By Chris Isidore, CNN Business ExxonMobil and Chevron both reported record massive profits thanks to record gasoline prices during the quarter. Exxon’s profit, excluding special items, came to $17.6 billion in the second quarter, nearly double what it made in its very profitable first quarter as oil and gas prices started to soar in the
Continue Reading By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business When you think about a shrinking economy, what comes to mind? Factories shutting down. A wave of job losses and few open positions. Huge financial losses that batter most industries. That’s not what America is seeing right now, even though the country’s gross domestic product has declined for two consecutive
Continue Reading Opinion by Lakshman Achuthan and Anirvan Banerji for CNN Business Perspectives A couple of months ago, when the consensus outlook for the economy was fairly sanguine, we warned that the economy was “close to entering a recession,” but that there was still time to make hay in the jobs market. But now that a recession
Continue Reading By Nadine Schmidt and Lauren Kent in London The German city of Hanover has banned hot water in public buildings and has introduced measures to reduce heating and energy usage as Europe faces a potential natural gas crisis this winter. “Every kilowatt-hour saved saves the gas storage tanks,” said the mayor’s office in a news
Continue Reading By Nadine Schmidt and Anna Cooban, CNN Business The German government has seized control of three Russian-owned oil refineries to secure supplies of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. Germany’s economy ministry announced on Friday that it had temporarily taken over Russian oil giant Rosneft’s subsidiaries in the country. Rosneft Deutschland and RN Refining & Marketing
Continue Reading By Anna Cooban and Julia Horowitz, CNN Business Europe’s economy grew unexpectedly in the second quarter of this year, allaying concerns — for now — that the continent may have slid into a recession. The European Union’s economy grew at a seasonally adjusted 4% last quarter when compared to the same quarter a year ago
Continue Reading By Nicole Goodkind and Tal Yellin, CNN If you’re confused about whether the US economy is in a recession, you’re not alone. On one hand, gross domestic product, a key measure of economic output, shrank for the second straight quarter this week, raising fears that the country has entered — or will soon enter —
Continue Reading By Laura He, CNN Business China’s top leadership has gone quiet on the growth targets it had set for the year, as the world’s second-largest economy continues to battle a largely self-inflicted economic slowdown. In early March, China’s government had said that the country would target gross domestic product growth of about 5.5% this year.
Continue Reading By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN Business Under a new green energy bill agreed to by Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin, automakers like Tesla and General Motors would regain the ability to offer federal tax credits to customers who buy their electric vehicles. Hurdles to the bill’s passage remain, but if it becomes law it
Continue Reading By Alicia Wallace, CNN Business While the latest GDP report showed the US economy contracted again in the second quarter, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said there’s no fear that America is currently in a recession. “That is not what we’re seeing right now when you look at the economy,” she said. “Job creation is continuing,
Continue Reading By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Business Shopping for back-to-school essentials is becoming a real struggle for families whose household budgets are stretched to the max by surging inflation. Mid-July is typically when shopping for necessities such as clothes, shoes, backpacks, classroom supplies and gadgets for the new school year gets underway in earnest. But as high
Continue Reading By Paul R. La Monica, CNN Business There’s a saying on Wall Street that traders often sell the news. Well, that hasn’t been the case with a tiny reproductive health company following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last month. Shares of Evofem Biosciences, which makes a hormone-free contraceptive vaginal gel named
Continue Reading By Paul R. La Monica, CNN Business There’s a saying on Wall Street that traders often sell the news. Well, that hasn’t been the case with a tiny reproductive health company following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last month. Shares of Evofem Biosciences, which makes a hormone-free contraceptive vaginal gel named
Continue Reading By Anna Bahney, CNN Business Mortgage rates dropped last week as fears grow that the US economy is entering a recession. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.30% in the week ending July 28, down from 5.54% the week before, according to Freddie Mac. That is still significantly higher than this time last year when it
Continue Reading By Martha White and Alicia Wallace, CNN Business The US economy shrank again in the second quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday. Gross domestic product, a wide-ranging measure of economic activity, fell by 0.9% on an annualized basis from April through June. That decline marks a key symbolic threshold for the most commonly
Continue Reading By Martha White and Alicia Wallace, CNN Business The US economy shrank again in the second quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday. Gross domestic product, a wide-ranging measure of economic activity, fell by 0.9% on an annualized basis from April through June. That decline marks a key symbolic threshold for the most commonly
Continue Reading By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business Before the Federal Reserve announced another supersized interest rate hike on Wednesday, investors told Before the Bell they had no problem with the central bank’s messaging that it would continue to aggressively fight decades-high inflation. In fact, they relished it, viewing it as a sign the Fed was taking its
Continue Reading By Natasha Chen For 17 years, Ana Duran worked full time as a travel counselor. Late last year she lost that job, shortly before seeing the price of eggs rise to $7.99 a dozen and the price of a single avocado rise to $2.99 at her local store. In June, it cost her $94 to
Continue Reading By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Business Shopping for back-to-school essentials is becoming a real struggle for families whose household budgets are stretched to the max by surging inflation. Mid-July is typically when shopping for necessities such as clothes, shoes, backpacks, classroom supplies and gadgets for the new school year gets underway in earnest. But as high
Continue Reading By Chris Isidore, CNN Business JetBlue Airways on Thursday announced it would purchase Spirit Airlines, a combination that would create America’s fifth-largest airline. The announcement comes a day after Spirit pulled the plug on a deal to merge with Frontier. JetBlue had been pursuing a hostile bid for Spirit even while Spirit sought shareholder approval
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