CNN – Business/Consumer

By Matt Egan, CNN New York (CNN) — About a year before the subprime mortgage meltdown brought the global financial system to its knees, a Harvard Law School professor made the case for launching a new regulator to protect consumers getting ripped off by mortgages, car loans and other financial products. After the Great Financial

By Elisabeth Buchwald and David Goldman, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump doubled down on his extraordinary push for more balanced trade, ordering on Thursday that agencies should investigate plans for new reciprocal tariffs that could boost America’s revenue — but could also ignite a global trade war and add to America’s rebounding inflation problem.

CNN, POOL, TRUTH SOCIAL By Elisabeth Buchwald and David Goldman, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump doubled down on his extraordinary push for more balanced trade, ordering on Thursday that agencies should investigate plans for new reciprocal tariffs that could boost America’s revenue — but could also ignite a global trade war and add to

By John Liu, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — Apple will work with Chinese tech giant Alibaba to roll out AI services in the world’s biggest market for mobile phones, in a move that removes months of uncertainty for the Cupertino-based firm. “Apple has been very selective. They talked to a number of companies in China,

By Juliana Liu and Junko Ogura, CNN Hong Kong/Tokyo (CNN) — Japan’s Nissan and Honda have ended discussions on a deal that would have created the world’s third-largest carmaker. The two companies, along with their junior partner Mitsubishi Motors, agreed to “terminate” a memorandum of understanding to join forces, Nissan said in a statement on

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN New York (CNN) — Elon Musk-owned X has agreed to pay to settle a lawsuit from his close ally President Donald Trump over Trump’s deplatforming following the January 6, 2021, insurrection, according to multiple reports that cite people familiar with the matter. After the January 6 riot, social media companies such

By Matt Egan, CNN (CNN) — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has terminated contracts with multiple expert witnesses it had hired in cases against companies accused of hurting consumers. The decision to suddenly cancel the contracts with expert witnesses suggests that the consumer watchdog no longer plans to pursue these enforcement actions under the Trump

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — Joann, the fabrics and crafts retailer, is closing more than half of its 800 stores in the coming months as it continues to navigate the bankruptcy process. Approximately 500 stores across the United States are closing, the retailer said in a statement to CNN, saying that “right-sizing

CNN By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — It’s not just eggs. Many commonly purchased goods and services got more expensive in January, driving inflation in the wrong direction and to its highest rate since June of last year. Consumer prices rose 0.5% from December — the fastest pace since August 2023 — resulting in an

By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — It’s not just eggs. Many commonly purchased goods and services got more expensive in January, driving inflation in the wrong direction and to its highest rate since June of last year. Consumer prices rose 0.5% from December — the fastest pace since September 2023 — resulting in an annual

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN (CNN) — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the so-called cop on the beat protecting Americans from financial abuse, is now under strict orders to do nothing. “Please do not perform any work tasks,” Russell Vought, the acting director, wrote on Monday to CFPB staff in an email obtained by CNN that

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN (CNN) — Twit-t-who? The green owl who was the logo of language-learning app Duolingo is no longer. The US company behind the app, which became a household name during the Covid-19 pandemic, has issued an announcement revealing that its cute cartoon owl has died. Following in the claw-steps of Twitter’s blue

By Chris Isidore, CNN New York (CNN) — William McKinley was a largely forgotten American president from more than a century ago until Donald Trump returned to the White House as his biggest fan because of McKinley’s love affair with tariffs. Trump, who has renamed North America’s highest peak Mount McKinley in his honor and

By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — Craft breweries offer more than local beer. They provide a “third place” for community members and are oftentimes helmed by the very neighbor who handcrafted those brews. But even these most homegrown of American businesses aren’t insulated from policies that aim to shore up US industry and penalize other

By John Liu, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the world’s largest producer of batteries for electric vehicles and a supplier for Tesla, has applied for a listing in Hong Kong, setting sights on one of the city’s largest stock offerings in years. The battery giant expects to raise at least

By Hadas Gold, CNN (CNN) — The Associated Press said the White House barred its reporter from Tuesday’s Oval Office executive order signing because of the AP style guidance on using the name Gulf of Mexico versus Gulf of America. The AP said in a statement it was informed Tuesday that if the news agency

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — The website that was selling Kanye West’s T-shirts embossed with swastikas has been deactivated by Shopify Tuesday. A Shopify spokesperson said in a comment to CNN that the “merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms so we removed them.” Shopify is the

By Bryan Mena, CNN Washington (CNN) — America’s central bank is in no rush to slash interest rates any time soon, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers Tuesday. Powell also faced a barrage of questions about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, tariffs and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The dismantling of the CFPB

By David Goldman, CNN (CNN) — The battle for the future of AI just got extremely expensive and deeply personal. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spoke out against rival Elon Musk a day after rejecting a potentially seismic deal that could shape the future of artificial intelligence. He told the Elon Musk-led group of investors that

By Olesya Dmitracova, CNN London (CNN) — The United States believes that overzealous rulemaking could “kill” the artificial intelligence industry, US Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday, taking Donald Trump’s fight against curbs on AI development to a global stage. “We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just