Money

By Matt Egan, CNN New York (CNN) — After spiking to alarming levels just last week, oil prices are suddenly in free-fall mode. The dramatic reversal should bring relief to drivers (and nervous central bankers) very soon. US oil prices plunged by 5.6% to $84.22 a barrel on Wednesday, marking the biggest one-day decline in

By Anna Bahney, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — US mortgage rates climbed even higher this week, hitting 7.49% and pushing homeownership further out of reach for would-be homebuyers. That’s up from 7.31% the week before, according to data from Freddie Mac released Thursday. A year ago, the 30-year fixed-rate was 6.66%. “Several factors, including shifts

By Niamh Kennedy and Anna Cooban, CNN London (CNN) — Intelligence officers in Belgium are monitoring Alibaba’s logistics hub in Europe for possible espionage on behalf of the Chinese government. Belgium’s state security service VSSE told CNN Thursday it was watching the activities of Alibaba’s (BABA) logistics arm, Cainiao, at the country’s Liège cargo airport.

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN New York (CNN) — South Korean automakers Kia, Hyundai and luxury auto brand Genesis announced Thursday that their electric vehicles in the United States will have Tesla-style charging ports, starting in the last quarter of 2024. This will allow owners of those vehicles to seamlessly use Tesla chargers. The brands join

By Anna Cooban, CNN London (CNN) — Shares in UK lender Metro Bank sank as much as 31% Thursday following a report that it was urgently seeking to raise funds to shore up its finances. The Financial Times reported that the bank was in talks with investors to raise £250 million ($303 million) in equity

By Alicia Wallace, CNN Minneapolis (CNN) — This time last week, the prospects seemed to be growing dimmer that the September jobs report would land this Friday as planned. A government shutdown would have forced the Bureau of Labor Statistics to go dark and result in the blackout of critical economic data. But after a

By Hanna Ziady, CNN London (CNN) — Microsoft and Amazon could be in hot water over apparently making it difficult for UK customers to use multiple suppliers of vital cloud services. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the country’s antitrust regulator, said Thursday it was launching an investigation into the UK cloud infrastructure services market

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — At a time when registered nurses are going on strike to protest staffing shortages, thousands of applicants who want to enter or advance in the profession are being turned away from nursing schools. Nearly 78,200 qualified applications were not offered spots at nursing schools last year, according to the

By Matt Egan, CNN Business New York (CNN Business) — Online shoppers will be offered record-setting discounts this holiday season as retailers attempt to entice inflation-weary consumers to buy, according to projections released Thursday by Adobe Analytics. And the company predicts the strategy will work, with online holiday sales climbing almost 5% above last year.

By Berry Wang and Jessie Yeung, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — On the day Liang resigned from his banking job in China’s Zhejiang province, his friends threw a party and congratulated him by beating gongs and drums, in an echo of traditional marriage rituals. His friends, who had also quit their jobs, pinned a flower

CNN By Nouran Salahieh, CNN (CNN) — The Powerball jackpot soared to an estimated $1.4 billion for Saturday – which would be the third largest jackpot in the game’s history – after Wednesday night’s drawing turned up no grand prize winner. The prize up for grabs Saturday would also be the fifth largest US lottery

By Nouran Salahieh, CNN (CNN) — The Powerball jackpot soared to an estimated $1.4 billion for Saturday – which would be the third largest jackpot in the game’s history – after Wednesday night’s drawing turned up no grand prize winner. The prize up for grabs Saturday would also be the fifth largest US lottery jackpot,

By Francesca Annio and Chris Lau, CNN Tokyo/Hong Kong (CNN) — A Japanese sushi chain targeted in a spate of pranks that has sparked concern over hygiene has devised a digital conveyor belt to serve food to customers. Instead of placing sushi on a rotating conveyor belt for customers to pick up — famously known

By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN New York (CNN) — Almost any economist will tell you they don’t have a crystal ball. But using all kinds of fancy (and sometimes not so fancy) models, they make predictions about forthcoming economic data. And oftentimes, economists’ consensus forecasts are spot on. That wasn’t the case with today’s ADP private

By Oliver Darcy, CNN (CNN) — Marty Baron, the renowned executive editor of The Washington Post who led the newspaper during eight tumultuous years in American politics and media, published his anticipated memoir this week, offering readers “an urgent exploration of the nature of power in the 21st century.” In the book, titled “Collision of

By Clare Duffy, CNN New York (CNN) — The Anti-Defamation League on Wednesday said it plans to resume advertising on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, following a spat with owner Elon Musk. Musk last month threatened to sue the ADL for defamation, claiming that the nonprofit organization’s statements about rising hate speech on

By Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN (CNN) — There’s nothing particularly new about Google’s latest-generation Pixel 8 smartphone hardware. That’s why the company is pushing hard to tout its AI-powered new software, which Google says was built specifically for the “first phone of the generative AI era.” At a press event in New York City, Google

By Chris Isidore, CNN New York (CNN) — The United Auto Workers union strike has cost General Motors $200 million since the work stoppage began two weeks ago, the company said Wednesday. The loss runs through the end of the third quarter, which closed on September 30. GM was relatively flush with cash heading into

CNN, WUSA By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — At a time when registered nurses are going on strike to protest staffing shortages, thousands of applicants who want to enter or advance in the profession are being turned away from nursing schools. Nearly 78,200 qualified applications were not offered spots at nursing schools last year, according

By Samantha Delouya, CNN Los Angeles (CNN) — On Wednesday, thousands of unionized health care employees walked off the job after failed contract negotiations with their employer, Kaiser Permanente, a company whose business model is distinctive, compared to most health care providers in the United States. Here’s what you should know about the medical system.