Washington, DC CNN — Spending at US retailers fell in March as consumers pulled back after the banking crisis fueled recession fears. Retail sales, which are adjusted for seasonality but not for inflation, fell by 1% in March from the prior month, the Commerce Department reported on Friday. That was steeper than an expected 0.4% … Read more
Minneapolis CNN — US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she believes the American economy remains strong and its banking system is resilient despite some recent turmoil among regional financial institutions. “I’ve not really seen evidence at this stage suggesting a contraction in credit, although that is a possibility,” Yellen said at a press conference Tuesday … Read more
Watch Alex Marquardt’s report on the sting operation on Erin Burnett OutFront on Monday, April 10, at 7 p.m. ET. CNN — A team of South Korean spies and American private investigators quietly gathered at the South Korean intelligence service in January, just days after North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea. For … Read more
CNN — While China and Russia have strengthened ties since the Kremlin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, the US has not seen evidence that China has provided systemic material support to the Kremlin as Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government look for avenues to evade Western sanctions and backfill its military, according to senior US … Read more
Washington CNN — Mortgage rates have taken would-be buyers on a ride this year — and it’s only March. Generally, home buyers can anticipate mortgage rates to move down through the rest of this year as the banking crisis drags on, which could cool down inflation. But there are bound to be some bumps along … Read more
A version of this story first appeared in CNN Business’ Before the Bell newsletter. Not a subscriber? You can sign up right here. You can listen to an audio version of the newsletter by clicking the same link. New York CNN — After Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failed, the US government stepped in with … Read more
Hong Kong CNN — China’s rubber-stamp legislature has appointed Li Qiang, a long-time aide of leader Xi Jinping, as premier, the man tasked with reviving the world’s second-largest economy after three years of zero-Covid restrictions. The National People’s Congress endorsed Li in a largely ceremonial vote at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing … Read more
Minneapolis CNN — The US economy added 311,000 jobs in February, according to the latest monthly employment snapshot from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday. That’s a pullback from the blockbuster January jobs report, when a revised 504,000 positions were added, but shows the labor market is still emitting plenty of heat. The unemployment … Read more
New York CNN — Silicon Valley Bank collapsed Friday morning after a stunning 48 hours in which its capital crisis set off fears of a meltdown across the banking industry. Its failure marks the largest shutdown of a US bank since 2008, when Washington Mutual fell during the financial crisis. California regulators closed down the … Read more
Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in today’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, CNN’s three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here. Abu Dhabi, UAE CNN — Shortly before leaving for his first state visit to China on Tuesday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi issued a thinly veiled criticism of his … Read more