Money

By Bryan Mena, CNN Washington (CNN) — Americans’ attitudes toward the economy improved this month for the first time since January, thanks to better perceptions of the job market. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for this month climbed to a reading of 102, up from 97.5 in April. Americans of all age groups felt

By Bryan Mena, CNN Washington (CNN) — US home prices reached a record high in March, reflecting the housing market’s persistent affordability crisis. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index, a measure of home prices across the country, jumped 6.5% in March from a year earlier to a record high. It is the

By David Goldman, CNN New York (CNN) — Melinda French Gates says that after the US Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision that let individual states decide abortion rights, the philanthropist felt compelled to offer Americans financial support for their reproductive freedoms — support that she says she had been giving exclusively overseas. “While I have

By Brian Fung, CNN Washington (CNN) — OpenAI said Tuesday it has established a new committee to make recommendations to the company’s board about safety and security, weeks after dissolving a team focused on AI safety. In a blog post, OpenAI said the new committee would be led by CEO Sam Altman as well as Bret

By Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN (CNN) — Imagine asking Apple’s Siri to show you an old photo taken from a child’s second birthday, or summarizing lengthy emails and writing drafts. Then consider Siri learning your schedule, preferences, even your personality, so it can better communicate with you throughout the day. Generative AI, artificial intelligence that

By Eva Rothenberg and Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — The summer movie season typically starts with a bang during the month of May and, particularly, during Memorial Day weekend. This year, it’s a whimper. Memorial Day weekend (Friday through Monday) movie ticket sales are estimated at $128.3 million, according to Comscore data provided to CNN.

By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — If you’ve flown this weekend or are hopping on a flight today, it’s likely you’re making history. Passenger traffic at US airports is on pace to make this Memorial Day weekend the busiest on record, according to Transportation Security Administration screening data. Following record-setting traveler data for Friday (2.951

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN (CNN) — Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, with many students out of school and office workers enjoying the day off. The federal holiday, falling on the last Monday of May, honors members of the US armed forces who died serving their country in wars. This year, Memorial Day

By Nicole Goodkind, CNN New York (CNN) — Laura Barnett has always had a bit of wanderlust. When she was a kid, her father took a job as a teacher with the US Department of Defense and moved his family from rural Kentucky to Poitiers, France, which is when the travel bug hit. She’s been

By Laura He, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — China is doubling down on its plan to dominate advanced technologies of the future by setting up its largest-ever semiconductor state investment fund, according to information posted by a government-run agency. Worth $47.5 billion, the fund is being created as the US imposes sweeping restrictions on the export

By Anna Cooban, CNN London (CNN) — The AI firm founded by Elon Musk has raised another $6 billion from investors, including Silicon Valley venture capitalists and a Saudi prince, boosting its valuation to $24 billion. Investors providing the second-round funding included Sequoia Capital, Andreesen Horowitz, and Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, xAI announced in

Analysis by Hanna Ziady and Gertrude Kitongo, CNN London/Johannesburg (CNN) — South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) swept to power in 1994 on a pledge to “build a better life for all,” winning almost 63% of the vote in the country’s first democratic election. Fast-forward 30 years and Nelson Mandela’s erstwhile liberation movement, which triumphed over the racist

By Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN New York (CNN) — Severe weather on Sunday caused a brief outage on NBC during its Indianapolis 500 broadcast ahead of the start of the race. Powerful storms and tornadoes have wreaked havoc across the United States during the Memorial Day weekend, in some cases turning deadly. The storms have also

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN New York (CNN) — Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, with many students out of school and office workers enjoying the day off. The federal holiday, falling on the last Monday of May, honors members of the US armed forces who died serving their country in wars. This year,

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — It’s not Zendaya’s fault you can’t stop thinking about tennis. Her magnetic performance in “Challengers,” a movie about a ménage à trois that happens to have tennis in the background, might seem to have thrust the sport into the spotlight, but it’s becoming more popular in the

By Eva Rothenberg, CNN New York (CNN) — The summer box office is off to a lukewarm start. Last summer, blockbusters “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” combined added nearly a billion dollars to the domestic box office, according to Comscore data. But this year, studios are betting on a large slate of mid-range sequels and prequels, as well as

By Alicia Wallace, CNN Minneapolis (CNN) — Even before the house lights dim, the cinema experience is well under way, with one concession-stand food holding top billing. Its roasty, buttery aroma fills the lobby, a smell that’s both unmistakable and, often, core memory-inducing. A kernel smacks the side of a stainless steel kettle, a hint

By Rebekah Riess, CNN (CNN) — The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced that it set a new record for most travelers screened in a single day on Friday, according to a post from the agency on X, formerly known as Twitter. TSA officers screened 2,951,163 individuals at checkpoints nationwide, surpassing its previous record from November

By Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN New York (CNN) — Burger patties, buns and ketchup prices are high. But even with the increases, your home-grilled burger could end up being relatively inexpensive this year thanks to steep discounts offered by retailers vying for budget-conscious customers. In recent months, grocery prices have stayed flat and even started to

By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN New York (CNN) — When seafood conglomerate Thai Union Group became Red Lobster’s leading shareholder in 2020, gaining 49% control of the chain, Red Lobster employees were assured Thai Union would not interfere in key decisions. Thai Union will “not be involved in Red Lobster’s day-to-day operations, including [its] supply chain