By Nathalie Voit In what amounts to a crushing defeat of American soft power in the Middle East, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has signaled its willingness to consider accepting the Chinese yuan for some of its oil sales to China, The Wall Street Journal first reported on March 15. The potential agreement to price some of [...]
By Nathalie Voit The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted on March 9 to propose new cybersecurity regulations for public companies in a bid to limit investors’ risk, according to a press release issued on Wednesday by the agency. Mandatory cybersecurity incident reporting and required disclosures on company policies to manage cybersecurity threats are among the new [...]
By Nathalie Voit According to survey results released March 10 from transportation analytics company AAA, gasoline prices are too high for the average American. When polled by AAA between Feb. 18 and 21, two-thirds of respondents said current gas prices were too expensive. Over half of respondents (59%) said they would change their daily driving habits or [...]
By Nathalie Voit E-commerce giant Amazon was referred to the Department of Justice by a bipartisan group of lawmakers over potential criminal obstruction of Congress, according to a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland on March 9. The letter, written by the House Judiciary Committee, alleged Amazon attempted to obstruct or impede the Committee’s investigation into Amazon’s [...]
By Nathalie Voit The Consumer Price Index (CPI) surged 7.9% year-over-year in February, the largest annual increase in over four decades, the Department of Labor (DOL) said in a news release on March 10. The all-items index rose 7.9% in the twelve months ending in February, driven by increases in gasoline, food, and rent indexes. The growing [...]
By Nathalie Voit Upscale Canadian athletic apparel brand Lululemon unveiled its first-ever footwear collection for women at a media event in New York on March 8, Business Wire reported. The company’s debut running shoe, Blissfeel, will be available online and in select stores starting on March 22. The innovative “head-to-toe solution” will retail for $148. The new lineup [...]
By Nathalie Voit Retail giant Amazon announced the launch of a new mobile app called Amp, which allows users to "DJ their own live radio shows for free" by inviting callers and playing tracks from its fully licensed catalog of music. The free, limited-access U.S. beta will enable creators to curate their own playlists, host their own [...]
By Nathalie Voit President Joe Biden announced a U.S. ban on Russian oil imports amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, according to remarks from the White House made on March 8. On Tuesday morning, the administration released a statement by President Biden on "Russia's unprovoked and unjustified invasion" of Ukraine. The White House unveiled more sanctions against Russia, [...]
By Nathalie Voit Widespread job gains in February helped bring the unemployment rate nearer to pre-pandemic levels, the Labor Department said in its jobs report released March 4 Total nonfarm payrolls for the month grew by 678,000, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.8% from 4.0% in January, the department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) [...]
By Nathalie Voit A majority of Americans are optimistic about the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic, a Gallup poll released on March 7 found. When polled by Gallup about the state of the pandemic, just one-third of respondents (34%) said they were worried about contracting COVID-19, down from 50% in January. Additionally, nearly two-thirds of respondents (63%) [...]
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