Oh, how cute. You thought the pricing challenges of recent years were going to get easier?

On April 10, the latest report on consumer pricing from the Bureau of Labor Statistics made plain the war in Iran’s impact on pricing: Consumer prices climbed a seasonally adjusted 0.9% last month, bringing the annual inflation rate to 3.3%.

The same day, new stats showed consumer sentiment dropped 10.7% in April, according to the University of Michigan’s closely watched survey, “with consumers expressing a substantial increase in concerns over high prices and weaker asset values.”

Add these recent consumer challenges to the affordability woes of recent years, and you get a tricky needle to thread: Consumers are likely reaching a limit on the price increases they can tolerate, but cost challenges for companies aren’t going away either.

Keep reading.—NP

Here’s the latest data point signaling AI’s takeover: CFOs of VC-backed firms say their spending on AI tools increased more than 10 times from 2024 to 2025, and they expect spending to double this year, according to a new survey from Silicon Valley Bank, now a division of First Citizens BancShares.

SVB surveyed 230 finance leaders at venture capital-backed companies, 71% of which had closed a Series B or later round and a majority of which had more than $20 million in 2025 revenue. A large majority of the companies were in enterprise software and other tech sectors.

Respondents expected to spend a median of $50,000 this year on AI tools and platforms. That’s big, if true, because it’s more than double the $20,000 their firms spent in 2025. Yet last year’s spending eclipsed the $2,000 median spending in 2024. Needless to say, AI spending change has not been linear in recent years!

Not only is AI commanding a larger budget, it’s taking up more of CFOs’ headspace. AI adoption is the top issue on respondents’ minds in this year’s survey. More than three-fifths (62%) listed AI adoption as their biggest or second-biggest “macro trend” for their business, up from 49% last year. VC-backed companies are “moving quickly” to adopt AI in both “their products and internal workflows,” according to the report.

Keep reading.—AZ

The States are united and American, so why can’t that be true of an airline? That’s probably what United CEO Scott Kirby said when he recently floated the idea of his company acquiring American Airlines to President Trump, several news outlets reported yesterday.

The marriage of the two rivals—which control over 40% of the domestic market—would create the world’s largest airline and take the revenue crown from Delta. But any deal is likely to trigger antitrust alarms.

Instead of flying solo. Kirby reportedly told Trump the tie-up would help the carriers compete on international routes. He previously noted that two-thirds of long-haul seats to and from the US are offered by foreign airlines, while 60% of the flyers are Americans.

Plus, American has underperformed rivals in recent years, while United recently said it sees an opportunity to buy airlines buckling from rising fuel prices.

Keep reading on Morning Brew.—SK

Finance teams don’t have time for “interesting.” On April 22, get a clearer picture of where AI actually drives efficiency, how to evaluate what’s worth investing in, and how to turn potential into something your board will care about. Register now.