CNN – Business/Consumer

By Anna Bahney, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — US home building cooled in June, dropping 8% from May’s surprising surge, which came as low inventory in the existing home market continued to boost interest in new homes. Housing starts, a measure of new home construction, dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.43 million,

By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN New York (CNN) — Consumers are snapping up air conditioners, ice makers, pool floats and other goods to help them cool down in response to a brutal heat wave in the United States. On Amazon, sales of air conditioners increased 248% during the 30 days ending July 14, according to data

By Brian Fung, CNN (CNN) — The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday released a set of long-anticipated draft updates to the nation’s merger guidelines, introducing potentially comprehensive changes to the way the US government reviews mergers and acquisitions for the first time in more than a decade. The proposed changes could

By Hanna Ziady, CNN London (CNN) — UK inflation slowed to its lowest annual rate since March 2022 last month, making it more likely the Bank of England will raise interest rates by only a quarter of a percentage point next month. Consumer prices rose 7.9% last month compared with a year ago, down from

By Oliver Darcy, CNN (CNN) — Bob Iger is seeking to reassure an anxious arm of Disney’s business. In an off-site meeting on Tuesday, the Disney chief executive spoke to senior leaders of the company’s television businesses, CNN has learned. The meeting came just days after Iger made decidedly candid remarks to CNBC’s David Faber

By Krystal Hur, CNN (CNN) — AT&T stock fell to its lowest level since 1993 on Tuesday, extending its losses following a report earlier this month that some of the country’s largest network providers left thousands of lead-covered cables in several locations across the United States. The Wall Street Journal on July 9 reported that

By Jennifer Korn New York (CNN) — Google is working to fix false contact information for some major airlines on Google Maps after a Twitter user found a phone number actually connected callers to scammers. Phone numbers appeared to be altered on Google Maps listings for multiple airlines’ locations at John F Kennedy and LaGuardia

By Samantha Delouya, CNN (CNN) — Before talks between the Hollywood actors’ union and major film and TV studios broke down, the SAG-AFTRA union enlisted Tom Cruise to lobby on behalf of its members, according to the Hollywood Reporter. At issue was the use of artificial intelligence, or AI. According to the report, superstar Cruise

By Clare Duffy, CNN New York (CNN) — Meta’s Twitter rival app Threads on Tuesday rolled out its first major batch of updates since its launch two weeks ago as it works to maintain momentum. The new features include a translation button and a tab on users’ activity feed dedicated to showing who’s followed them,

By Parija Kavilanz, CNN (CNN) — First came Toys R Us’ roller coaster revival, and now Babies R Us is experiencing its own rebirth, too. Babies R Us, which went out of business in tandem with its parent company, Toys R Us, in 2018, is opening its new US flagship store on Wednesday at the

By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN New York (CNN) — A recession could be miles away — or it could be just around the corner. It’s the storm that just keeps getting delayed further, but someday in the near future a mild recession will hit, economists predict. If that “someday” were today, how would the average American

By Anna Cooban, CNN London (CNN) — BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, said Monday it has appointed Amin Nasser, chief executive of oil giant Saudi Aramco, to its board of directors — despite the New York-based firm’s pledge to accelerate investment in climate-friendly companies. BlackRock, which had $9.4 trillion assets under management at the

By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN New York (CNN) — Target has changed its dress code to allow more of its approximately 440,000 US-based workers to wear shorts as extreme heat makes retail and other jobs harder. It’s one small way companies are adjusting to the brutal new reality of climate change. In the United States, millions

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business New York (CNN) — Taco John’s, the regional chain that has “Taco Tuesday” trademarked, announced Tuesday that it’s ending its fight in defending the phrase and will “abandon” it because it doesn’t want to pay the legal fees that come with a fight against Taco Bell. “We’ve always prided ourselves

By Brian Fung, CNN (CNN) — The United Nations should create a new international body to help govern the use of artificial intelligence as the technology increasingly reveals its potential risks and benefits, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The UN has an opportunity to set globally agreed-upon rules of the road for monitoring and

CNN By Brian Fung, CNN (CNN) — The United Nations should create a new international body to help govern the use of artificial intelligence as the technology increasingly reveals its potential risks and benefits, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The UN has an opportunity to set globally agreed-upon rules of the road for monitoring

By Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN Business (CNN) — Microsoft on Tuesday announced a more secure version of its AI-powered Bing specifically for businesses and designed to assure professionals they can safely share potentially sensitive information with a chatbot. With Bing Chat Enterprise, the user’s chat data will not be saved, sent to Microsoft’s servers or

Reuters Spain’s antitrust regulator has imposed fines worth a total of €194.1 million ($218 million) on Amazon and Apple for colluding to restrict competition on the Amazon website in Spain. The two contracts the companies signed on October 31, 2018, granting Amazon the status of authorized Apple dealer, included anti-competitive clauses that affected the online

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business New York (CNN) — In-N-Out employees in five US states will no longer be allowed to wear masks as part of new company guidelines that “emphasize the importance of customer service,” notably showing their smiles, according to a new policy issued by the fast food chain. Beginning August 14, employees

By Bryan Mena, CNN Washington, DC (CNN) — Spending at US retailers rose in June for the third month in a row, in a subdued show of resilience from American consumers. Retail spending, which is adjusted for seasonality but not inflation, rose 0.2% in June, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. That was a slower pace