Business news

• US national debt tracker for Feb. 15, 2024: See what American taxpayers (you) owe in real time

  15-02-2024 23:53 via foxbusiness.com
  
  The U.S. national debt is climbing at an astronomical pace and has shown no signs of slowing down despite the heightened scrutiny on government spending.The national debt — which measures what the U.S. owes its creditors — increased to $34,245,315,231,752.02 as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the latest numbers published by the Treasury Department. That is down about $23.7 billion from the $34,269,060,493,914.81 figure reported the previous day.By comparison, just four decades a
  
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• Wendy's to add Cinnabon Pull-Apart to breakfast menu

  15-02-2024 23:39 via foxbusiness.com
  
  Wendy’s has a new cinnamon-y item coming to its breakfast menu.That new offering is the Cinnabon Pull-Apart, a sweet breakfast option that "takes the nostalgic, classic cinnamon roll and transforms the ooey-gooey center into bite-sized pieces," Wendy’s said Wednesday. It worked with Cinnabon on the sweet treat.Wendy’s described it as the "perfect complement to any of our savory breakfast items."WENDY'S INTRODUCES NEW BREAKFAST BURRITO: ‘A PORTABLE MASTERPIECE’The fa
  
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• LARRY KUDLOW: This whole pathetic tale of Democratic corruption should be a lesson to the entire country

  15-02-2024 23:23 via foxbusiness.com
  
  In a Fulton County, Georgia court room today, the legal and political travesty known as the Fani Willis case has blown sky-high. Sex, lies and video tape doesn't do it justice. As a non-lawyer, I'll insert the word "allegation," but the televised hearing today answered these allegations as real-time facts.  From the testimony of special prosecutor Nathan Wade particularly, but also the real-time testimony of Fani's former friend and co-worker, it's very clear that there was a romantic relat
  
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• WestJet CEO apologizes for accessibility failures

  15-02-2024 23:18 via cbc.ca
  
  WestJet chief executive officer Alexis von Hoensbroech apologized Thursday for incidents where the airline failed to accommodate people living with disabilities, saying he hopes to improve travel accessibility.
  
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• Prayer app Hallow takes top spot on Apple App Store

  15-02-2024 22:29 via foxbusiness.com
  
  Catholic prayer and meditation app Hallow now occupies the top spot on Apple's App Store as it continues to see a surge in downloads after the airing of its Super Bowl ad and the beginning of Lent on Wednesday.Hallow co-founder Alex Jones took to X to celebrate, sending out a screenshot of the milestone and writing, "For the first time in history, Jesus has the #1 app in the App Store."Hallow, which launched in 2018, has been the most downloaded and used Catholic app in the world for years, but
  
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• Tax refunds are much smaller so far this year, IRS says

  15-02-2024 22:22 via foxbusiness.com
  
  Tax refunds so far this year are noticeably smaller than they were at the same time last year, according to early data published by the IRS.The average refund check so far this year is worth $1,395 as of Feb. 2, about 29% lower compared to the $1,963 average recorded last year. That is based on nearly 2.6 million tax refunds collectively worth about $3.65 billion.However, the IRS has cautioned taxpayers the average refund amount will likely change in the coming months as more returns are process
  
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• Lionel Messi's Inter Miami makes up MLS' 25 most in-demand games on StubHub

  15-02-2024 22:20 via foxbusiness.com
  
  Lionel Messi may now be an MLS fixture, but the list of people who want to see him remains impossible to measure.Messi, arguably the greatest soccer player ever, announced last June that he was joining MLS' Inter Miami CF, and ticket prices to see him immediately skyrocketed.In the wake of Messi's announcement, Inter Miami CF's July games saw a 28x increase in sales on StubHub, and tickets for July 2023 games surpassed the team's total amount from the entire season prior.Well, the demand to see
  
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• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway dumps millions of Paramount shares

  15-02-2024 21:43 via foxbusiness.com
  
  Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate run by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, offloaded about 30.4 million shares from its investment in Paramount Global.The fourth-quarter move, disclosed Wednesday, marked a 32% decrease from the approximately 93.7 million shares the conglomerate held at the end of the prior quarter ending Sept. 30, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed.Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in Paramount stood at over 63.3 million shares, the Wednesday f
  
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• Air Canada found liable for chatbot's bad advice on plane tickets

  15-02-2024 21:38 via cbc.ca
  
  Air Canada has been ordered to pay compensation to a grieving grandchild who claimed they were misled into purchasing full-price flight tickets by an ill-informed chatbot.
  
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• Target launches low-cost brand with prices starting under $1

  15-02-2024 21:02 via foxbusiness.com
  
  Target is luring in price-conscious customers by launching its cheapest brand to date.It's called "dealworthy," and it comes as households continue to feel constrained by the high cost of goods. The Minneapolis-based company said on Thursday that the new brand will encompass products in a variety of categories from apparel, accessories and beauty to electronics and home items. Most of them will cost under $10, but some will start at less than $1, Target said.For electronics in particular, s
  
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• More student loan forgiveness is on the horizon, as U.S. colleges commit to cost transparency

  15-02-2024 20:57 via foxbusiness.com
  
  The new year brings some major moves in the student loan industry. From a new round of forgiveness to more transparency around financial aid, students are getting help from universities and the government alike.For students who took out $12,000 or less in loans, the Biden-Harris Administration plans to forgive those amounts next month, according to a Department of Education press release. Borrowers must have made payments for the last 10 years and enroll in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SA
  
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• Germany eclipses Japan as world's third-largest economy

  15-02-2024 20:49 via foxbusiness.com
  
  Japan unexpectedly slipped into a recession at the end of last year, losing its title as the world's third-biggest economy to Germany and raising doubts about when the central bank would begin to exit its decade-long ultra-loose monetary policy.Some analysts are warning of another contraction in the current quarter as weak demand in China, sluggish consumption and production halts at a unit of Toyota Motor Corp all point to a challenging path to an economic recovery."What's particularly striking
  
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• Delta CEO says Boeing, Airbus are critical partners

  15-02-2024 19:54 via foxbusiness.com
  
  Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said both Boeing and Airbus remain critical partners for the company despite scrutiny surrounding the Boeing Max 9. "We need a strong Airbus. We need a strong Boeing to supply us," Bastian said during an interview Wednesday on "The Claman Countdown." "We only have two basic manufacturers that we can source planes from." Bastian responded to a question about whether the company regretted placing an order in 2022 for 100 Boeing Max 10 planes.Bastian said th
  
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• Novo Nordisk CEO says food execs are ‘scared’ of weight loss drug threat

  15-02-2024 19:15 via foxbusiness.com
  
  Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen has been fielding calls from food company chief executives who have questions about the company's diabetes and weight-loss-related drugs."They are scared about it," Jorgensen told Bloomberg. The company confirmed to FOX Business he did not name names. However, it is no surprise that these drugs – Ozempic and Wegovy – which are the same medication but have different FDA-approved intended uses and are known to suppress appetites and chang
  
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• Homebuyers feel good about where mortgage rates are headed: Fannie Mae

  15-02-2024 19:13 via foxbusiness.com
  
  Job security and easing mortgage rates pushed consumer homebuying optimism to the highest level in nearly two years, according to a Fannie Mae survey.The mortgage giant's January Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) increased 3.5 points to 70.7, its highest level since March 2022. The improvement comes as many Americans feel the U.S. economy has turned a corner. The number of consumers stating they were not worried about losing their jobs over the next 12 months increased to
  
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• Cattle rancher warns climate crisis is threatening US food supply

  15-02-2024 19:00 via foxbusiness.com
  
  A worldwide "anti-meat rhetoric" is apparently putting America’s food security and farmers’ livelihoods at grave risk, according to Texas and Colorado-based cattle rancher Shad Sullivan."They've all teamed up in this anti-meat rhetoric that you see sweeping across the globe, to get control of the people. And that's all it amounts to, is total control," Sullivan said on "The Bottom Line," Wednesday."The tyrants need a rally cry. And that rally cry is the climate crisis," the rancher c
  
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• Crypto world, Wall Street await potential spring approval of spot ether ETF

  15-02-2024 18:30 via foxbusiness.com
  
  A little more than a month after Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler cast the deciding vote that led to the agency’s historic approval of 11 spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the crypto industry is now anticipating a similar outcome for a spot ether ETF as early as May.Sentiment surrounding the approval of a spot product (a fund that tracks the daily, or "spot" price of an asset) for the world’s second-largest digital asset in 2024 is overwhelmingly positive, a
  
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• Mortgage rates climb again as high housing costs persist

  15-02-2024 18:15 via foxbusiness.com
  
  Mortgage rates rose again this week, spelling further bad news for weary would-be buyers and sellers as housing inflation continues to surge.Freddie Mac's latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey released Thursday showed that the average rate for the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage climbed to 6.77% this week, up from 6.64% last week. The 30-year average rate was 6.32% a year ago.The rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage also increased, averaging 6.12% after coming in last week at 5.9%. One year ago,
  
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• JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock drop out of massive UN climate alliance in stunning move

  15-02-2024 18:11 via foxbusiness.com
  
  JPMorgan Chase and institutional investors BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) on Thursday announced that they are quitting or, in the case of BlackRock, substantially scaling back involvement in a massive United Nations climate alliance formed to combat global warming through corporate sustainability agreements.In a statement, the New York-based JPMorgan Chase explained that it would exit the so-called Climate Action 100+ investor group because of the expansion of its in-house sus
  
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• New home construction in January was down 10% from December, says CMHC

  15-02-2024 18:08 via cbc.ca
  
  New home construction in Canada fell by 10 per cent in January compared to December, as fewer multi-unit urban homes were built, according to the country's national housing agency.
  
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• Stuart Varney: Democrats have little choice but to support Biden

  15-02-2024 17:37 via foxbusiness.com
  
  During his "My Take" on Thursday, "Varney & Co." host Stuart Varney reacted to Democrats rallying around President Biden after Special Counsel Robert Hur sparked another debate over Biden's age and memory, arguing the left has no choice but to support the president unless there's a "dramatic event."STUART VARNEY: It is one week since Special Counsel Robert Hur described the president as an "elderly man with a poor memory."There was an immediate political firestorm. BIDEN TAKES JAB
  
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• Comer announces plan to subpoena major credit card companies for Biden family records: 'We're winning'

  15-02-2024 17:33 via foxbusiness.com
  
  House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., announced Thursday he is subpoenaing "several credit card companies" for the family records of President Biden. During an appearance on FOX Business' "Mornings with Maria Bartiromo," Comer said a subpoena was issued to American Express on Wednesday morning and suggested other major credit card companies could be next. Comer claimed that the subpoenas were issued after the Biden family allegedly used credit cards for "personal expen
  
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• Elton John auction to feature singer's '70s platform boots, piano and more

  15-02-2024 17:30 via foxbusiness.com
  
  Christie's auction house will soon host a sale of $10 million worth of Elton John's items. The auction is set to start Wednesday, and Christie's is currently hosting a free exhibit in its New York City location until eight sessions of auctioning begin.The items were collected from John's former Atlanta penthouse, which he listed for sale last fall for nearly $5 million. The property sold weeks later for more than $7 million, The Wall Street Journal reported in November.ELTON JOHN SELLING AT
  
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• Airbus announces special dividend, extending lead over Boeing

  15-02-2024 17:25 via foxbusiness.com
  
  Europe's Airbus unveiled a special dividend on Thursday after posting higher 2023 results, buoyed by resurgent demand for jetliners and despite a fresh charge of $215 million at its troubled Space business.The world's largest commercial planemaker said core adjusted operating profit rose 4% to 5.8 billion euros as revenue climbed 11% to 65.4 billion, and predicted core profit of 6.5 to 7.0 billion euros in 2024.For the fourth quarter, adjusted earnings came in just below market forecasts compile
  
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• SpaceX rocket blasts off carrying Intuitive Machines' moon lander

  15-02-2024 16:55 via foxbusiness.com
  
  A SpaceX rocket carrying a lunar lander from Intuitive Machines blasted off Thursday morning from Florida in the latest attempt to put an American spacecraft on the moon since the last crewed Apollo mission more than 50 years ago. The Houston-based company’s Nova-C lander, also referred to as Odysseus, lifted off shortly after 1 a.m. on a Falcon 9 rocket departing NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. The launch unfolded after a lunar lander from Astrobotic Technology en
  
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• Retail sales tumble much more than expected in January

  15-02-2024 16:01 via foxbusiness.com
  
  Americans pumped the brakes on spending in January after a pivotal holiday season as they continued to confront high interest rates and steeper prices for everyday goods.Retail sales, a measure of how much consumers spent on a number of everyday goods including cars, food and gasoline, tumbled 0.8% in January, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That is lower than both the 0.1% decline projected by Refinitiv economists and the revised 0.4% increase recorded in December.It marks the worst mont
  
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• Toronto ride-share, food delivery drivers strike, calling for more fair pay, better work conditions

  15-02-2024 00:34 via cbc.ca
  
  Dozens of ride-share and food delivery drivers in Toronto staged a strike Wednesday, calling for more fair pay and better treatment after a recent report found that what some drivers make falls well below Ontario's minimum wage.
  
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