Money

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN New York (CNN) — They’re soft, cuddly, and heading into a legal battle. The owners of Squishmallows, the popular egg-shaped stuffed animals, filed an intellectual property lawsuit against Build-A-Bear on Monday, claiming its new “Skoosherz” line is a knock-off version of its own. Build-a-Bear fired back with its own legal complaint,

By Anna Bahney, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — After treading water for months, US mortgage rates jumped higher Thursday following a string of strong employment and inflation reports. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.77% in the week ending February 15, up from 6.64% the previous week, according to data from Freddie Mac. A year ago,

By Tami Luhby, CNN New York (CNN) — Some Americans may have to shell out more this year for Ozempic and Mounjaro, two wildly popular diabetes medications also used for weight loss. Drugmakers raised the list prices of the two drugs, along with roughly 900 other brand-name medications, in January, according to 46brooklyn, a nonprofit

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — Target is taking aim at budget-conscious customers with a new inexpensive brand with prices for everyday basics that start at less than $1, underscoring the way inflation has squeezed Americans and hit Target’s sales in recent quarters. A new in-house value brand called “Dealworthy” is rolling out

By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN New York (CNN) — US markets reeled on Tuesday after January’s Consumer Price Index showed inflation came in hotter than expected, leaving investors to believe that interest rate cuts are off the table for the near future. Markets aside, the data was confirmation that prices are indeed still high and are

By Chris Isidore, CNN New York (CNN) — Electric vehicles are finally turning a profit for Stellantis, CEO Carlos Tavares said Thursday, and, in contrast to some rivals, it will not cut back on producing EVs. The announcement marks an important milestone for electric vehicles and for traditional automakers, which have struggled to make money

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN (CNN) — Imagine if you could drive at night with your high beams on all the time, bathing the road ahead in bright light but without ever blinding other drivers. In Europe and Asia, many cars offer adaptive driving beam headlights that can do this. ADB is a lighting technology that

By Bryan Mena, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — Spending at US retailers tumbled much more than expected in January as cold weather across the United States kept shoppers at home after a robust holiday spending season. Retail sales, which captures spending on all goods and food services, fell 0.8% in January, the Commerce Department reported

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — Starbucks customers who use a Bank of America card will now get additional cash back for their purchases as part of a new partnership between the two companies. Beginning Thursday, Bank of America credit and debit cardholders who are also part of the Starbucks Rewards loyalty program

By Hanna Ziady, CNN London (CNN) — The United Kingdom has slipped into recession just months ahead of a general election, official figures showed Thursday, derailing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to generate economic growth. Gross domestic product fell 0.3% in the final three months of 2023, following a 0.1% contraction in the July-to-September period,

By Laura He and Hanako Montgomery, CNN Hong Kong/Tokyo (CNN) — Japan’s economy has contracted unexpectedly because of weak domestic consumption, pushing the country into recession and causing it to lose its position as the world’s third largest economy to Germany. Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank at an annualized pace of 0.4% in the last

By Matt Egan, CNN New York (CNN) — Last month, battery recycling company Redwood Materials broke ground on a $3.5 billion battery plant in South Carolina that is expected to create 1,500 new jobs. The plant aims to eventually make enough battery components to power more than a million electric vehicles a year. Redwood Materials specifically

By Sean Lyngaas and Alta Spells, CNN (CNN) — Officials in Georgia’s Fulton County, which includes parts of Atlanta, said Wednesday that “financially motivated” hackers appeared to be behind a ransomware attack that has disrupted key county services for weeks. “Early today, we became aware that cybercriminals claiming responsibility for this incident listed Fulton County

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN New York (CNN) — SpaceX wants to move its business incorporation location from Delaware to Texas, according to a Wednesday filing to the Texas Secretary of State. The move by the Elon Musk-owned company comes after a Delaware state judge struck down Musk’s 2018 Tesla pay package, siding with a shareholder

By Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN (CNN) — New York City is suing a handful of social media networks, alleging their platforms’ designs exploit young users’ mental health and cost the city $100 million in related health programs and services each year. In the lawsuit against TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube, the city of New

By Samantha Delouya, CNN (CNN) — Technology company Cisco announced Wednesday that it plans to lay off 5% of its global workforce, amounting to thousands of employees, as part of a company-wide restructuring. Cisco joins a long list of tech companies that have announced workforce cuts in recent months. The networking hardware and software maker

By Brian Fung, CNN Washington (CNN) — US companies may find themselves under federal scrutiny if they “quietly” try to funnel customers’ personal information into training artificial intelligence models, the government warned this week. The warning by the Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s top privacy and consumer protection agency, highlights the enormous value of Americans’

By Krystal Hur, CNN New York (CNN) — Wall Street’s favorite artificial intelligence darling is continuing to swell to staggering heights. Nvidia’s market capitalization rose to $1.83 trillion on Wednesday, nudging past Alphabet’s $1.82 trillion market cap. Shares of the Santa Clara-based chipmaker rose 2.5% to $739 a share, while Alphabet shares ended the session

By Liam Reilly, CNN (CNN) — About one-third of Republicans say they believe Taylor Swift is involved in a covert government effort to help Joe Biden win the 2024 presidential election, a poll published Wednesday from Monmouth University found. The absurd and baseless conspiracy theory in question, which was popularized in right-wing media ahead of Super Bowl LVIII, alleges Swift’s relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end

By Chris Isidore, CNN New York (CNN) — Angela Chao, CEO of the shipping company the Foremost Group and sister of former US cabinet secretary Elaine Chao, was killed in a car crash in Texas on Sunday, according to a spokesperson for her company. Angela Chao, 50, had been CEO of the shipping company since