CNN-Business-Consumer

By Chris Isidore, CNN Business There’s not a lot that Joe Biden, Congress or the Federal Reserve can do to bring down the record high gas prices. High gas prices themselves might do the job for them. That’s because big swings in prices of a good or service are typically caused by an imbalance between

By Paul R. La Monica, CNN Business Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said at a Bloomberg event earlier this month that he thinks the ridesharing and food delivery giant is “recession resistant.” That may or may not be true, but Wall Street clearly disagrees. Uber’s stock has lost more than half its value this year. But

By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Business Decades-high inflation is changing US consumers’ grocery habits. Kroger, the nation’s largest grocery store chain, said Thursday that budget-constrained shoppers were buying fewer items in stores, favoring Kroger’s cheaper store brands instead of name brands, and switching from beef to pork. “Rising inflation has consumers rethinking their shopping and eating

By Anna Bahney, CNN Business Another indication the hot housing market is cooling off? New residential construction and the number of permits issued for building homes both fell in May. The number of housing starts fell for the second month in a row in May, dropping 14.4% from April and 3.5% from the year before.

By Frank Pallotta, CNN Business Vince McMahon, the CEO of WWE, is being investigated by the company’s board for agreeing to pay a secret $3 million settlement to a former employee he allegedly had an affair with, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The separation agreement, which was reportedly made in January, prevents the

By Frank Pallotta, CNN Business Pixar is one of the most popular brands in animation as well as one of the most important studios in Disney’s media kingdom. But it has been a while since audiences could go to a theater to see one of its films. After releasing its last three features directly on

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business Revlon, the 90-year-old cosmetics giant, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because of its crippling debt and mounting celebrity competition. The nail polish and lipstick maker said the move will allow it to “strategically reorganize” its finances, pointing to “liquidity constraints” sparked by supply chain disruptions and inflation. Revlon is

By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business Central banks are racing to stay on top of rapidly changing economic and financial conditions as they try to contain rampant inflation, a difficult task that could put their credibility on the line. What’s happening: The Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday by three-quarters of a percentage point for

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business Lego is planning to spend more than $1 billion to build a factory in the United States. The company announced Wednesday plans for a 1.7-million square foot plant in Virginia, which will employ roughly 1,800 people once its completed in 2025. It will be the Danish company’s seventh global factory

By Anna Cooban, CNN Business The United Kingdom’s central bank has hiked interest rates for a fifth time since December in a bid to tame spiraling inflation. The Bank of England said on Thursday that it would raise the cost of borrowing by 25 basis points to 1.25% despite fears that soaring prices are already

By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Business The Covid-19 pandemic was expected to turn us all into permanent online shoppers, never to set foot in physical stores again. Instead, consumers have apparently gotten tired of ordering everything while sitting on the couch and have returned to shopping the old-fashioned way. “As the pandemic has subsided, you’re seeing

By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business The European Union’s embargo on 90% of the oil it imports from Russia is the toughest punishment it’s inflicted on the Kremlin since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. But a smaller part of the latest sanctions package could prove just as significant. A ban on insuring ships

By Laura He, CNN Business European markets and US stock futures fell Thursday, a day after the Fed got tough on inflation with its biggest rate hike since 1994. France’s CAC 40 fell 2.3%, and Germany’s DAX 2.7%, while the FTSE 100 slipped 2.6%. US stocks had closed higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve

By Anna Bahney, CNN Business Mortgage rates are climbing, home sales are dropping and some of the nation’s largest real estate companies are announcing layoffs. Redfin said it cut about 8% of its employees and Compass said it would reduce its workforce by 10%. The cutbacks are the latest indication that the red hot housing

By Nicole Goodkind, CNN Business The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point on Wednesday in an aggressive move to tackle white-hot inflation that is plaguing the economy, frustrating consumers and stifling the Biden administration. It’s the largest rate hike since 1994, and will affect millions of American businesses and households,

By Anna Cooban, CNN Business Europe’s natural gas supply has suffered its third blow in 48 hours, sending prices rocketing 42% higher from where they were at the start of the week. Italian energy giant ENI said Wednesday that Gazprom, Russia’s state gas producer, would cut its supplies by 15%. It did not know the

By Matt Egan, CNN Business High inflation and rising recession risks are darkening the mood in the manufacturing industry. Fifty-nine percent of manufacturing leaders say inflationary pressures are making a recession more likely within the next year, according to a survey released on Wednesday by the National Association of Manufacturers. Three-quarters of manufacturers say inflationary

By Nicole Goodkind, CNN Business Cryptocurrency is having a terrible week. And it’s only Wednesday. Still, long-term investors are shrugging off the extreme drops in the a value of digital coins and the breakdown of the exchanges that make them available to investors. Bitcoin, the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency, dropped to near $21,000 Wednesday. It’s

By Chris Isidore, CNN Business The high cost of gas and food is causing US consumers to pull back spending on other items, suggesting a slowdown in the economy’s main driving force. The monthly reading on retail sales showed a 0.3% drop in May compared with April, the first decline in spending since December. More

By Matt McFarland, CNN Business The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released on Wednesday nine months of crash data from vehicles using driver-assist technologies like Tesla Autopilot as well as fully autonomous vehicles like Waymo’s robotaxis. NHTSA broke crash data into two categories based on the level of the autonomous systems: driver-assist systems — which

By Chris Isidore, CNN Business Ford is recalling 2.9 million vehicles that might not shift into the correct gear and could move in an unintended direction. The National Highway Safety Administration says it has six reports of property damage and four reports of injuries potentially related to the problem. Among the problems, the transmission on

By Anna Cooban, CNN Business Bitcoin continues to tumble this week to trade just above $20,000 on Wednesday as the cryptocurrency sell-off shows little sign of abating. The world’s most valuable cryptocurrency has fallen about 15% since Monday, and by nearly a third since Friday, according to data from crypto exchange Coinbase. The coin has

By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business The Federal Reserve knows it needs to demonstrate that it can get inflation under control — and fast. What’s happening: Pressure on the Fed has increased after the most recent batch of government data showed that annual inflation jumped to 8.6% in May, which was higher than economists had expected.

By Diksha Madhok, CNN Business Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani has now added a massive cricket deal to his empire. A venture backed by Ambani has won the digital rights to air the Indian Premier League (IPL), one of the world’s most valuable sports properties. Viacom18 — a joint venture between Paramount and Ambani’s Reliance Industries

By Laura He, CNN Business China’s economy showed some signs of improvement in May, but retail sales contracted for a third month in a row, indicating that Covid outbreaks continued to significantly depress consumer spending. Retail sales fell 6.7% in May from a year ago, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday. That