CNN – Business/Consumer

By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — Classroom supplies, shoes, clothing and electronics needed for the upcoming school season are expected to cost American families about $875 on average, according to the National Retail Federation. While that’s $15 below last year’s record high, it’s still the second-highest estimate ever. We’d like to hear about your plans for back-to-school spending:

By Clare Duffy, CNN New York (CNN) — Google, X and Discord are among a group of tech giants that could be doing more to address the rising threat of non-consensual explicit images online, according to a letter that a group of senators sent to the companies Friday. The letter criticizes nearly a dozen tech

By Krystal Hur, CNN New York (CNN) — After a prolonged period of calm, financial markets went into a tailspin this week. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index tanked more than 12% on Monday, marking its worst performance since 1987. The S&P 500 sank more than 3% and shed $1.3 trillion in value, notching its worst

By David Goldman, CNN (CNN) — Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump tried to pressure the Federal Reserve into cutting rates — a breach of protocol that threatened to undermine the independence of the central bank and its ability to keep jobs booming and inflation low. If reelected, Trump said Thursday he’d go further: He’d try

By Ramishah Maruf and Clare Duffy, CNN New York (CNN) — A major ad industry group is shutting down, days after Elon Musk-owned X filed a lawsuit that claimed the group illegally conspired to boycott advertising on his platform. “GARM is a small, not-for-profit initiative, and recent allegations that unfortunately misconstrue its purpose and activities

By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN New York (CNN) — The dog days of summer have traditionally been prime time for retailers to stock shelves with folders, lunch boxes and backpacks. But suddenly those items are sharing real estate with skeletons, witches and ghosts. Coming right on the heels of last year’s Summer Christmas, welcome to Summerween.

CNN By Liam Reilly and Jon Passantino, CNN New York (CNN) — Paramount Global, the storied media conglomerate, announced Thursday it will lay off 15% of its US staff and write down $6 billion in value of its cable television networks as it prepares to merge with Skydance Media. The layoffs, which will affect around

By Liam Reilly and Jon Passantino, CNN New York (CNN) — Paramount Global, the storied media conglomerate, announced Thursday it will lay off 15% of its US staff and write down $6 billion in value of its cable television networks as it prepares to merge with Skydance Media. The layoffs, which will affect around 2,000

By Clare Duffy, CNN New York (CNN) — OpenAI is worried that people might start to rely on ChatGPT too much for companionship, potentially leading to “dependence,” because of its new human-sounding voice mode. That revelation came in a report Thursday from OpenAI on the safety review it conducted of the tool — which began

By David Goldman, CNN (CNN) — The war of words over Delta’s massive service meltdown, set off by CrowdStrike’s disastrous software update, has grown ugly. In a letter sent Thursday to CrowdStrike’s attorneys written by Delta’s high-powered lawyer, David Boies, the airline lashed out at the cybersecurity company, which has apologized for introducing a bug

By Bryan Mena, CNN Washington (CNN) — US mortgage rates plummeted this week after weaker-than-expected employment data raised the odds of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates next month. It’s a big step in the right direction for America’s notoriously unaffordable housing market. The standard 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.47% this week, mortgage financing giant

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN New York (CNN) — Samsung is recalling knobs on some of its electric stoves, warning that fires can be set off if pets — or even humans — bump into them. Several videos have shown pets accidentally igniting fires from jumping onto stoves and pawing at the knobs. A Colorado dog

By Lucy Bayly, CNN New York (CNN) — US stocks surged Thursday after new data on the labor market suggested that the economy may not be headed into the downward spiral that traders feared. The Dow rose 683 points, or 1.8%. The S&P 500 gained 2.3%, notching its best day this year. The Nasdaq Composite

By Samantha Delouya, CNN (CNN) — The total value of the housing market now exceeds $1 trillion in eight US cities, doubling from just four cities last year and underscoring just how much home prices have skyrocketed in a relatively short time, according to a report released Thursday from Redfin. Chicago, Phoenix, Washington and Anaheim,

By Chris Isidore, CNN New York (CNN) — Today is Kelly Ortberg’s first day as CEO of Boeing. He’s already winning praise – for his work location. Ortberg has decided he will work out of Boeing’s offices in Seattle, which had been the company’s home for its first 85 years before it moved its corporate

By Laura He, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — A comeback rally in Japanese stocks has quickly lost steam, as the specter of a US economic slowdown and further yen volatility cast a long shadow across global financial markets. The Nikkei 225 ended down 0.7% on Thursday, snapping a two-day winning streak. Meanwhile, the yen strengthened

By Erika Tulfo, CNN (CNN) — Costco knows you’re using your friend’s membership card. To save you the embarrassment of telling you off when you’re in the checkout line, now Costco will try to catch membership moochers before they even get in the door. The retailer is implementing stricter policies and cracking down on non-members

CNN By Oliver Darcy, CNN New York (CNN) — The Republican Party’s media allies are yet again struggling to coalesce around a single attack on the Democratic ticket. In the hours since Kamala Harris tapped Tim Walz as her running mate, top figures in right-wing media have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at the

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN New York (CNN) — Some Delta Air Lines passengers whose flights were canceled when the airline melted down due to a global tech outage in July have sued the airline in a class action, alleging that Delta refused or conditioned refunds to passengers as it struggled with mass cancellations. The lawsuit,

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN New York (CNN) — Disney Parks are the latest business to face slowing consumer demand in the face of higher prices. Disney’s parks business underperformed expectations and profit fell somewhat last quarter. Although the company said attendance remained steady and people were spending more, it also acknowledged a slumping economy was