Author: Press Room

US retail sales continued to fall in December, dropping by 1.1% amid high inflation, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Economists had expected sales to fall 0.8% for the month, according to Refinitiv. The November number was revised down to -1%. Annual retail sales were up 6% in December from the year prior. That’s unchanged from November. The data is not adjusted for inflation. This story is developing and will be updated. Source: CNN

Media start-up Semafor is exploring ways to buy out its biggest outside backer Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, in a plan that would hold the money in custody. Before the collapse of FTX last year, Bankman-Fried contributed more than a third of the $25mn in initial funding for the news venture launched by Justin Smith, the former Bloomberg Media chief executive, and Ben Smith, the ex-New York Times columnist.While Semafor has long acknowledged Bankman-Fried was one of a clutch of wealthy supporters, it has not disclosed the scale of funding he provided. The investment of…

New York City Mayor Eric Adams called on the appointment of a “national czar” tasked with handling the influx of migrants across the southern border – even though that’s the same role Vice President Kamala Harris was tapped to fulfill nearly two years ago by the White House. Hosting a question-and-answer session with reporters at City Hall Tuesday, Adams discussed a “decompression strategy,” which he explained would involve arranging or building spaces to move the approximately 40,000 asylum seekers who’ve arrived in the Big Apple from the southern border to suburban localities or other cities in upstate New York with more…

Get the insider’s view on Gang Green Sign up for Inside the Jets by Brian Costello, a weekly Sports+ exclusive. The Jets spent Wild Card weekend at the same place you did — on the couch. All the Jets could do was watch the playoffs after losing their final six games and blowing their shot at ending the team’s postseason drought, which is now at 12 years. It had to be particularly painful for the Jets to watch this weekend as five of the six teams that beat them at the end of the season were playing instead of them,…

David Solomon, CEO, Goldman Sachs, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 23, 2020.Adam Galacia | CNBCGoldman Sachs CEO David Solomon told CNBC Wednesday that his firm suffered an upsetting quarter partly due to its overly ambitious consumer efforts.”We obviously had a disappointing quarter and we tried to own that, you know, up front,” Solomon said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.The New York-based investment bank on Tuesday posted its largest earnings miss in a decade as revenue fell and expenses and loan loss provisions came in higher than expected.Goldman said…

David Beckham has admitted he and wife Victoria Beckham have only ever shared the same meal once throughout their entire marriage – with the former footballer calling the solo incident ‘the most amazing thing’Video LoadingVideo UnavailableThe video will auto-play soon8CancelPlay nowThey’re the power couple who share four children, a £31million London mansion and a lavish lifestyle, but there’s one thing Victoria and David Beckham don’t share – their meals. While football legend David, 47, professes to love his food, wife Victoria, 48, has a much simpler palate and is content with eating the same food every day for 25 years.…

New York CNN  —  Wholesale price growth cooled off significantly in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday, indicating that the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes may finally be bringing price pressures under control. The Producer Price Index — a key inflation metric that measures prices paid for goods and services by businesses before they reach consumers — rose 6.2% in December compared to a year earlier. That’s way down from the revised 7.3% gain reported for November. The latest reading was much lower than Wall Street’s expectations: Economists surveyed by Refinitiv had forecast a 6.8% annual increase.…

Prices for wholesale goods and services fell sharply in December, providing another sign that inflation, while still high, is beginning to ease.The producer price index, which measures final demand prices across hundreds of categories, declined 0.5% for the month, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a 0.1% decline. The decline was the biggest on a monthly basis since April 2020.Excluding food and energy, the core PPI measure rose 0.1%, matching the estimate.For the year, headline PPI rose 6.2%, the lowest annual level since March 2021 and down considerably from the 10% annual…

Baltimore Orioles CEO John Angelos invoked Martin Luther King Jr. in an attempt to avoid questions from reporters about the ongoing drama surrounding his family and the organization.Angelos on Monday appeared with Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott at Camden Yards to announce a $5 million commitment to the CollegeBound Foundation, which is meant to help Baltimore students pursue a degree. Angelos took questions from reporters, who asked him about the future of the franchise. While Angelos assured the media the Orioles were going to stay in Baltimore, he scolded reporters for asking questions about the franchise he runs, calling it “out…

Macau was a refuge for those fleeing the second world war. In the past few decades, the former Portuguese colony has become a refuge for the cash of Chinese billionaires. Now Macau faces the end of its fuzzy status as privileged enclave within China.A court has jailed Macau tycoon Alvin Chau for 18 years, marking a Chinese clampdown on the gambling sector. The US is meanwhile tightening curbs on Macau as a trans-shipment port. The moves reflect east-west alienation and China’s tightening grip on its periphery, also demonstrated by the “Chinafication” of Hong Kong.So-called “Junket King” Chau was found guilty…