Business News

(NEW YORK) -- Valentine's Day shoppers may feel jilted by runaway chocolate prices.Chocolate prices soared 14.4% over the initial weeks of 2026 when compared to the same period a year earlier, nearly doubling the pace of price increases at the start of 2025, according to findings shared with ABC News by intelligence firm Datasembly.The sharp rise in chocolate prices owes to a cocoa shortage caused primarily by adverse weather and […]

(WASHINGTON) -- Hiring ticked down in December, defying the Federal Reserve's effort to boost hiring with a recent series of interest rate cuts, a jobs report on Friday showed. The reading fell short of economists' expectations.The U.S. added 50,000 jobs in December, which marked a slight drop from 64,000 jobs added in the previous month.The unemployment rate dropped to 4.4% in December from 4.6% in November, the Bureau of Labor […]

(NEW YORK) -- Inflation cooled in January, dropping price increases to their lowest level in nine months and defying fears of a tariff-induced hike in overall costs.Prices rose 2.4% in January compared to a year earlier, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data on Tuesday showed. The reading came in lower than economists had expected.Inflation stands at its lowest level since May, but it remains a half-percentage point higher than the […]

(NEW YORK) -- President Donald Trump has repeatedly touted the opportunity for U.S. companies to extract and sell oil from Venezuela, which holds the largest oil reserves in the world."We're going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground," Trump said on Saturday, just hours after a U.S. military attack removed Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro.Venezuelan oil, however, will likely provide little relief for gas prices […]

(NEW YORK) -- Hiring increased sharply at the outset of 2026, the year's first jobs report said, blowing past economists' expectations and besting sluggish performance from the previous year.The U.S. added 130,000 jobs in January, according to the report, which marked a sharp increase from 50,000 jobs added in the previous month.The unemployment rate dropped to 4.3% in January from 4.4% in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said. Unemployment remains low […]

(NEW YORK) -- A jobs report to be released on Wednesday will provide a key barometer of the U.S. economy as policymakers grapple with a combination of elevated inflation and sluggish hiring.The labor market slowed sharply last year, prompting interest rate cuts at the Federal Reserve and concern among some observers about the nation's economic prospects.The U.S. added an average of 49,000 jobs each month in 2025, which marked a […]

The Dow Jones Industrial Average logo appears on the screen of a smartphone in Reno, United States, on December 1, 2024. (Photo by Jaque Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images) (NEW YORK) -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 50,000 for the first time ever on Friday.A surge in markets reversed a selloff that hammered tech stocks earlier in the week.The Dow closed up 1,206 points, or 2.4%, while the S&P 500 climbed […]

(NEW YORK) -- Mortgage rates this week fell to their lowest level in 15 months, easing borrowing costs for homebuyers eager for a thaw in the housing market in 2026.The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage stands at 6.15%, plummeting from a level of 6.89% in May, data from financial services company Freddie Mac showed. Last January, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate exceeded 7%.Each percentage point decrease in a mortgage rate […]

(NEW YORK) -- Consumer sentiment ticked higher in February for the second consecutive month as inflation fears appeared to ease, though shopper attitudes remained well below levels registered a year ago, University of Michigan data on Friday showed. The reading exceeded economists' expectationsAt its low point in November, consumer sentiment fell close to its worst level since a pandemic-era bout of acute inflation. Modest gains in recent months indicate some positive momentum for shoppers.Year-ahead […]