CNN Business/Consumer

By Samantha Delouya, CNN (CNN) — The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.06% for the week ending January 15, according to Freddie Mac. The last time home borrowing rates were this low was September 2022. Experts hope the drop could help ease the stalemate in the housing market. “The impacts are noticeable, as weekly

By Brian Stelter, CNN (CNN) — Early on in her tenure as President Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi scrapped a Biden-era policy that banned the Justice Department from pursuing reporters’ phone records and notes while investigating leakers. The message was unmistakable: Trump-era investigators would welcome a confrontation. And now they have one. This week, the

By David Goldman, CNN (CNN) — The United States is considering whether to strike Iran as turmoil intensifies for the country’s authoritarian regime. The Iranian government is at its weakest point in years, destabilizing yet another OPEC nation less than two weeks after the United States toppled the government of Venezuela. Protests have erupted in

By Samantha Delouya, CNN (CNN) — The United States has completed its first sale of Venezuelan oil, valued at $500 million, according to an administration official. Additional sales of oil are expected in the coming days and weeks, the official added. In the days since the United States attacked Venezuela and captured its president, Nicolás

By Elisabeth Buchwald, Lisa Eadicicco, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump enacted a new 25% tariff on “certain advanced computing chips” on Wednesday, according to a White House fact sheet. That includes Nvidia’s H200 chip and AMD’s MI325X. However, chips imported to support building up the US technological supply chain would be exempt. It’s unclear,

By Hadas Gold, CNN (CNN) — Elon Musk’s Grok artificial intelligence chatbot will no longer edit “images of real people in revealing clothing” on the X platform, the company confirmed Wednesday evening, following global outrage after Grok was found to be complying with user requests to digitally undress images of adults and in some cases

By Clare Duffy, CNN New York (CNN) — YouTube will now let parents limit the amount of time their teens can spend scrolling through its short-form video feature, Shorts, or block them all together. The option is part of a group of new parental controls the popular video platform announced on Wednesday. YouTube, like many

CNN By Katelyn Polantz, Devan Cole, CNN (CNN) — The longtime government contractor whose activity prompted the controversial search of a Washington Post reporter’s home acknowledged he mishandled classified information, prosecutors said, according to a court hearing transcript obtained by CNN. Aurelio Perez-Lugones told federal investigators he was angry about “recent government activity,” Assistant US

By Brian Stelter, CNN (CNN) — Last month, Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson penned a first-person piece about her long year as “the federal government whisperer,” receiving tips from hundreds of federal workers impacted by President Donald Trump’s transformation of the government. On Wednesday morning, FBI agents arrived at Natanson’s home and executed a search

By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — US wholesale inflation picked up speed in November, pushed higher in part by fast-rising energy prices, according to shutdown-delayed data released Wednesday. The latest Producer Price Index report, which was delayed due to the recent federal shutdown, showed that prices rose 0.2% in November from the month before, resulting

By Bryan Mena, CNN Washington (CNN) — Sales at US retailers rose at a solid pace in November, despite jitters about the economy and a slowing labor market. Retail sales rose 0.6% in November, the Commerce Department said Wednesday, up sharply from October’s downwardly revised 0.1% decline. That was higher than the 0.4% increase economists

By Clare Duffy, CNN New York (CNN) — Microsoft says it will ask to pay higher electricity bills in areas where it’s building data centers, in an effort to prevent electricity prices for local residents from rising in those areas. The move is part of a broader plan to address rising prices and other concerns

By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — US consumer prices rose 2.7% annually in December, closing out a year that saw slight progress on inflation but continued affordability concerns for many Americans. The latest Consumer Price Index, which measures the average change in prices for some commonly purchased goods and services, showed that the annual pace

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN London (CNN) — The BBC is taking steps to have Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against it dismissed, a court document showed. Last month, the US president sued the British broadcaster for defamation over a BBC documentary featuring edited clips of a speech he made on January 6, 2021. The edit spliced

CNN By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump said on Monday that countries that do business with Iran will face a new 25% tariff. The announcement appears to mean goods from China, a major trading partner of both Iran and the United States, would become significantly more expensive to import. “Effective immediately, any

By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump said on Monday that countries that do business with Iran will face a new 25% tariff. The announcement appears to mean goods from China, a major trading partner of both Iran and the United States, would become significantly more expensive to import. “Effective immediately, any Country

By Clare Duffy, CNN New York (CNN) — Apple plans to use Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence model to power its updated version of Siri, which is set to launch later this year, the two companies announced Monday. “After careful evaluation, Apple determined that Google’s Al technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models

By Brian Stelter, Liam Reilly, CNN (CNN) — Paramount is taking its pursuit of CNN’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery to court. On Monday Paramount CEO David Ellison announced a lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court, where shareholders typically bring corporate disputes, as it attempts a hostile takeover of the iconic entertainment company. Ellison criticized Warner

By Bryan Mena, CNN Washington (CNN) — Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the Federal Reserve’s $2.5 billion renovation of its headquarters in Washington, DC. In an extraordinary video posted by Powell on Sunday night, he called the investigation “pretext” resulting from his ongoing struggle with the administration over interest rates, saying it

CNN By Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN New York (CNN) — The food pyramid is getting turned upside down, with protein and dairy gaining more prominence in the suggested American diet. Sugar and processed foods are getting shunned even more with warning labels. It has whiffs of MAHA, as the new dietary guidelines for Americans promote controversial

By Hadas Gold, CNN (CNN) — Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot has limited some of its Imagine image generation features to paid X subscribers, days after international uproar over the AI tool responded to user requests by “digitally undressing” people, including children. The change appears to have occurred between Thursday and Friday. Grok’s X account responds

CNN By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — Hiring slowed more than expected in December, a sluggish end to what was one of the weakest years of job growth in decades, a dynamic that further amplified America’s affordability crisis. The US economy added an estimated 50,000 jobs last month, slowing from a downwardly revised 56,000 jobs

By Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN New York (CNN) — The food pyramid is getting turned upside down, with protein and dairy gaining more prominence in the suggested American diet. Sugar and processed foods are getting shunned even more with warning labels. It has whiffs of MAHA, as the new dietary guidelines for Americans promote controversial saturated

By Chris Isidore, CNN (CNN) — General Motors on Thursday said it will lose another $6 billion as a result of its decision to pull back on electric cars. It comes on top of a $1.6 billion charge it disclosed in October for changes to its EV plans. It’s another sign of the significant cost

By Brian Stelter, CNN (CNN) — Paramount is not raising its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery above $30 per share — at least not yet. On Thursday, Paramount responded to WBD’s latest rejection letter by repeating its view that shareholders should support its hostile takeover bid. “Paramount’s offer is superior to WBD’s existing agreement with

By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — Americans are feeling increasingly hopeless about their employment prospects, new survey data showed Thursday. The probability of finding a job hit a record low of 43.1% in December, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest Survey of Consumer Expectations, a closely watched survey that has been

By Clare Duffy, CNN New York (CNN) — Character.AI has agreed to settle multiple lawsuits alleging the artificial intelligence chatbot maker contributed to mental health crises and suicides among young people, including a case brought by Florida mother Megan Garcia. The settlement marks the resolution to some of the first and most high-profile lawsuits related

By Brian Stelter, David Goldman, CNN (CNN) — Once again, Warner Bros. Discovery has chosen Netflix as its preferred suitor over Paramount. On Wednesday, the WBD board advised shareholders that last month’s revised offer from Paramount is still not as appealing as the existing agreement with Netflix — even though Paramount said it had addressed

CNN, POOL, @REALDONALDTRUMP , TRUTH SOCIAL, @realDonaldTrump / Truth Social By Kit Maher, Kaitlan Collins, David Goldman, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday night that Venezuela will turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States, to be sold at market value and with the proceeds controlled by