By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Business Party City expects Halloween will be back with a vengeance this year — in a good way. The seller of themed party products, clothing, decorations and other paraphernalia said it has upped its seasonal hiring ahead of the costumed festivities because it anticipates Halloween sales to be much more robust
Continue ReadingBy Paul R. La Monica, CNN Business Some would argue that Wall Street is just one big casino. And for investors wagering on gambling stocks, it’s been a big losing bet so far this year. Shares of sports betting giant DraftKings are down about 35% in 2022. UK-based Flutter Entertainment, which owns DraftKings rival FanDuel,
Continue ReadingBy Kathryn Vasel, CNN Business Having kids is a major life change — and it can also be very expensive. And over the past several years, more workers are seeking out company benefits that help cover some of the costs. Some companies are offering coverage for things like egg freezing, in vitro fertilization and breast
Continue ReadingMartha C. White Inflation talk is expected to dominate the Federal Reserve’s annual summer gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later this week. Wall Street will be closely watching the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium — which will return to an in-person format after two years of being held virtually — searching for clues about where the
Continue ReadingBy Anna Cooban, CNN Business The United Kingdom will have to find an answer to soaring energy bills soon or risk a humanitarian crisis. But freezing gas and electricity prices over the next two winters could cost the government over £100 billion ($118 billion), more than it spent paying millions of people’s salaries during the
Continue ReadingBy Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business Two months ago, Australian media site Crikey called “Murdoch” an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol. Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch’s lawyers have been battling Crikey ever since. On Monday, Crikey published an open letter and took out a full-page ad in the New York
Continue ReadingOpinion by Derrick Johnson and Wisdom Cole for CNN Business Perspectives With the simple stroke of a pen, President Biden has the unique opportunity to unlock financial freedom for countless Black Americans and low-income communities. But according to CNN reporting, he might cancel just $10,000 of student loan debt per borrower for those earning less
Continue ReadingBy Julia Horowitz, CNN Business When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in late February, investors were as shocked as much of the rest of the world. They rushed to digest the consequences, as the war disrupted supply chains and triggered unprecedented Western sanctions, straining a global economy already under pressure.
Continue ReadingBy Frank Pallotta, CNN Business Hollywood loves a comeback story, and MoviePass, one of the industry’s most notorious flops, is trying to write one of the most epic sequels in history. The revolutionary movie ticketing service, which sent shock waves through Hollywood in 2017 before collapsing in 2019, has risen from the dead after its
Continue ReadingBy Michelle Toh, CNN Business People on the frontlines of Europe’s gas crisis are scrambling to get solar panels for their homes and businesses as they confront a “perfect storm” that’s sending energy prices to record levels. In the first six months of this year, Germany saw a 22% jump in the installation of solar
Continue ReadingBy Anna Bahney, CNN Business Rents hit a record high in July for the 17th month in a row, putting ever more pressure on renters. The national median rent hit a new record high of $1,879 a month in July, up 12.3% from a year ago, according to Realtor.com. While rents have been hitting new
Continue ReadingBy Rhea Mogul, Junko Ogura and Tetsu Sukegawa, CNN Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday Japan will restart idled nuclear plants and consider developing next-generation reactors, in a policy reversal that will see the nation turn back toward atomic energy as fuel prices soar worldwide. Kishida told reporters he had instructed officials to come up
Continue ReadingBy Diksha Madhok, CNN Business Asia’s richest man has launched a hostile bid to take over an influential broadcaster in India and gain a firmer footing in the country’s vibrant media space. AMG Media Networks, a unit of billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate, said in a statement late on Tuesday that it has acquired a 29%
Continue ReadingBy Alicia Wallace, CNN Business Business activity at private US companies in early August dropped off at some of the sharpest rates seen since the beginning of the pandemic as rising interest rates and high inflation crimped consumer spending, according to data released Tuesday. The latest S&P Global preliminary flash composite purchasing managers index, or
Continue ReadingBy Paul R. La Monica, CNN Business Wall Street analysts are typically — to quote an old REM song — shiny happy people. They don’t often issue overly skeptical research reports on the companies they cover. And they tend not to ask executives tough questions on earnings calls, leaning toward a more “Great quarter, guys!”
Continue ReadingMartha C. White for CNN Business The pandemic lockdowns might be in the rearview mirror, but rising inflation has ushered in the return of “micro” weddings, Zoom ceremonies —Â and disinvited guests. Couples blindsided by wedding budgets that have blown up by as much as 100% are scrambling to economize by any means possible in order
Continue ReadingCNN By Chris Isidore, CNN Business The only thing that climbed as high as gas prices earlier this year was the disapproval of President Joe Biden, as Americans blamed him for record prices at the pump. But Biden had relatively little control over the prices set primarily by global markets. If Biden got too much
Continue ReadingBy Matt Egan, CNN Business Drivers have something to smile about: A historic drop in gasoline prices. The national average for a gallon of regular gas has dropped every single day since soaring to a record high of $5.02 a gallon on June 14, according to AAA. This 70-day streak of falling prices at the
Continue ReadingBy Anna Bahney, CNN Business New home sales plunged in July as high prices and mortgage rates pushed buyers to think twice about closing the deal. Sales of newly constructed homes fell by 12.6% in July from June and were down 29.6% from a year ago, according to a joint report from the US Department
Continue ReadingBy Paul R. La Monica, CNN Business The pandemic lift for Zoom has gone poof. Shares of the video conferencing company plunged more than 15% Tuesday after Zoom reported revenue for the second quarter that missed analysts’ forecasts and issued a weak outlook for sales and profit in the third quarter. Zoom’s stock was a
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