CNN-Business-Consumer

By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Business Big Lots is betting shoppers will still want to buy cheap couches and pillows in person for years to come. The discount home furnishings’ chain said Monday that it plans to open more than 500 new stores over the next several years following a decade in which it put its

By Michelle Toh, CNN Business If you’re looking for your usual order at a KFC in Australia or McDonald’s in Japan these days, you might be disappointed. The two fast food chains are experiencing shortages of fresh chicken and french fries, respectively, forcing them to cut back on some normal menu items this month. Both

By Chris Isidore, CNN Business US prices for just about everything — from cars and gasoline to food and clothing — are rising at the fastest pace in decades. Overall, consumer prices rose in 2021 at the fastest pace in 39 years, meaning this is the worst inflation experienced by anyone not on the cusp

By Alicia Wallace, CNN Business America’s love of debt-fueled spending is making a comeback. During the pandemic, some consumer balance sheets started to improve. Flush with additional cash — from wage increases, stimulus payments, loan forbearance or just fewer opportunities for spending — consumers kept their credit card balances in check. But old spending habits

by Pete Muntean, CNN United Airlines said it is reducing its flight schedule in hopes of stemming Covid-related staffing shortages that have caused thousands of flight cancellations across the industry. In a new company-wide memo, CEO Scott Kirby said the airline is “reducing our near-term schedules to make sure we have the staffing and resources

By Oren Liebermann, Pete Muntean and Barbara Starr, CNN Business An unusual ground stop was issued to some pilots for a short period of time following a North American Aerospace Defense Command alert of a launch of a North Korean missile, a US official said Tuesday. The official says it was not a national ground

By Paul R. La Monica, CNN Business Fees for bounced checks or lacking enough money in your account could soon be a thing of the past. Bank of America is the latest major financial institution to announce that it is ending fees for insufficient funds. It also plans to cut overdraft fees from $35 to

Opinion by Tom Kloza for CNN Business Perspectives Americans all over the country have been paying higher prices at the pump. And if Omicron doesn’t result in another round of widespread lockdowns or crackdowns on social gatherings, we can expect to see record-high gas prices nearing $4 a gallon in dozens of states this year.

By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business The company behind Grand Theft Auto is ponying up a lot of money to buy Zynga, the mobile game developer best known for hits like FarmVille and Words With Friends. What’s happening: Take-Two Interactive announced a cash-and-stock deal valued at $12.7 billion on Monday — the biggest gaming deal on

By Charles Riley, CNN Business Many business leaders, politicians and academics are overwhelmingly pessimistic about the threat Covid-19 still poses even as the pandemic enters its third year. They worry that an uneven economic recovery could deepen divisions within societies and between countries. More than 84% of global experts surveyed by the World Economic Forum

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN Business A British energy supplier has apologized for the “poorly judged and unhelpful” advice sent to customers which suggested they could snuggle up to their pets and exercise to cut back on their heating bills. SSE, which is owned by OVO Energy, suggested 10 “simple and cost effective ways to keep

By Matt Egan, CNN Business Former President Donald Trump is plotting a return to Wall Street with a new media company taking aim at Big Tech. But Trump Media & Technology Group’s path to the stock market faces a formidable obstacle: President Joe Biden’s regulators. Biden’s top cop on Wall Street, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler,

By Laura He, CNN Business China’s real estate sector is having a rocky start in 2022, as some of the country’s most high-profile developers struggle to shake off a crisis that has been growing for months. This week, two major credit rating agencies downgraded Shanghai-based developer Shimao Group further into junk territory. The company has

By Michelle Toh, CNN Business A cryptocurrency CEO has become one of the richest people on Earth. Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who runs the crypto exchange Binance, has joined the ranks of the world’s top billionaires, with an estimated net worth of at least $96 billion, according to new calculations from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index published

By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business Jesse Watters, the right-wing talk show host who throughout his career has courted controversy with incendiary commentary, will be Fox’s new 7 p.m. host, the network announced on Monday. The installment of the flame-thrower Watters into the key time slot cements a strategy Fox initiated soon after President Donald Trump