By Jordan Valinsky and Allison Morrow, CNN Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed crypto exchange FTX, has agreed to testify before the House Financial Services Committee next week as questions and confusion swirl about the collapse of his companies. On Friday, he tweeted that he’s “willing to testify on [December] 13th,” and said he
Continue Reading By Julia Horowitz, CNN Just two months after UK markets suffered their worst meltdown since the global financial crisis, the British government is promising a major relaxation of financial regulation in a bid to shore up the country’s banking and insurance industries against growing competition from cities such as Amsterdam and Paris. The UK Treasury
Continue Reading By Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN For the past 22 years, the Port of Los Angeles has been the busiest container port in North America, moving around 10 million cargo containers filled with goods for Americans and bringing in roughly half a billion dollars in revenue each year to the state of California. But for the past
Continue Reading By Matt Egan, CNN Despite high inflation and recession fears, the holiday shopping season appears to be off to a strong start. Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales were solid, as Americans were lured by deep discounts. Although consumer spending may be slowing, it remains surprisingly resilient. The problem, however, is that many Americans’ paychecks
Continue Reading By Swati Gupta, CNN India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) scored a landslide election win in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat on Thursday, in a boost for the leader and his Hindu-nationalist party ahead of the 2024 general election. The BJP took 156 of 182 total seats in the Gujarat state assembly
Continue Reading By Clare Duffy, CNN A group of former Twitter employees who are suing the company spoke out Thursday, alleging that new owner Elon Musk’s mass layoffs at the company have triggered multiple labor rights violations. “Real people were affected by this, I have a family, I have kids to support,” former Twitter engineer Wren Turkal
Continue Reading By Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN Business Apple is abandoning its plans to launch a controversial tool that would check iPhones, iPads and iCloud photos for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) following backlash from critics who decried the feature’s potential privacy implications. Apple first announced the feature in 2021, with the goal of helping combat child
Continue Reading By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Bourbon brand Jim Beam is offering what could possibly be the weirdest gift for the holidays — hug-simulating pajamas. The unisex red flannel “Kentucky Hug” PJ set looks like your basic comfy plaid pajamas, with one exception. There’s a removable panel that fits around the neck and shoulders. When activated, it
Continue Reading By Chris Isidore, CNN Business Used car retailer Carvana, facing a cash crunch, could be headed towards bankruptcy, according to both published reports and a bearish analyst’s call that slashes its share-price target to $1. In mid-afternoon trading, Carvana, best known for its auto vending machine concept, stands at about $4.60 a share, up on
Continue Reading By Brian Fung, CNN The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday sued to block Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, challenging one of the largest tech acquisitions in history. The administrative complaint filed Thursday by the FTC alleges that the blockbuster deal, which would make Microsoft the third-largest video game publisher in the world, would
Continue Reading By Matt Egan, CNN Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is striking a cautiously optimistic tone about 2023, predicting a major inflation cooldown and stressing that a recession isn’t required to get prices back under control. “I believe by the end of next year you will see much lower inflation, if there’s not an unanticipated shock,” Yellen
Continue Reading By Betsy Klein, CNN US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen traveled to Texas Thursday to mark an important and historic milestone, touring the Fort Worth Bureau of Engraving and Printing facility to observe firsthand the printing of $1 and $5 bills with her signature for the first time. Yellen became the latest Treasury secretary to sign
Continue Reading By Brian Fung, CNN The Defense Department has named Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle as the winners of a multibillion-dollar cloud computing contract whose predecessor the Pentagon had to cancel amid Amazon’s allegations that then-President Donald Trump had interfered in the award process. The contracts announced Wednesday evening for the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC)
Continue Reading By Anna Bahney, CNN Business The average rent in Manhattan was $5,249 in November, up 19% from last year and the third-highest amount on record, according to a monthly report from brokerage firm Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel. The median cost of renting an apartment in Manhattan remained near record highs in November, at $4,095.
Continue Reading By Nicole Goodkind, CNN Business US stocks surged higher on Thursday as investors staged a comeback from their current losing streak, spurred on by recession and interest rate hike fears. The Dow closed 184 points, or 0.6% higher. The S&P 500 gained 0.8%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.1%. Gains in semiconductor stocks such as
Continue Reading By Anna Bahney, CNN Mortgage rates dipped again this week, dropping for the fourth week in a row. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.33% in the week ending December 8, down from 6.49% the week before, according to Freddie Mac. A year ago, the 30-year fixed rate was 3.10%. Mortgage rates have risen throughout most
Continue Reading By Allison Morrow, CNN Lawmakers are demanding that Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed crypto exchange FTX, appear before the Senate Banking Committee next week over “significant unanswered questions ” surrounding the collapse of his companies. In a letter to Bankman-Fried and his lawyer, the committee’s Democratic chairman, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and
Continue Reading By Allison Morrow, CNN Lawmakers are demanding that Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed crypto exchange FTX, appear before the Senate Banking Committee next week over “significant unanswered questions ” surrounding the collapse of his companies. In a letter to Bankman-Fried and his lawyer, the committee’s Democratic chairman, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and
Continue Reading By Alicia Wallace, CNN The US government recorded a monthly budget deficit of $249 billion in November, a 30% increase from a year earlier amid increased spending and falling revenue, the Treasury Department reported Monday. Federal budget outlays increased by $28 billion, or 6% in November, with agencies such as the Education Department reporting increased
Continue Reading By Matt Egan, CNN Business The Keystone Pipeline has been shut down following a leak discovered near the border of Kansas and Nebraska. The shutdown of the major oil pipeline that carries crude from Canada triggered volatility in the energy market on Thursday, with oil prices briefly surging as much as 5% before retreating. Federal
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