By Nathalie Voit In a statement released Jan. 14 by the White House, President Joe Biden announced his nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin to serve as vice-chair of supervision for the Fed. The president also nominated economists Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson to serve as governors. If confirmed by the Senate, Raskin, a former Treasury official and [...]
By Nathalie Voit Big tech giant Microsoft plans to buy Activision Blizzard, the world’s third-largest videogame company by revenue. The move follows a drawn-out public investigation into Activision Blizzard by California regulators that has slumped shares of the company since July, ZeroHedge first reported on Jan. 18. The all-cash deal, valued at $68.7 billion, will be the company’s largest [...]
By Nathalie Voit Retail sales during the 2021 November-December holiday season grew by their fastest in years, surging by 14.1% over 2020 to a record $886.7 billion, the National Retail Federation (NRF) said Jan. 14. Last season’s spending was the highest ever, beating the previous records of 8.2% growth in 2020 and $777.3 billion spent that year, [...]
By Nathalie Voit A Texas-led coalition of state attorneys general accused Google of attempting to rig the online ad market and striking an illegal arrangement with Facebook in an amended antitrust lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York on Jan. 14, The Wall Street Journal reported. The lawsuit, initially filed in Dec. 2020, accused the [...]
By Nathalie Voit Federal homeownership mortgage lender Freddie Mac said the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose by nearly a quarter of a percent from last week to 3.45% in the week ending Jan. 13. This week's average is the highest since March 2020, when the rate hit 3.65%. The government-sponsored mortgage lender said the increase across all mortgage [...]
By Nathalie Voit A federal lawsuit filed in Chicago on Jan. 9 accused 16 of the nation’s top universities of participating in a price-fixing cartel designed to reduce or eliminate financial aid for prospective students. The class-action lawsuit, filed on behalf of five former students who attended undergrad at some of the institutions named in the [...]
By Nathalie Voit Wholesale prices rose 0.2% in December, weaker than expected but still up 9.7% year-over-year, the Department of Labor said Jan. 13. December's dismal rise was in sharp contrast to the 1.0% gain posted in November and October's 0.6% hike. The Dow Jones estimate had predicted a monthly gain of 0.4%. Still, producer prices soared [...]
By Nathalie Voit U.S. natural gas futures soared over 14% on Wednesday, prompted by high heating demand amid expectations of a major winter storm to hit the U.S. over the weekend. Natural gas prices began their steep upward climb on Jan. 6, closing at $3.81 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) to settle over one dollar [...]
By Nathalie Voit Investments related to cryptocurrencies and digital assets are “by far” the top threat to investors in 2022, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) said in its annual survey of the largest threats facing investors. “Stories of ‘crypto millionaires’ attracted some investors to try their hand at investing in cryptocurrencies or crypto-related investments this [...]
By Nathalie Voit A federal judge blocked Facebook’s request to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) amended antitrust case against the tech giant on Jan. 11. The suit, which accuses Facebook of abusing its “monopoly power” in the personal social networking (PSN) services market, was originally filed on Dec. 9, 2020. It was overturned by U.S. District [...]
© 2021 Consumers Bulletin, All Rights Reserved.