CNN-Business-Consumer

By Alicia Wallace, CNN Business In its efforts to bring down historic inflation and cool the economy, the Federal Reserve has used multiple euphemisms to describe the potential impact on Americans’ jobs, from economic “pain” to “unfortunate costs” and a “softening labor market.” Data, however, doesn’t mince words. The Fed’s latest economic projections, released Wednesday

By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business It should be the perfect time to own gold. The yellow metal has historically rallied when inflation is high, since it’s a physical investment that can serve as a store of value. It’s also usually a firm favorite during periods of geopolitical uncertainty, when it’s seen as a safe haven.

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business Apple Music is replacing Pepsi as the new sponsor for the NFL’s Super Bowl halftime show. The multi-year partnership was announced Friday and financial terms weren’t disclosed. In a statement, the NFL said that it “couldn’t think of a more appropriate partner” for the show. The halftime show is most-watched

By Casey Tolan, CNN Marco Rubio hopes to sway voters interested in Chick-fil-A, Ram trucks, and Duck Dynasty. John Fetterman is searching for fans of microbreweries, Teslas, and the Dave Matthews Band. And Michael Bennet wants to reach people who like Taylor Swift and Lizzo — while avoiding devoted listeners of Jason Aldean. Candidates in

By Anna Cooban, CNN Business A huge gamble by the UK government aimed at rescuing the economy from recession and boosting long-term growth sent the pound plunging on Friday. Announcing the biggest tax cuts in 50 years at the same time as boosting spending, Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said the government needed a “new approach

By Michelle Toh, CNN Business Leaders of America’s biggest banks say they would follow any US directive on pulling business from China if Taiwan is ever attacked by Beijing. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Citi CEO Jane Fraser, and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan were all pressed on the subject Wednesday by US Congressman Blaine

By David Goldman, CNN Business Boeing and its former CEO Dennis Muilenburg agreed to pay hefty fines to settle charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission that they misled the public about the safety of the 737 Max following two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019. The SEC alleges that, following an October 2018 crash

By Nathaniel Meyersohn and Chris Isidore, CNN Business FedEx will raise ground and express shipping rates by an average of 6.9% next year, the company said Thursday. Freight rates will increase by an average of 6.9% to 7.9%. Both mark an increase from FedEx’s rate hikes for this year. Last week, FedEx warned that a

By Chris Isidore, CNN Business There’s a lot of buyer interest in the electric Hummer now being offered by Chevrolet. But there’s limited capacity to build them, and now General Motors has stopped taking orders for the massive EV. Between January and June, GM reported it delivered fewer than 400 of the pickup version of

By Anna Bahney, CNN Business Americans looking to buy or rent a home have had a rough year. Rents are up by double-digit percentages in some cities. Meanwhile, buying a home is the most unaffordable it has been since the mid-1980s. Mortgage rates have surpassed 6% and home prices remain just off the record highs

By Paul R. La Monica, CNN Business Prospective home buyers are getting hit by a double whammy of bad news: Prices remain prohibitively high for many consumers, largely due to low supply. Mortgage rates have also skyrocketed to their highest level in 14 years. That is weighing on demand for both new home construction as

By Matt Egan A comprehensive gauge on the health of the US economy dropped in August for the sixth straight month, reinforcing concerns about a possible recession. The Conference Board said Thursday that its Leading Economic Index for the United States dipped last month. The index, which tracks a range of metrics capturing activity in

By Frank Pallotta, CNN Business Amazon hit it big with its “Thursday Night Football” debut. The tech giant’s first exclusive NFL game, which saw the Kansas City Chiefs edge out the Los Angeles Chargers 27 to 24, averaged 13 million viewers last Thursday, according to Nielsen. Amazon added that, per its “first party measurement and

Martha C. White As prices continue to rise, Americans are becoming increasingly reliant on credit cards to make purchases. And now, with the Federal Reserve’s latest three-quarter-percentage point hike, many of them will be paying more for the debt they’ve been accumulating. Interest rates on nearly all credit cards and home equity lines of credit

By Nicole Goodkind, CNN Business JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon testified on Capitol Hill Thursday for the second straight day. This time, he faced his longtime critic Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Warren began her line of questioning by asking how many instances of fraud had been reported to his bank from customers using Zelle, a popular

By Chris Isidore, CNN Business Tesla said it has spotted a flaw in 1.1 million cars’ windows that could pinch occupants while closing. The windows are supposed to stop if they detect an obstacle in their path but Tesla said testing discovered a possible problem in some of its windows. It said it should be

By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones tangled Thursday in an explosive courtroom exchange with an attorney for families of Sandy Hook victims who have sued him in Connecticut, prompting an admonishment from the judge and warning that they could be held in contempt if they violate court rules moving forward. The warning

By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business Jake Tapper is moving to primetime as part of a sweeping set of programming changes CNN announced Thursday that will take effect through the midterm elections. Tapper, the network’s lead Washington anchor, will anchor the 9 p.m. hour starting October 10 and continuing until November 11. “The world has come

By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business When the Federal Reserve started hiking interest rates to combat decades-high inflation, Chair Jerome Powell stressed that the central bank could increase borrowing costs without inflicting too much damage on the economy. “We feel the economy is very strong and will be able to withstand tighter monetary policy,” Powell said

By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Business Halloween is still a month away, but Walmart is ready for Christmas. Walmart on Thursday said it’s getting the ball rolling on its year-end holiday shopping season at its stores and online as early as next month. Noting that more than half of its customers make their holiday shopping plans

By Junko Ogura, Emi Jozuka and Kathleen Benoza Japan tried to shore up the value of its currency Thursday by buying yen and selling US dollars for the first time in 24 years. The yen had earlier plunged to its lowest level since 1998 after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates aggressively while the Bank

By Mark Thompson, CNN Business The Bank of England announced its seventh interest rate hike in less than a year on Thursday, despite forecasting a recession, as it battles the highest level of inflation of any G7 economy. The central bank repeated last month’s hike of half a percentage point, taking rates to 2.25% from

By Laura He, CNN Business Hong Kong stocks hit their lowest level in more than a decade Thursday and other Asian markets also fell after the US Federal Reserve raised rates by 75 basis points and forecast even more hikes ahead, fueling concerns about a recession. The Hang Seng Index fell as much as 2.6%,

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN Business Stealing older model Hyundai and Kia cars and SUVs became a scary social media trend. Now, data from the Highway Loss Data Institute, which collects information on insurance claims, confirm these South Korean models are far more likely to get stolen than others. In fact, 2015-2019 Hyundai and Kia models

By Matt Egan Goldman Sachs told its New York City-based employees on Wednesday that as of November 1 they will no longer need to get vaccinated for Covid-19, CNN has learned. The move comes weeks after Goldman Sachs relaxed its Covid requirements for all US employees except those based in New York, its home city.

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN Business In its continued bid to quash high inflation, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised the overnight bank lending rate to a range of 3% to 3.25%. It is the fifth increase by the US central bank in six months and its third consecutive 75- basis-point hike, which will put upward

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN Business When Ford chief executive Jim Farley split the company’s passenger vehicle business into two parts — one for electric cars, the other for gasoline-powered vehicles — Farley put himself in charge of the electric car business, a division called Model e. The assumption among a lot of industry observers was