Cooler inflation?The goal of the Fed's interest rate hikes is to get inflation under control while keeping the job market recovery intact. Consumer prices spiked by 9.1% in June from the year before, the fastest pace since December 1981, according to the latest data from the Labor Department. Inflation is nowhere near the Fed's goal of 2% and has gotten worse in recent months. Economists warn inflation could get even worse because gas prices have continued to hit record highs in rec...

But over at Capital Economics, a different call: "We think the economy is well-placed to handle higher interest rates and anticipate a period of weak economic growth rather than an outright recession," economists told clients earlier this month. Truth is, no one really knows if the economy is already in a recession or headed for one. Generally marked by two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth and rising unemployment, a recession is officially determined after the fact by a committee o...

This sort of extreme individual customization -- buyers will be able to choose literally any paint color they wish, for instance -- is something that ultra-luxury automakers like Rolls-Royce have been offering for over a century. This is not something that Cadillac dealers are used to, and it remains to be seen how GM will handle the vehicle ordering process. "The overall experience for the customer" will be an important part of what makes the Celestiq stand out, Harvey said in a statement em...

Breaking it down: Netflix had already pushed expectations as low as it could, projecting that it would lose 2 million subscribers last quarter after shedding 200,000 in the first three months of the year. That created room for a positive surprise. "We're talking about losing 1 million instead of losing 2 million," Chairman Reed Hastings said on a call with analysts. "So our excitement is tempered by the less bad results." Netflix's most substantial subscriber loss came from its bigg...

When you think about a shrinking economy, what comes to mind? Factories shutting down. A wave of job losses and few open positions. Huge financial losses that batter most industries. That's not what America is seeing right now, even though the country's gross domestic product has declined for two consecutive quarters, meeting one technical definition of a recession. * So what is happening, and where could we be headed? The answer to both questions could be found in the country'...

But after two years of double-digit price growth and wild bidding wars, the home sales are slowly starting to revert to a more normal pace thanks to rising mortgage rates, which make homes less affordable for buyers. Looking ahead, Fratantoni said, "we expect the unemployment rate to go up a small to medium amount, which coupled with affordability challenges, will lower demand [for homes]." That means home sellers will no longer be able to price their properties 15% higher than what their nei...

Waymo, the self-driving subsidiary of Google's parent company, stopped using the term "self-driving" in 2021, saying that misuse by other automakers was giving the public a false impression of its capabilities. Waymo began referring to its robotaxis as "fully autonomous." Waymo, which operates robotaxis in the Phoenix area, does not need a human in the driver's seat to ensure safe operation. The California DMV's actions are officially limited to the state, but the impact could ...

But diesel isn't only crucial for trucking — it's fundamental to international transport as a whole because the engines of heavy-load vehicles like freight trucks, cargo jets and barges run on diesel and its chemical siblings. So when sending products all over the country and the world becomes more expensive, the prices of the products those transport vehicles carry also rises, worsening inflation. * Diesel prices have long been more expensive than gasoline, well before today's...

"This rate is typically used to tax activities that are not considered economically productive, such as lottery," he said. "So this could be an indication that the government wants to make revenue, but it does not see crypto trading as economically productive." For equities, India applies a 15% short-term capital gains tax if shares are sold in less than a year, and 10% if sold after a year. * Gupta hopes that the government makes up its mind soon. India, with its vast pool of developers and ...

And where they are fallingIn all other industries, inflation-adjusted wages have dropped since the end of 2019, led by utility workers with a 2.7% decline. Those employed in construction and information technology have seen their pay slip by 1.8%, while manufacturing and financial sector workers have experienced a 1.7% drop. Even wholesale trade workers, such as truck drivers, who have also been in demand during the pandemic as supply chains snarled, have lost ground. Their wages have decline...

"The fact of the matter is we just don't do enough investment, we don't do enough R&D in the UK, and that is something that's hampering our productivity growth," said Turner. Higher productivity would be a boon for workers. Companies could produce more for the same number of staff, and afford to pay them higher wages. Despite high inflation, average wages are no higher today that they were before 2008, the Resolution Foundation said in a report this month. Ilzetzki said more in...

Zurawik's observationCNN media analyst David Zurawik writes: "Another media takeaway from the hearings on the insurrection involves the role of TV in American life. While television was widely accepted as the principal storyteller of our national life during the last half of the 20th Century, many analysts have downplayed its importance with the rise of the Internet and social media during the last two decades. But these hearings have shown the enduring political and cultural power of th...