CNN – Business/Consumer

By Liam Reilly and Hadas Gold, CNN Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company on Friday said a “rogue employee” was behind its chatbot’s unsolicited rants about “white genocide” in South Africa earlier this week. The clarification comes less than 48 hours after Grok — the chatbot from Musk’s xAI that is available through his social media

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — Bahama Breeze abruptly closed more than one-third of its restaurants this week, further compounding the casual dining segment’s problems. Darden Restaurants, Bahama Breeze’s parent company, said in a statement that the closure of 15 locations was the “right decision because it will allow Bahama Breeze to focus

By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — Americans’ feelings about the US economy remain in the doldrums after President Donald Trump’s tariffs: Consumer sentiment continued its freefall this month, settling in at a near-record low. The University of Michigan’s closely watched consumer sentiment index fell 2.7% to a preliminary reading of 50.8 for May, dropping further

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — Keeping cool could cost a lot more this summer — yet another financial squeeze for many inflation-weary consumers. Americans can expect to shell out a record $784, on average, to cool their homes from June through September, according to a new analysis by the National Energy Assistance Directors Association

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — Two of the biggest cable companies in the United States have agreed to merge, marking a major milestone in consolidation as cord-cutters continue to ditch their pricey TV packages, thus forcing companies to adjust to their dwindling futures. Charter Communications, which operates under the Spectrum branding, is

By David Goldman and Betsy Klein, CNN (CNN) — If you thought President Donald Trump’s trade war was over, he has some news for you: Tariffs are going up again. At the conclusion of his Middle East trip Friday, Trump acknowledged that trade negotiations are progressing too slowly to accommodate every country that wants to

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — Rite Aid has sold the pharmacy services of most of its stores across the United States to several rivals. The bankrupt company announced the fire sale Thursday, with CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens, Albertsons and Kroger scooping up Rite Aid’s pharmacy services at more than 1,000 locations. “These agreements

By John Towfighi, CNN New York (CNN) — As the US and China came to an agreement to lower tariffs sharply this week, trade war uncertainty has, for now, subsided. But Wall Street has a new question for President Donald Trump: What about tax cuts? Lawmakers this week are debating Trump’s tax agenda, which includes

By Chris Isidore and Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN (CNN) — Engineers at New Jersey Transit went on strike early Friday, bringing trains on the nation’s third-largest commuter rail service to a halt. A final day of negotiations between the state-run commuter rail service and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) failed to reach an

By Simone McCarthy and Hassan Tayir, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — A surprise breakthrough in US-China trade tensions has unleashed a flurry of activity across Chinese factories and ports as companies in both countries rush to make the most of a 90-day rollback of heavy tariffs announced earlier this week. For Niki Ye, a salesperson

By Liam Reilly, CNN (CNN) — A Democratic commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission tore into the panel’s recent actions under its new chairman, without naming him, saying the agency has been “weaponized to chill speech and to punish the press.” “We are witnessing a dangerous precedent: the transformation of an independent regulator into an

By Matt Egan, CNN New York (CNN) — UnitedHealth Group, one of America’s biggest corporations and a member of the exclusive Dow Jones Industrial Average, is suddenly unraveling. The crisis engulfing UnitedHealth hit a crescendo this week when CEO Andrew Witty stepped down abruptly for “personal reasons.” UnitedHealth also swiftly abandoned its financial guidance, blaming

By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN (CNN) — While many economists are saying the risk of an imminent recession has diminished since China and the United States agreed to lower tariffs earlier this week, JPMorgan Chase’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, is still penciling one in. “I wouldn’t take it off the table at this point,” Dimon said in

By Chris Isidore, CNN (CNN) — Engineers at New Jersey Transit are poised to go on strike one minute after midnight Friday morning, a stoppage that would create huge problems for 100,000 daily train commuters, businesses across the New York metropolitan area as well as fans of Shakira and Beyoncé, who will have trouble getting

By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — US wholesale prices sank in April, logging their biggest monthly drop since Covid stifled the economy, as tariffs put a squeeze on profit margins, according to new data released Thursday. The Producer Price Index, a closely watched measurement of wholesale inflation, showed Thursday that the prices paid to US

By Bryan Mena and Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN (CNN) — In a sign that consumer demand may be fraying around the edges, spending at US retailers slowed sharply in April to 0.1% after a surge of 1.7% in March as shoppers rushed to beat President Donald Trump’s stiff tariffs. The April data was worse than the

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — President Donald Trump isn’t pleased with Apple CEO Tim Cook’s plan to manufacture iPhones bound for the United States at newly built plants in India. “I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” Trump said Thursday in Qatar. “I said to him, ‘Tim, you’re my friend.

By Anna Cooban, Betsy Klein, Elisabeth Buchwald and Rhea Mogul, CNN London (CNN) — President Donald Trump said on Thursday that India has offered to eliminate tariffs on the United States as part of a potential trade deal – but New Delhi soon poured cold water on Trump’s claims, saying negotiations were not complete. “India

By Jordan Valinsky and Samantha Delouya, CNN New York (CNN) — Dick’s Sporting Goods is buying rival Foot Locker in a $2.4 billion deal, marking another major deal that tariff-prone apparel companies are making to future-proof themselves. In an announcement Thursday, Dick’s said the transaction will help the Pittsburgh-based sporting goods store internationally for the