Money

By Samantha Delouya, CNN (CNN) — In many ways, San Francisco’s downtown is in dire straits. The city’s once bustling Union Square neighborhood — teeming with shoppers, diners, and tourists — has suffered declining foot traffic and closing stores. Stores in the area, once crowded with shoppers, are now replaced by papered-over windows and “Retail

By Jennifer Korn, CNN New York (CNN) — In an effort to help prevent the spread of misinformation, Google on Tuesday unveiled an invisible, permanent watermark on images that will identify them as computer-generated. The technology, called SynthID, embeds the watermark directly into images created by Imagen, one of Google’s latest text-to-image generators. The AI-generated

By Anna Bahney, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — US pending home sales ticked up in July by 0.9%, rising for the second month in a row despite elevated prices and rising mortgage rates, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors. The stronger-than-expected showing for pending home sales defied a market

By Bryan Mena, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — The US economy grew more slowly in the second quarter than previously estimated — a good sign for the Federal Reserve, which is attempting to cool demand to bring down price increases. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic output, rose at an annualized rate of

By Oliver Darcy, CNN (CNN) — Mark Thompson, the former chief executive of The New York Times and director-general of the BBC, will be the next leader of CNN, the network announced Wednesday, taking the reins of the renowned global news organization at one of the most pivotal times in its 43-year history. “There isn’t

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — Flights across Florida continue to be disrupted Wednesday as Hurricane Idalia churns through the state. Several airports are currently closed, including Tampa, St. Pete-Clearwater and Tallahassee, according to the Federal Aviation Authority. Tampa’s airport is reopening to inbound flights at 4 pm ET and full reopen Thursday.

CNN By Laura He, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — Country Garden is raising funds to avoid default, as the troubled real estate giant battles a liquidity crisis which some fear could spread to China’s wider economy and even spill over abroad. The Foshan, Guandong-based company said Wednesday that it plans to issue 350 million shares

By Laura He and Mark Thompson, CNN Hong Kong/London (CNN) — Country Garden warned Wednesday that it could default on its vast debts as it reported a loss of 51.5 billion yuan ($7 billion) for the first six months of the year. The company, which was China’s largest residential developer last year, said it had

By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN New York (CNN) — US financial regulators on Tuesday signed off on new rules to prepare large and regional banks in the case of failure. Officials at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Reserve and Office of Comptroller of the Currency approved the rules. That includes a requirement that banks with

By Ramishah Maruf, CNN New York (CNN) — Warner Bros. has swapped its wands for pink heels. Summer smash “Barbie” is the highest-grossing global release in the studio’s 100-year history, beating out 2011’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.” Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” edged out the saga’s finale by $767,505, according to Comscore projections.

By Anna Bahney, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — The National Association of Realtors, the 1.5 million-member trade association that dominates the real estate industry, announced on Monday that its president, Kenny Parcell, has resigned amid sexual harassment allegations. Parcell’s resignation came two days after the New York Times published an article outlining complaints from current

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN New York (CNN) — As borrowers prepare to resume paying their federal student loans in the coming weeks, the IRS is reminding employers that they can help by offering workers up to $5,250 tax free as part of their educational assistance benefits. That $5,250 is the federal cap on the amount

By Catherine Thorbecke, CNN (CNN) — Before artificial intelligence can take over the world, it has to solve one problem. The bots are hallucinating. AI-powered tools like ChatGPT have mesmerized us with their ability to produce authoritative, human-sounding responses to seemingly any prompt. But as more people turn to this buzzy technology for things like

Brian Fung, CNN (CNN) — Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees to get on board with the company’s return-to-office plan or to consider employment elsewhere, the company confirmed to CNN, after a report by Insider highlighted Jassy’s remarks from a recent internal event. Jassy’s message reflects Amazon’s continued pressure on US office staff to comply

By Jennifer Korn, CNN New York (CNN) — The next iPhone could be just weeks away. Apple announced its fall special event on Tuesday, sending out press invites for the morning of September 12th. Invitees will get to attend in-person at the Steve Jobs Theater inside Apple Park, the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, while

By Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN New York (CNN) — Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, which grew from a small North Carolina-based upholstery maker to a national retail furniture chain, is shuttering operations, citing weak sales and trouble securing financing. It’s the latest retailer hurting from sluggish sales as consumers pull back on spending. About 500 employees

By Clare Duffy and Brian Fung, CNN (CNN) — X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, is hiring for its safety and elections teams ahead of the 2024 US presidential election and will again allow political ads for the first time since 2019. “We’re currently expanding our safety and elections teams to focus on combating

By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN New York (CNN) — Azher Abbasi, head of supervision at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco — and a key official with direct oversight over failed Silicon Valley Bank — will retire at the end of October, the regional reserve bank announced this week. Abbasi and Mary Daly, president of

By Hanna Ziady, CNN London (CNN) — The UK government has delayed health and safety checks on food imports from the European Union for the fifth time in three years amid fears that the extra controls will push up food prices and disrupt vital supplies. The latest foot-dragging demonstrates that Britain is still struggling to

By Allison Morrow, CNN New York (CNN) — The value of crypto assets surged Tuesday after a US court cleared a path for the nation’s first bitcoin exchange-traded fund. The ruling is a breakthrough moment for crypto investors and a setback for the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been trying to rein in the