By Nathalie Voit Video conferencing platform Zoom will continue to be relevant even after the COVID-19 pandemic, an executive from the company said on Dec. 17. “We’re more than a single product, we’re a platform that includes things like Zoom Phone, Zoom Events, Zoom Rooms, and Zoom Apps,” Ricky Kapur, head of Asia Pacific at [...]
By Nathalie Voit The average price for a new vehicle climbed to an all-time high of $46,000 in November, according to a report released by valuation and automotive research company Kelley Blue Book. Average transaction prices (ATPs) rose 13% from the same period one year ago, Kelley Blue Book said. The sharp increase in prices was driven [...]
By Nathalie Voit Gift cards are a notoriously popular payment method for scammers, a new report from the FTC found. In the first nine months of 2021 alone, consumers lost $148 million in gift card scams, greater than all reported losses in 2020, the FTC said. Gift cards come with fewer anti-fraud protections than other payment methods [...]
By Nathalie Voit Consumer confidence continued its upward trend in December, according to the Conference Board Dec. 22 press release. The Consumer Confidence Index rose to 115.8 in December, up from an upwardly revised 111.9 in November, the New York-based organization said. The Present Situation Index, which captures consumer sentiment about the current economic climate, remained [...]
By: Nathalie Voit The American Automobile Association (AAA) and Inrix predict more than 109 million Americans to travel for the holidays, according to a press release from the Orlando-based transportation analytics firm. The figure represents a nearly 34% increase from last year, when 81.7 million travelers took to the skies or roads for their year-end [...]
By Nathalie Voit A senior Biden administration official said that the White House is preparing to distribute millions of at-home COVID-19 testing kits for free next month to U.S. households that request one. President Joe Biden is expected to announce the measure in a speech to the nation on Tuesday. The White House is also [...]
By Nathalie Voit Global investment bank JPMorgan was hit with a $200 million fine for failing to disclose written business communications properly on employees’ personal devices to U.S. regulators. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Dec. 17 that the financial giant agreed to pay $125 million in penalties after admitting to [...]
By Nathalie Voit Leading U.S. stock futures lost ground Monday morning amid virus concerns and news that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) would not support President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" plan. The Dow Jones shed over 630 points, or 1.80%, to settle near 34,730, driven by major losses in Boeing and Southwest Airlines, who posted new 52-week lows. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq [...]
By Nathalie Voit Sales at U.S. retail stores cooled in November, rising by a modest 0.3%. Sales growth slowed from October's upwardly revised 1.8% increase, data from the Labor Department released Dec. 15 found. However, consumer demand remains strong and significantly above last year's levels. In the 12 months through November 2021, retail and food [...]
By Nathalie Voit The Department of Labor opened a whistleblower investigation into Apple following allegations from a former worker that the tech giant retaliated against her for speaking up against unsafe working conditions and complaining of workplace harassment. Ashley Gjøvik, a former senior engineering program manager at Apple, filed a complaint earlier this year to [...]
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