By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration’s massive federal cuts and swelling feelings of economic uncertainty helped fuel a recession-level spike in layoff plans last month, new data showed Thursday. US-based employers last month announced plans to slash 172,017 jobs, a 103% increase from January and the highest February total since 2009, according
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By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump’s tariffs have been met with alarm and concern about how steep import taxes against the United States’ three biggest trading partners not only could harm the economy in the immediate term but also could set off a devastating trade war. To be fair, the broad-based tariff
Continue ReadingBy Jeanne Sahadi, CNN (CNN) — Last year was a pretty good year if you were among the tens of millions of employees who put their savings to work in a 401(k) plan. Sure, strong returns on the S&P 500 helped. It rose nearly 25% for the year. Same goes for the Nasdaq, which was
Continue ReadingBy Matt Egan, CNN New York (CNN) — The Tariff Man sequel is proving to be even more confusing and chaotic than the original. Each week, new tariffs are threatened against friends and foes alike, on an ever-growing list of products. Administration officials hint at compromises, only to be contradicted by the boss. Some tariffs
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By John Liu, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — Chinese tech giant Alibaba unveiled its latest artificial intelligence reasoning model on Thursday, boasting that its capabilities beat those of rival models from OpenAI and startup DeepSeek. The news prompted Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares to close 8% higher on the day and helped boost the Hang Seng’s
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By Nectar Gan and Juliana Liu, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — Fresh off the global success of DeepSeek’s latest artificial intelligence reasoning model, China’s top economic officials have vowed to set up a state-backed fund to support technological innovation. The “state venture capital guidance fund” will focus on cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum
Continue ReadingBy Anna Cooban and Olesya Dmitracova, CNN London (CNN) — 2025 has not been kind to Europe so far. The risk of war on the continent has been declared the highest it’s ever been, while data has shown the mighty US economy pulling even further ahead of its European counterpart. As a rapid rise in
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By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN New York (CNN) — Target is facing a 40-day consumer boycott starting Wednesday over the company’s shift away from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. “We’re asking people to divest from Target because they have turned their back on our community,” Rev. Jamal Bryant, a prominent Atlanta-area megachurch pastor who started
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CNN By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN New York (CNN) — Target is facing a 40-day consumer boycott starting Wednesday over the company’s shift away from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. “We’re asking people to divest from Target because they have turned their back on our community,” Rev. Jamal Bryant, a prominent Atlanta-area megachurch pastor who
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By Hadas Gold, CNN (CNN) — Elon Musk says that he believes the US Postal Service and Amtrak need to be privatized and that “we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized.” Speaking virtually at the Morgan Stanley Technology Media & Telecom conference, Musk said it’s “kind of embarrassing” how other countries have “way
Continue ReadingBy Liam Reilly, CNN (CNN) — Tom Llamas will replace Lester Holt as the face of “NBC Nightly News.” Llamas is expected to take over the anchor seat as well as managing editor duties this summer, the broadcaster shared on Wednesday. In addition to his “Nightly News” duties, Llamas will stay on as anchor of
Continue ReadingBy Liam Reilly, CNN (CNN) — The Los Angeles Times’ billionaire owner, who unveiled an AI tool that generates opposing perspectives to be displayed on opinion stories, was unaware the new tool had created pro-KKK arguments less than 24 hours after it launched — and hours after the AI comments had been taken down. The
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By John Towfighi, CNN New York (CNN) — US stocks rose Wednesday after the Trump administration announced it would grant a one-month exemption for tariffs on Canada and Mexico that affect automakers. US stocks, which had teetered during the day, surged higher after the White House confirmed the one-month exemption. The Dow jumped 615 points
Continue ReadingBy Chris Isidore, CNN New York (CNN) — The US tariffs on Canadian fuel imports could hit some parts of the country harder than others. The Northeast could see that change first, according to experts, and prices are also at risk of rising on the West Coast. But even those potential hikes would be unlikely
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By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump has granted an exemption on auto tariffs on Mexico and Canada for one month, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Wednesday, issuing a major, albeit temporary, concession on a key part of his administration’s economic plan. After speaking with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, Trump
Continue ReadingBy Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration’s frenetic policy changes appear to be making US businesses think twice about hiring new workers. New data released Wednesday showed that hiring by US private-sector companies fell sharply last month, much more than economists had expected. Private-sector employment increased by an estimated 77,000 jobs in February,
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By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — In a time when fast food chains are releasing deals to juice sluggish sales as inflation and tariffs threats weigh heavily on the American consumer, one company is bucking the trend: Taco Bell. The Crunchwrap Supreme and Mexican Pizza purveyor is forecasting 8% sales growth this quarter
Continue ReadingBy Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN (CNN) — Well, it finally happened: President Donald Trump fulfilled his promise to impose sweeping tariffs on America’s top three trading partners, Mexico, China and Canada. Collectively, these three countries shipped $1.4 trillion worth of goods to the United States last year, accounting for 40% of all the goods the US
Continue ReadingBy Danny Freeman, Samantha Delouya and Nicki Brown, CNN (CNN) — Last fall, in the waning weeks of the presidential campaign, Donald Trump visited Sprankle’s Neighborhood Market, a family-owned grocery store in rural Kittanning, Pennsylvania. The stop was meant to drive home one of Trump’s core campaign promises: to rein in the cost of groceries
Continue ReadingBy Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN New York (CNN) — Target is facing a 40-day consumer boycott starting Wednesday over the company’s shift away from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. “We’re asking people to divest from Target because they have turned their back on our community,” Rev. Jamal Bryant, a prominent Atlanta-area megachurch pastor who started
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