CNN – Business/Consumer

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN (CNN) — The Vatican has announced that, as part of a move to reduce its carbon emissions, it will electrify its fleet of vehicles. And Volkswagen will be supplying the cars. The first two vehicles, both VW ID.3 compact electric cars, have already been delivered to the Vatican, VW said. In

By Matt Egan, CNN New York (CNN) — Heavy selling drove oil prices sharply lower on Thursday, marking another positive development for inflation just ahead of the Thanksgiving travel rush. US oil prices tumbled almost 6% to a low of $72.16 a barrel — the lowest level since July 7. The selloff continues a sharp

By Anna Bahney and Samantha Delouya, CNN Anaheim, California (CNN) — There was a DJ dance party and photo booths, a gala dinner and cocktail hours. But it’s an awkward time for a party at the annual convention of the National Association of Realtors, underway in Anaheim this week and bringing together nearly 12,000 of

By Donie O’Sullivan, Catherine Thorbecke and Allison Gordon, CNN (CNN) — Dozens of young Americans have posted videos on TikTok this week expressing sympathy with Osama bin Laden, the notorious terrorist who orchestrated the September 11 attacks, for a two-decade-old letter he wrote critiquing the United States, including its government and support of Israel. The letter,

By Anna Bahney, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — Mortgage rates fell for the third straight week and applications to purchase a home increased by the most in five weeks, in a promising sign for a housing market that has stalled out as mortgage rates edged towards 8%. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to an average

By Chris Isidore and Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN New York (CNN) — Rank-and-file members of the United Auto Workers union approved their labor deal with General Motors, despite significant opposition that saw it voted down by workers at more than a dozen plants. The deal reached between the union and the company on October 30 won the support

By Hanna Ziady, CNN London (CNN) — Alibaba has dropped plans to spin off its cloud computing arm, sending its stock tumbling, because of US controls on chip exports to China which the company said had created “uncertainties” for the division’s prospects. The announcement came only hours after crucial talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping

By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN New York (CNN) — Lower grocery prices may soon be coming for shoppers. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said Thursday that the US food industry may be heading into a period of deflation after three years of punishing price hikes that have caused sticker shocker for shoppers at the grocery store. Food

By Anna Bahney, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — Homebuilder confidence dropped for the fourth month in a row in November as mortgage rates neared 8%. But recent economic data suggests housing conditions may improve in coming months. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes in November fell six points to 34, according

By Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN New York (CNN) — New York’s water and parks are full of plastic waste. But litterbugs aren’t the problem, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James. It’s the company that puts so many plastic bottles and packages into world, PepsiCo — the maker of Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Lay’s chips and dozens

By Chris Isidore and Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN New York (CNN) — Thousands of Starbucks workers at hundreds of stores went on strike Thursday, as they protested the lack of their first contract despite a nearly two-year organizing drive. The strike at Starbucks, which some have dubbed the Red Cup Rebellion, was intended to last just

By Hanna Ziady, CNN London (CNN) — Mars is buying Hotel Chocolat in a deal that values Britain’s largest independent chocolate maker at £534 million ($661 million) and could boost its growth prospects outside of the United Kingdom. News of the deal sent Hotel Chocolat’s shares up 164% Thursday to within striking distance of the

By Nectar Gan and Juliana Liu, CNN (CNN) — China is willing to be “a partner and a friend” of the United States, Chinese leader Xi Jinping told American business leaders in San Francisco on Wednesday, as he sought to court US businesses amid a decline in foreign investment in China. In a speech evoking

By Michelle Toh, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — Tencent rushed to build up “one of the largest inventories of AI chips in China” before US export restrictions took hold, an executive said Wednesday. Martin Lau, president of the Chinese tech giant, told analysts on an earnings call that it had purchased components from Nvidia (NVDA)

By David Goldman, CNN New York (CNN) — Agreeing with an antisemitic post on his social media platform X, Elon Musk endorsed the claim that Jewish communities push “hatred against Whites.” An X post Wednesday afternoon said: “Jewish communties (sic) have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to

By Oliver Darcy, CNN (CNN) — Lachlan Murdoch is stepping onto center stage. On Wednesday, his father, Rupert Murdoch, officially stepped down as chairman of News Corporation, the print publishing arm of the billionaire mogul’s powerful media empire, marking the end of an era. Rupert, who maintained he will continue an “active role” in the company, will formally

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN New York (CNN) — Anheuser-Busch InBev’s US chief marketing officer is stepping down after the company reported a slump in Bud Light sales, as the backlash against the beer continues. In a statement Wednesday, Anheuser-Busch said Benoit Garbe, the company’s US chief marketing officer, “will be resigning at the end of

By Brian Fung, CNN Washington (CNN) — A group of US senators is demanding that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg hand over troves of emails and documents that could show how the company handled the knowledge that its platforms could harm the mental health of teens. In a letter dated Tuesday and addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg,

By Nicole Goodkind, CNN New York (CNN) — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway unloaded its entire $850 million worth of General Motors (GM) stock last quarter, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Shares of the automaker, which recently forecast that a strike by autoworkers this fall would cut pretax earnings by about $800 million

By Bryan Mena, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — Maryland’s job market has reached a historic milestone. The mid-Atlantic state registered a record unemployment rate of 1.6% in September — less than half the national unemployment rate of 3.8% that month — Labor Department data shows. That’s the lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of any state