Google Cloud launches new generative AI tools for retailers

Google Cloud launches new generative AI tools for retailers

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images Google launched several new tools for retailers using generative AI to improve online shopping experiences and other retail operations, its cloud business announced in a release Thursday.  The suite of new products includes a generative AI-powered chatbot that retailers can use on websites and mobile apps. The virtual … Read more

Amazon’s Audible unit lays off about 5% of staff

Amazon’s Audible unit lays off about 5% of staff

Amazon‘s Audible division is cutting approximately 5% of its staff in an effort to position the unit “for continued success,” the executive overseeing the division told employees Thursday. “We did not take this route without considerable thought,” Audible CEO Bob Carrigan wrote in a memo to staffers that was viewed by CNBC. “But getting leaner … Read more

Young UK managers want pay raise, free lunch to return to office: Survey

Young UK managers want pay raise, free lunch to return to office: Survey

People walk along Waterloo Bridge past the City of London skyline, the capital’s financial district, on a sunny and mild day. Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images Younger U.K. managers are looking for a pay raise and free lunches to entice them back to the office full-time, a new survey has found. Half of … Read more

GOP presidential candidates all oppose student loan relief

GOP presidential candidates all oppose student loan relief

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former biotech executive Vivek Ramaswamy pose together onstage at the third Republican candidates’ U.S. presidential debate of the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign hosted by NBC News at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida, U.S., November 8, 2023.  Mike Segar … Read more

Bitcoin mining stocks tumble after crypto briefly touches $49,000

Bitcoin mining stocks tumble after crypto briefly touches ,000

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Bitcoin miners fell Thursday, giving back earlier gains, as the price of the cryptocurrency retreated in volatile trading following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of the first U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds. The two biggest mining stocks, Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms, each lost more than 15%. Wall Street favorites Iris … Read more

U.S. deficit tops half a trillion dollars in first quarter of fiscal year

U.S. deficit tops half a trillion dollars in first quarter of fiscal year

The U.S. Treasury building in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 15, 2023. Nathan Howard | Bloomberg | Getty Images The U.S. government ran up another half a trillion dollars in red ink in the first quarter of its fiscal year, the Treasury Department reported Thursday. For the period from October 2023 through December 2023, the budget … Read more

Red Sea crisis could jeopardize inflation fight as shipping costs spike globally

Red Sea crisis could jeopardize inflation fight as shipping costs spike globally

A ship transits the Suez Canal towards the Red Sea on January 10, 2024 in Ismailia, Egypt.  Sayed Hassan | Getty Images U.S. shipping costs are spiking as attacks in the Red Sea disrupt global trade, raising fears that inflation might pick up again if the disruption persists. The diversion of container ships from the … Read more

New York and California make retail theft top 2024 priority

New York and California make retail theft top 2024 priority

The governors of New York and California announced sweeping plans to crack down on retail crime this week, as trade associations and police departments lobby for government action to curb theft. The plans include new legislation designed to increase the penalties for retail crime offenses and more funding for police departments and district attorney’s offices … Read more

Pentagon inspector general announces review of Austin hospitalization, notification

Pentagon inspector general announces review of Austin hospitalization, notification

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks to the press on August 18, 2021, at the Pentagon in Washington, DC.  Olivier Douliery | Afp | Getty Images The Defense Department’s inspector general has launched a formal investigation into Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s failure to notify the White House and Congress of his emergency hospitalization. The inspector … Read more

Ether price spikes on hope of ETH ETF — but will the SEC approve it?

Ether price spikes on hope of ETH ETF — but will the SEC approve it?

St. Moritz, SWITZERLAND — U.S. Securities and Exchange Chair Gary Gensler fired warning shots to the crypto industry, casting doubt over whether digital coin ether would follow next in the footsteps of bitcoin to receive approval for an exchange-traded fund. After the bitcoin ETF approval, prices for ether — the token linked with Ethereum — … Read more