Money

By Catherine Thorbecke, CNN New York (CNN) — Bill Gates’ former assistant at Microsoft is now the fifth-richest person in the world, per Bloomberg’s tally, and only one spot behind Gates on the real-time list of the world’s richest people. Steve Ballmer, who joined Microsoft as its 24th-ever employee in 1980, has seen his wealth

By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN New York (CNN) — Americans are losing confidence about the economic outlook. For the third month in a row, the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell — dropping to 102.6 in October from an upwardly revised 104.3 in September. The index is at its second-lowest level this year, landing a hair

By Anna Bahney, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — US home prices continued to rise in August, hitting a new record high and marking the seventh consecutive month of increases. Even as mortgage rates topped 7% in August, historically low inventory continued to push up the price of a home. Prices rose 0.9% in August from

By Bryan Mena, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — Total compensation paid to US workers grew at a faster pace than expected last quarter, pointing to ongoing momentum in the job market. The Employment Cost Index rose 1.1% in the third quarter, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. That’s a faster pace than the 1% gain registered

By Chris Isidore, CNN New York (CNN) — The longest US auto strike in 25 years is nearly over. Maybe. The United Auto Workers union announced a tentative agreement on a contract with General Motors Monday night. That followed similar announcements Saturday night at Stellantis, and last Wednesday at Ford. The picket lines are coming

By Hanna Ziady, CNN London (CNN) — The euro area economy risks falling into recession later this year after official data Tuesday showed that output shrank slightly in the third quarter. Gross domestic product across the 20 countries that use the euro fell 0.1% in the July-to-September quarter compared with the previous three months, according

By Hanna Ziady and Chris Isidore, CNN London (CNN) — Historic strikes by autoworkers in North America reduced revenue at Stellantis €3 billion ($3.2 billion), the company said Tuesday, but it added that the strike and the cost of new labor contracts won’t stop it from hitting its profit target for the year. The company

CNN By Jennifer Korn and Paul Glader, CNN (CNN) — When technology firm OpenAI ousted its CEO Sam Altman last week with little warning and less explanation, it set off shockwaves throughout Silicon Valley and beyond. Late Tuesday, in a complete reversal, he rejoined the controversial firm he had helped found, effectively bouncing from the

By Samantha Kelly, CNN New York (CNN) — Sam Altman thinks the technology underpinning his company’s most famous product could bring about the end of human civilization. In May, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman filed into a Senate subcommittee hearing room in Washington, DC, with an urgent plea to lawmakers: Create thoughtful regulations that embrace the

By Laura He, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — China’s massive manufacturing sector has contracted once again amid weak demand, fueling calls for stronger policy support to boost growth. The official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped to 49.5 in October from 50.2 in September, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday. That

By Juliana Liu, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — Canada has banned Chinese super-app WeChat on official government devices citing cybersecurity risks, following similar action taken against short-form video app TikTok earlier this year. The latest ban, announced on Monday and effective the same day, was also imposed on applications from Kaspersky Lab, a Russian maker

By Oliver Darcy, CNN (CNN) — It appears the actors’ strike is approaching its final scene. SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents more than 150,000 Hollywood actors, and the AMPTP, the trade group that represents the major studios, have made significant progress in negotiating sessions in recent days, arriving at tentative understandings on key components of a

By Liam Reilly, CNN (CNN) — A New York judge on Monday shut down an attempt by Fox News to subpoena George Soros, the Jewish billionaire and frequent target of far-right conspiracy theories, and search for additional links between him and Smartmatic, a voting technology company at the center of false election claims during the 2020 election. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice David B. Cohen

By Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN (CNN) — Apple’s MacBook Pro lineup and colorful iMacs just got even faster. At an event livestreamed on Monday night, the company introduced its next-generation family of custom-made processors – the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Pro Max – and along with it, a handful of new computers. The event’s

By Parija Kavilanz, CNN New York (CNN) — Walmart unveiled over a hundred revamped stores on Monday that have been recalibrated to pull in more customers and keep them in stores for longer, too. The aim is to get them to shop at Walmart for things other than staples like groceries and everyday necessities. During

By Allison Morrow and Lucy Bayly, CNN New York (CNN) — Prosecutors grilled former crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried on Monday as his criminal fraud trial entered its third week. He stands accused of orchestrating a multibillion-dollar fraud in a seismic event that has left the industry reeling. While prosecutors have cast SBF as a Bernie

By Christopher Hickey and Will Mullery, CNN Americans can’t get enough of Halloween candy. Halloween candy sales grew 14% between 2021 and 2022 and this year is on track to be the same. In 2022, US consumers dropped more than $3.7 billion on candy during the six-week period before the holiday. Consumers favorite candy? Chocolate,

By Krystal Hur, CNN New York (CNN) — Stocks surged Monday as investors looked to the Federal Reserve’s next meeting and a slate of economic and corporate news due this week. The Dow jumped 511 points, or 1.6%. The S&P 500 added 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.2%. The S&P 500 index closed last

By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN New York (CNN) — The US Treasury Department said it expects to borrow $776 billion in the final quarter of this year, the most the government has ever borrowed during a fourth quarter. The forecast is $76 billion less than the estimate Treasury made in August due to higher-than-anticipated tax collections

By Matt Egan, CNN New York (CNN) — Leon Cooperman, the hedge fund billionaire who has famously clashed with Sen. Elizabeth Warren over her proposed wealth tax, is cautioning voters against returning Donald Trump to the White House. “It would be terrible for the country if Donald Trump were reelected,” Cooperman told CNN in a