Money

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN New York (CNN) — Taylor Swift practically owned 2023. But an end-of-year report from Luminate, an entertainment data firm, puts into numbers just how much the singer dominated the US music industry. One in every 78 US audio streams was a Taylor Swift song in 2023, according to Luminate. The data

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN New York (CNN) — After a false start Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission gave its approval Wednesday for some investment companies to offer “spot bitcoin” exchange-traded funds. The regulator’s highly anticipated move is expected to make bitcoin investing more accessible to Main Street investors, without requiring them to own the

By Parija Kavilanz, CNN New York (CNN) — Starbucks is being sued by a consumer advocacy group alleging that the global coffee chain falsely and deceptively advertises the “committed to 100% ethical sourcing” claim on its coffee and tea products. The lawsuit, filed by the National Consumers League in a Washington, DC court on Wednesday,

By Matt Egan and Nicole Goodkind, CNN New York (CNN) — The Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday the FBI is investigating the hack of the agency’s social media account that rocked the bitcoin world earlier this week ahead of the regulator’s approval of a bitcoin exchange-traded fund late Wednesday. “The SEC continues to investigate

By Brian Fung, CNN (CNN) — An Ohio law regulating kids’ accounts on social media likely violates the First Amendment in “breathtakingly blunt” ways and cannot take effect next week as scheduled, a federal judge has ruled. The state law set to take effect Jan. 15 would have required social media platforms to obtain parental

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN New York (CNN) — Walmart is joining the AI, drone and tech race. But delivering on the promise of a high-tech shopping future — where its rivals have failed — won’t be easy. The bigbox retailer held a keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for the first time, featuring

By Oliver Darcy, CNN (CNN) — Aaron Rodgers is done as a guest on Pat McAfee’s ESPN show for the remainder of the NFL season. McAfee, who has drawn significant scrutiny for allowing the injured New York Jets quarterback to appear on his program and deliver lengthy conspiratorial rants, made the announcement Wednesday on his

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN (CNN) — One of the first things you learn in driver’s ed is, after you buckle your seatbelt, adjust your mirrors. But if technology from Vietnamese automaker Vinfast enters production, that will be a thing of the past. It’s not some fancy new video mirror system. Many cars already offer that

By Matt Egan, CNN New York (CNN) — Billionaire Bill Ackman is stepping up his campaign to overhaul Harvard University by throwing his considerable influence behind a slate of four outsider candidates vying to join the university’s board of overseers. The move by Ackman takes a page out of the playbook that made him successful

By Clare Duffy and Ramishah Maruf, CNN New York (CNN) — Amazon on Wednesday cut hundreds of jobs across two different business units: streaming platform Twitch and its film and television studios division. Amazon is cutting “several hundred” roles across Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, according to an internal note shared with CNN. In

By Brian Fung, CNN (CNN) — With any luck, most people will never find themselves in a situation calling for CPR, the Heimlich maneuver or urgent treatment of a snake bite. But if it happens, YouTube will now provide quick access to step-by-step first aid videos made by hospitals and trustworthy health organizations. On Wednesday,

By Anna Bahney, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — Mortgage applications surged by 9.9% in the first week of the year, a sign that lower rates are bringing homebuyers off the sidelines, according to a report released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Applications soared in the week ending January 5 from a week earlier, on

By Matt Egan, CNN New York (CNN) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will highlight in a speech on Wednesday cooling inflation and an economy continuing to defy recession predictions. During an appearance in Boston, Yellen will tout the fact that television prices are down by 28% from their peak, used cars and trucks are 11%

By Parija Bhatnagar, CNN New York (CNN) — Despite the overarching message of the Barbie movie, Barbie herself has faced protracted criticism over the years for the doll’s effects on the self-image of young girls. Barbie hasn’t been evolving fast enough, the critics said, and it continues to portray an unrealistic role model of a

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — The McDonald’s Big Mac is getting even bigger. Beginning January 24, the chain is bringing back the Double Big Mac, which has four beef patties instead of the usual two, for a limited time nationwide. McDonald’s briefly sold the special sandwich in March 2020, announcing its arrival

By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN New York (CNN) — The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, measured 2.6% annually in November. So, getting that number down to the Fed’s 2% target should happen in no time, right? It might not be that simple. Fed officials predict it will take two more years

By Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN (CNN) — When 44-year-old Kate Kaden from Maine became a single mom a few years ago, she struggled with getting financially back on track, especially after the holiday shopping season. She started to make videos on YouTube about participating in an emerging movement called No Spend January, where people resist

By Nadine Schmidt, CNN Berlin (CNN) — German commuters faced chaos on Wednesday as the country was hit with a three-day national rail strike, adding to travel disruption in Europe’s biggest economy where protesting farmers continued to block roads and highways. Both cargo and passenger trains were affected by the rail strike which led the

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN New York (CNN) — On Friday, an Alaska Airlines flight carrying 177 people made an emergency landing shortly following takeoff from Portland, Oregon, after part of the wall of a new 737 Max 9 aircraft detached mid-flight and left a gaping hole in the side of the plane. Remarkably, no one was killed

By Hanna Ziady, CNN London (CNN) — Humanity faces a perilous future, marked by an explosion of disinformation turbocharged by artificial intelligence and the devastating effects of climate change. The gloomy outlook comes from an annual survey by the World Economic Forum (WEF) of people paid to identify and manage global risks. According to the