By Anna Bahney, CNN Mortgage rates inched down last week, after a slight increase the week before. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.33% in the week ending January 12, down from 6.48% the week before, according to Freddie Mac. A year ago, the 30-year fixed rate was 3.45%. “While mortgage rates have resumed their decline,
Continue Reading By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Walmart will eliminate single-use paper and plastic carryout bags at the register from stores in New York, Connecticut and Colorado this month. The company previously stopped giving out single-use plastic bags in New York and Connecticut and in some areas in Colorado. Walmart offers reusable shopping bags starting at 74 cents
Continue Reading By Alicia Wallace, CNN For the first time in nearly three years, inflation fell on a monthly basis. Consumer prices decreased by 0.1% in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday in its Consumer Price Index. The last time prices were lower than the previous month was May 2020. The closely watched inflation gauge
Continue Reading By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Business Mattel is giving preschoolers a new age-appropriate Barbie doll that it says is better suited for their needs. The doll, called “My First Barbie,” is specifically created for kids three years old and older, said Lisa McKnight, executive vice president and global head of Barbie and dolls for Mattel. The
Continue Reading By Allison Morrow, CNN Sam Bankman-Fried, the former crypto star turned alleged white-collar criminal, has spoken out for the first time since his arrest last month, publishing a lengthy blog post that appears to lay out his defense against fraud charges. “I didn’t steal funds, and I certainly didn’t stash billions away,” he writes in
Continue Reading By Nicole Goodkind, CNN The US auto industry just posted its worst sales in more than a decade — but that’s not necessarily a bad sign for the sector. What’s happening: 2022 was the worst year in more than a decade for the auto industry, largely because manufacturers couldn’t keep up with consumer demand. Supply
Continue Reading By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business Subway, one of the world’s most recognizable fast food brands, might be up for a sale, according to the Wall Street Journal. The privately held company has obtained advisers to explore sale that could value Subway at more than $10 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. If reached, it would
Continue Reading By Chris Boyette and Artemis Moshtaghian, CNN A nurses strike at two private New York City hospital systems has come to an end after 7,000 nurses spent three days on the picket line. The New York State Nurses Association union reached tentative deals with Mount Sinai Health System and Montefiore Health System, which operates three
Continue Reading By Michelle Toh, Sandi Sidhu and Marc Stewart, CNN Kiki Yang brought an empty green suitcase from Shenzhen to Hong Kong this week to load up on new purchases for her family and friends. “I did a lot of shopping these days,” she told CNN on Tuesday, gesturing to her luggage, which she described as
Continue Reading By Laura He, CNN China’s economy expanded by just 3% in 2022, far below the government’s own target, marking one of the worst performances in nearly half a century. Growth was impacted heavily by months of widespread Covid lockdowns and a historic downturn in the property market. Still, the number came in slightly better than
Continue Reading By Laura He, CNN A number of key provinces and cities in China have announced their growth targets for this year, most of them above 5%, offering the first clues about the country’s economic path in 2023. Local governments across China began to convene this week for annual legislative sessions laying out their respective policy
Continue Reading By Diksha Madhok, CNN Getting urgent work emails from colleagues even during vacation? This is a common occurrence for many white-collar workers, especially in India where employees feel overworked and underpaid compared to their global peers, according to several studies over the years. But one Mumbai-based firm has come up with a novel way to
Continue Reading By Kristen Holmes, CNN Former President Trump’s campaign sent a letter to Facebook’s parent company, Meta, Tuesday petitioning them to unblock his Facebook account, a source familiar with the letter tells CNN. NBC first reported the news. Trump’s Facebook and Twitter accounts were blocked following the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Facebook
Continue Reading Story by Donie O’Sullivan, Clare Duffy, Kristen Holmes, Gabby Orr and Brian Fung Video by Zach Wasser and John General Facebook-parent Meta is preparing to announce one of the most consequential decisions in the company’s history, a landmark move that will set a precedent for online speech and could affect the course of the 2024
Continue Reading By Tami Luhby and Celina Tebor, CNN The law firm for a union representing licensed practical nurses (LPNs) in New York City sent a cease-and-desist letter to Montefiore Medical Center alleging the health care system involuntarily redeployed LPNs to replace striking nurses in violation of their collective bargaining agreement. In a letter sent Tuesday to
Continue Reading By David Goldman, CNN The Walt Disney Company has named Nike executive chairman Mark Parker as its new board chair, replacing longtime director Susan Arnold, whose term limit is expiring. Parker, a Disney board member since 2016, takes over Disney’s board at a time of transition for America’s largest media company. Bob Iger recently returned
Continue Reading By Matt Egan, CNN BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is cutting about 500 jobs following a period of rapid hiring. A spokesperson for BlackRock told CNN on Wednesday that the layoffs amount to less than 3% of the company’s workforce. BlackRock, a leader on Wall Street, has been on a major hiring spree in
Continue Reading By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business CNN on Wednesday announced a revamped dayside programming lineup that the network said will employ a new format for shows to deliver the news to viewers. The cable news channel — which has been led since last spring by a new chairman and chief executive, Chris Licht — said in
Continue Reading By Clare Duffy, CNN A law firm representing dozens of former UK Twitter employees is accusing the company of “unlawful, unfair and completely unacceptable treatment” of workers following recent mass layoffs, which the firm referred to as a “sham redundancy process.” In a letter sent to the company on Monday, law firm Winckworth Sherwood alleged
Continue Reading By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN The pandemic has transformed work over the past three years in ways few expected. It normalized remote work, created a shortage of critical workers and drove home to organizations that employees’ mental health and need for a sane work-life balance are critical to retention and engagement. So what does 2023 likely
Continue Reading