CNN – Business/Consumer

By Nicole Goodkind, Julia Horowitz and David Goldman, CNN Wall Street has said goodbye — and good riddance — to 2022, a year most investors would rather forget. All three major averages were down on Friday, clocking their worst year since 2008 and ended a three-year winning streak. The Dow fell 73 points, or 0.2%

By Alicia Wallace, CNN America’s central bank found itself in a glaring spotlight for much of this past year, as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell wielded blunt tools of interest rate hikes and quantitative tightening to curb surging inflation. As 2022 draws to a close, inflation metrics show some of that may have worked: Consumer

By Anna Bahney and Jordan Valinsky Mortgage rates rose this week, their first increase after falling for six consecutive weeks, according to the latest data from Freddie Mac. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.42% in the week ending December 29, up from 6.27% the week before and capping a rollercoaster year for homebuyers that saw

By Julia Horowitz, CNN The global economy has endured a tough year, with decades-high inflation sapping post-lockdown spending and pushing central banks to hike borrowing costs at an unprecedented clip to bring it under control. Their campaign to manage prices may be working — but potentially at a sizable cost in 2023. “It is likely

By Chris Isidore and Christopher Hickey, CNN US drivers have never seen a year quite like 2022. Wild price swings at the gas pump throughout the year make predicting prices for 2023 even more difficult. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions that it sparked on Russian oil sent the price of crude soaring in

By Alicia Wallace, CNN First-time claims for weekly unemployment benefits increased to 225,000 for the week ended December 24, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. That’s up 9,000 from the previous week’s tally of 216,000. Economists were expecting 225,000 initial claims, according to Refinitiv estimates. Weekly initial claims have been hovering at pre-pandemic levels

By Clare Sebastian, CNN Russia’s currency hit an eight-month low Thursday, adding to sharp declines in December as global oil prices fell, and Western sanctions targeted Russia’s energy sector. The ruble hovered below 72 to the dollar, down 18% from the start of the month, and its weakest level since late April. After almost halving

By Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN Starbucks is making changes to its rewards program, requiring members to spend more to earn some popular freebies. Starting February 13, members will need 100 stars — Starbucks’ term for points — to get one cup of hot or iced coffee or tea, a baked good, a packaged snack or a

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN Business As the new year begins, a number of popular electric vehicles, specifically some Tesla and General Motors models, could be eligible for $7,500 worth of tax credits they weren’t eligible for in 2022. But that eligibility may last only last a few months. That’s because limitations on new tax credits

By Allison Morrow, CNN When Sam Bankman-Fried bought a nearly 7.6% stake in Robinhood, the popular stock-trading app, earlier this year, he financed the deal with more than half a billion dollars borrowed from his own hedge fund — the entity that prosecutors say was illegally funneling customer funds from its affiliated platform, FTX. In

By Jennifer Korn, CNN Many Southwest customers have been desperately trying something — anything — that will get them back home. But some passengers have been horrified to find other airlines posting last-minute flights to their destinations that can cost thousands of dollars. United and American Airlines say they have a solution: The airlines will