By Brian Fung, CNN Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard could harm competition by letting Microsoft restrict Activision’s video games to proprietary platforms such as Xbox, UK officials said Wednesday, in the latest challenge to the tech giant’s blockbuster acquisition. The UK’s competition regulator said the proposed deal, which would make Microsoft the world’s
Continue Reading By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Breakfast at Taco Bell has been saved — and the chain has Pete Davidson to thank. Sales of Taco Bell’s breakfast burritos and egg-stuffed quesadillas jumped 9% in the fourth quarter of last year, executives at its parent company Yum Brands said in an earnings call Wednesday, attributing the growth to
Continue Reading By Issy Ronald, CNN Business The first stamps featuring King Charles III were unveiled on Wednesday by the Royal Mail, the British postal service. The King is captured in profile, his head bare, looking to the left. The standard first-class stamp will feature the portrait on a plain purple background. “Delighted that the Royal Mail
Continue Reading By Olesya Dmitracova, CNN Companies around the world are racing to provide help to the victims of the devastating earthquake straddling Turkey and Syria, by donating food, medicines, services and cash. Amazon has prepared donations of relief items, including food, baby food, blankets, tents and medicines, with the first shipments departing from its warehouse in
Continue Reading By Clare Duffy, CNN Business Microsoft’s Bing search engine has never made much of a dent in Google’s dominance in the more than 13 years since it launched. Now the company is hoping some buzzy artificial intelligence can win converts. Microsoft on Tuesday announced an updated version of Bing designed to combine the fun and
Continue Reading By Nimi Princewill and Stephanie Busari, CNN Nigeria was forced Wednesday to delay plans to replace its banknotes with a redesigned currency after chaotic scenes at ATMs as millions of people struggled to get their hands on the new cash. The country’s old notes were supposed to cease to be legal tender starting February 11 but
Continue Reading By Catherine Thorbecke, CNN Google on Wednesday detailed plans to use artificial intelligence technology to radically change how people search for information online, one day after rival Microsoft announced a revamped version of Bing powered by AI. At an event in its Paris office, Prabhakar Raghavan, an SVP at Google, said the company will bring
Continue Reading By Catherine Thorbecke, CNN Google on Wednesday detailed plans to use artificial intelligence technology to radically change how people search for information online, one day after rival Microsoft announced a revamped version of Bing powered by AI. At an event in its Paris office, Prabhakar Raghavan, an SVP at Google, said the company will bring
Continue Reading By Anna Cooban, CNN Turkey’s stock market has sunk 15% in the three days since a devastating earthquake hit parts of the country’s south, piling further pain onto an already fragile economy. Trading on Istanbul’s stock exchange was halted Wednesday after the main index dropped 7% in early dealing, according to Turkey’s Central Securities Depository.
Continue Reading By Anna Cooban, CNN Turkey’s stock market has sunk 15% in the three days since a devastating earthquake hit parts of the country’s south, piling further pain onto an already fragile economy. Trading on Istanbul’s stock exchange was halted Wednesday after the main index dropped 7% in early dealing, according to Turkey’s Central Securities Depository.
Continue Reading By Nicole Goodkind, CNN Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell threw markets into a tizzy on Tuesday as he spoke about the economy alongside his former boss, Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, at the Economic Club of Washington. Stocks struggled for direction as investors tried to get a read on Powell’s economic outlook, attitude towards inflation
Continue Reading By Juliana Liu, CNN Trade between the United States and China hit a record high in 2022, even as political tension heightened between the world’s top two economies. The bilateral goods trade between the countries rose to $690.6 billion last year, according to official US data, which was released Tuesday. Exports to China increased by
Continue Reading By Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN CSX Transportation announced Tuesday that it had reached a deal with two railroad unions regarding paid sick leave. The agreement reached between CSX and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, which represents engineers, and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, which represents mechanical workers, will provide 5,000 union members employed
Continue Reading By Laura He, CNN Even for a famously frugal nation, Chinese people saved a lot last year. Stuck at home due to Covid restrictions, they socked away a record $2.6 trillion. Now that life is returning to normal, hopes are high that consumers will spend with a vengeance, providing a much-needed boost to the world’s
Continue Reading By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN Business Millions of Californians in 2022 got a special check from their state government to offer relief from a variety of negative economic events including inflation. Millions of taxpayers in other states got different types of special payments from their state governments as well — such as income or property tax
Continue Reading By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN However you feel about doing your taxes, chances are that, if you expect to get a refund, you’ll want it fast. The IRS says it typically issues federal refunds within 21 calendar days of accepting your tax return, assuming there are no issues. (More on those in a minute.) Tom O’Saben,
Continue Reading By Alicia Wallace, CNN As retail sales took a bit of a breather in December, so did the credit cards. US consumers’ outstanding credit grew by $11.56 billion to end the year, according to Federal Reserve data released Tuesday. It’s the lowest monthly gain since January 2021 and well below economists’ expectations of $25 billion.
Continue Reading By Nicole Goodkind, CNN Everyone seems to be in a bit of a debt bind at the moment: The US government has run out of credit to spend, high inflation and interest rates have taken a big bite out of debt-laden tech companies that expected pandemic-era growth to continue and US credit card debt reached
Continue Reading By Alicia Wallace, CNN The US labor market remains “extraordinarily strong” and Friday’s monster jobs report underscored that the central bank has more work to do to bring down inflation, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday. “We didn’t expect it to be this strong,” Powell said of the January jobs report, which showed the
Continue Reading By Catherine Thorbecke, CNN Zoom on Tuesday said it will lay off about 1,300 employees, or approximately 15% of its staff, becoming the latest tech company to announce significant job cuts as a pandemic-fueled surge in demand for digital services wanes. In a memo to employees, Zoom’s CEO Eric Yuan said the layoffs would impact
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