CNN – Business/Consumer

By Anneken Tappe, CNN Business The Federal Reserve‘s favorite measure of inflation rose to its highest level since 1991 in July, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Friday. The price index for American consumer spending, also known as the PCE index, rose at a rate of 4.2% in the year ended July, the fastest pace

Opinion by Jim Andrew and David Banks for CNN Business Perspectives Already pushed to the brink from agricultural demands and other human uses, water in many parts of the world is running dry at an alarming rate. The Colorado River, for example, which supplies water to more than 40 million people in the US and

By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business Since its inception in 1913, the US Federal Reserve — the most important institution in charge of managing America’s economy — has learned a lot about what it should and shouldn’t do during a crisis. Just ask a Fed historian. What’s happening: Central bankers are gathering Friday for a virtual

By Michelle Toh, CNN Business Apple CEO Tim Cook just celebrated 10 years on the job. He also marked the occasion this week by collecting — and selling off — three quarters of a billion dollars’ worth of stock. The transactions were revealed in a regulatory filing Thursday, which showed that Cook had acquired and

By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, whose profile has risen in conservative media during the pandemic, is lashing out at one of right-wing media’s most popular bloggers for what she described as comments that were full of “horrible misogyny.” Noem, a Republican viewed as a potential 2024 presidential candidate, garnered praise

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business Peloton is cutting the price of its original at-home exercise bike for the second time in a year, a sign that the trendy fitness company is facing fiercer competition from rivals producing significantly cheaper products and people returning to gyms. Beginning Thursday, its core bike will cost $1,495 — a

By Paul R. La Monica, CNN Business America’s red hot housing market may be finally cooling off. But don’t tell that to Williams-Sonoma. The news from Home Depot last week that fewer customers shopped at the retailer in the second quarter than a year ago was viewed as a sign that sales may be peaking.

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business Few things in life are worse than a soggy french fry. Wendy’s says it has a solution. The fast food chain is giving its top-selling menu item a makeover for the Covid era: a fry that retains more heat and keeps its crispiness longer compared to its predecessor. The upgraded

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN Business The idea of making money on the side from owning a rental property can be very appealing, especially if you view the venture as a possible way to quit your day job eventually or subsidize your income when you retire. But becoming a landlord is not for the faint of

By Paul R. La Monica, CNN Business There have been multiple eulogies for Windows-based desktop personal computers and laptops in the past few years as smartphones seemingly rule the gadget landscape. But “old” tech giants Dell and HP, which both reported earnings after the close Thursday, are doing just fine in 2021. Dell said sales

By Charles Riley and Lauren Gunn, CNN Business UK food producers and supermarkets are warning that empty shelves could persist through the year-end holiday season unless the government acts to ease a shortage of workers and truck drivers caused by Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic. McDonald’s has already been forced to take milkshakes off its

By Brian Stelter, CNN Business Axel Springer, the German media conglomerate, has agreed to buy the Washington-based Politico franchise for more than $1 billion. Politico’s tech news sibling Protocol is also included in the deal, which was announced Thursday morning. Axel Springer and Politico already work together on a joint venture in Europe. Building on

Opinion by Thomas Harman for CNN Business Perspectives Right now, the American supply chain — which includes US ports, railroads, trucks, delivery services, warehouses and the many people who run them — is overwhelmed. As the economy recovers, there is a growing demand for an array of consumer goods as well as the parts, raw

By Matt Egan, CNN Business Sticker shock has even invaded the land of falling prices: online shopping. Through economic booms and busts, e-commerce has long been virtually immune to inflationary pressures. Average online prices dropped every year between 2015 and 2019. But Covid ended that once-reliable trend. Online prices jumped 3.1% year-over-year in July, according

By Anneken Tappe, CNN Business America’s economy expanded at a slightly faster pace than initially thought in the second quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday. Between April and June, US gross domestic product grew at an annualized and seasonally adjusted rate of 6.6%. The first look at the data last month put the

By Julia Horowitz, CNN Business The hottest debate among economists and investors is when central banks will back away from pandemic-era policies. After months of ambiguity, they finally have an answer — at least from South Korea. What’s happening: The Bank of Korea raised its base interest rate from 0.5% to 0.75% on Thursday. It

By Oliver Darcy, CNN Business A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. You can sign up for free right here. Staffers are angry, confused, and demanding answers inside ABC News after a lawsuit filed Wednesday alleged that former “Good Morning America” boss Michael Corn sexually assaulted two staffers. The allegations,

By Frank Pallotta, CNN Business Rachel Nichols — ESPN’s longtime NBA host — has been removed from coverage of the sport, and her weekday show “The Jump” has been canceled, the network confirmed Wednesday. David Roberts, ESPN’s senior vice president of production, said in a statement to CNN Business that the sides “mutually agreed that

By Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN Business Three Chick-fil-A locations in Alabama and one in Georgia have closed their dining rooms, citing challenges in hiring the workers they need. One of these, in Calera, Alabama, has also stopped curbside delivery and is limiting its catering ordering. Another, in Madison, Alabama, said it would stop curbside and mobile