacy regulator has “circulated a draft decision sanctioning Amazon’s privacy practices” and proposing a more-than $425 million fine against the company for the company’s “collection and use of personal data” - WSJ

Video-game giant Electronic Arts who counts FIFA, Madden, and Sims among its most popular offerings, is the latest victim in a recent rash of cybercriminals. According to dark web posts in recent days, hackers have stolen portions of popular game and gaming creation engine code - NYTimes and WSJ

Ransomware attackers have also targeted U.S. hospitals especially in the past year, with one notorious Eastern European-based gang—Ryuk—taking in more than $100M in ransom payments in 2020 alone - WSJ

China-based Uber & Lyft rival Didi Chuxing has officially filed for a U.S. IPO this week, though it didn’t “state a targeted amount to raise, nor name which exchange it intends to trade on” - MarketWatch and WSJ and NYTimes

A [small] bipartisan group of Senators announced on Thursday that they’ve reached a tentative deal “on a framework for an infrastructure plan.” That’s an awful lot of qualifiers before even considering the fact that the White House hasn’t bought in, let alone “congressional leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers” - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

This fantastic long-read on whether Nero really is the paragon of profligacy and inhumane leadership is as much a story about victors writing history as it is about the notorious Roman emperor - NewYorker

Have a great weekend, stay safe, and get vaxxed.