Money

By Alicia Wallace, CNN New York (CNN) — A strong job market and a sturdy business climate have left Americans feeling quite jolly this December. US consumer confidence improved for the third consecutive month, leaping to its highest level since July, while recession worries abated, according to new data released Wednesday by the Conference Board.

By Hanna Ziady, CNN London (CNN) — A descendant of Europe’s richest family has reportedly begun a process to adopt his middle-aged former gardener, planning to leave him at least half of his roughly €12 billion ($13 billion) fortune. Nicolas Puech, 80, a fifth-generation descendant of the founder of French luxury goods company Hermès, wants

By Oliver Darcy, CNN New York (CNN) — 2023 was a year of titanic change in the industry. The media and technology sectors were upended by disruptive forces, testing the leadership of some of the world’s most powerful executives. At the same time, that disruption also produced some new leaders who were catapulted into positions

By Anna Cooban, CNN London (CNN) — The European Union is wielding its sweeping new rules for big online platforms in order to crack down on pornography sites Pornhub, Stripchat and XVideos. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive body, announced Wednesday that it had added the sites to its list of “very large online platforms”

By Nicole Goodkind, CNN New York (CNN) — Dealmaking is the bread and butter of Wall Street — but by some accounts this has been the worst year for mergers and acquisitions in about a decade. Initial public offerings have also suffered along the way, with very few companies making their stock market debuts. In

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — Rite Aid has agreed to a five-year ban from using facial recognition technology after the Federal Trade Commission found that the chain falsely accused customers of crimes and unfairly targeted people of color. The FTC and Rite Aid reached a settlement Tuesday after a complaint accused the

By Olivia LaBorde and Parija Kavilanz, CNN New York (CNN) — A Georgia-based company that makes many popular gift cards faces a lawsuit in California alleging it failed to take precautions to prevent scammers from draining gift cards of their value – a scam that experts say is common. The lawsuit, filed by San Francisco

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — Dunkin’ is eliminating coconut milk from its menus less than three years after the chain added the plant-based dairy alternative as an option for drinkers. Dunkin’ confirmed to CNN that it’s “bidding farewell” to coconut milk from US locations in the coming days but noted that the

By Diksha Madhok and Juliana Liu, CNN (CNN) — Alibaba has reshuffled its top ranks after the stellar performance of a competitor caused a stir at the tech giant. Eddie Wu, Alibaba Group CEO, will now also head the firm’s e-commerce business, replacing Trudy Dai, who has been with the company for over two decades,

By Samantha Delouya, CNN (CNN) — After three years of negotiating, Southwest Airlines and the union representing the airline’s pilots reached a tentative agreement on a new contract on Wednesday. “We know that the last few years have been difficult for our pilots as well as our customers, but we believe that this TA rewards

By Catherine Thorbecke, CNN New York (CNN) — OpenAI has laid out plans to prevent any worst-case scenarios that could arise out of the powerful artificial intelligence technology that it is developing. The company behind the mega-viral chatbot ChatGPT this week unveiled a 27-page “Preparedness Framework” document that outlines how it is working to track,

By Jennifer Korn, CNN (CNN) — The controversial social media platform Parler says it’s planning a comeback after shuttering in April following a string of controversies related to hate speech rules and illicit content. Parler is relaunching in the first quarter of 2024 to “return to its roots as a robust marketplace of ideas,” according

By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN New York (CNN) — On Wall Street, interest rate cuts have recently become less a question of if, but rather, when. The shift came last week after all but two of 19 Federal Reserve officials predicted the central bank would cut interest rates at least once in the coming year, according

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN New York (CNN) — The Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday announced it will resume mailing automated reminders of past due taxes to those who owe back taxes, something it had suspended doing in February 2022 due to pandemic-era backlogs. But it also said it will offer failure-to-pay penalty relief to 4.7

By Matt Egan, CNN New York (CNN) — As the world grapples with the existential crisis of climate change, environmental activists want President Joe Biden to phase out the oil industry, and Republicans argue he’s already doing that. Meanwhile, the surprising reality is the United States is pumping oil at a blistering pace and is

By Matt Egan and Chris Isidore, CNN New York (CNN) — Bipartisan opposition is growing to the proposed $14.1 billion acquisition of US Steel by Japan’s largest steelmaker, but that is unlikely to be enough to block the purchase, according to an expert in foreign investment deals. A trio of Republican senators Tuesday called for

By Brian Fung, CNN Washington (CNN) — Businesses could face steep penalties for using deepfakes or other artificial intelligence tools to illegally manipulate markets or to engage in securities fraud, under new legislation proposed Tuesday by a bipartisan pair of senators. The bill by Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner and Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy represents a

By Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN (CNN) — When the next Powerball numbers are drawn Wednesday evening, a lucky lottery player somewhere in the country could head into the holidays with a $572 million jackpot. When no tickets matched the numbers for the $543 million prize in Monday night’s drawing, the jackpot continued to swell, according to the multistate

By Tori Morales, CNN (CNN) — Next to those stockings hung by the chimney with care, it appears more likely than ever that the trimmed tree will be, well, faux. The holiday tradition of setting up a Christmas tree has endured centuries. But this year, 77% of Americans displaying a Christmas tree say they’ll opt for