Sushi, onigiri and yakitori don — Japanese rice is a key staple in many of its iconic dishes, but the country is facing its biggest shortfall in decades. 

Japan has been contending with a rice shortage in recent months due to a mix of bad weather and an increase in tourists, undergirded by the country’s restrictive rice policies.

“Throughout summer 2024, Japan has been grappling with a table rice shortage resulting in empty supermarket as demand outpaced production for the last three years causing stocks to deplete to their lowest levels in over 20 years,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture wrote in a report published last week. Consumers also stockpiled more rice in preparation for Japan’s typhoon season and a major earthquake warning, the USDA added. 

In August, supermarkets reportedly often ran out of white rice and stores limited purchases to one bag per person. Local media NHK partly attributed the shortage to an influx in tourists pushing up demand for sushi and other rice-based dishes. Prices of rice hit 16,133 yen ($112.67) per 60kg in August, rising 3% from the previous month and 5% higher since the start of the year.

Japan’s private inventories of rice stood at 1.56 million tons for June, marking the lowest in years, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. On top of Japanese preparing for potential natural disasters, the MFAA also attributed the increase in table rice demand to an influx of tourists driving up food service demand.

It is estimated that rice consumption by tourists increased from 19,000 tons between July 2022 and June 2023, to 51,000 tons from July 2023 through June 2024, said Oscar Tjakra, senior analyst at global food and agriculture bank Rabobank.

While tourist consumption more than doubled, it’s still relatively small compared to Japan’s annual domestic rice consumption of over 7 million tons, Tjakra noted.

Japan received a record 17.8 million visitors in the first half of the year, well above pre-pandemic levels. That trend is still going with 3.3 million inbound tourists in July, the highest ever recorded according to Japan’s tourism statistics.

Table rice production in Japan has also been falling as aging rice farmers retire and fewer young people take up the profession, said Tjakra. A series of heatwaves and drought in the second half of last year also compromised harvests, the analyst elaborated.

While smaller rice harvests and foreigners’ appetite for sushi play a part, the country’s rice policies remain the key underlying factor contributing to the fall in overall supply, said Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute.

“The Japan rice economy remains largely isolated from the world market,” Glauber told CNBC.

Japan imposes a 778% tariff on imported rice in order to protect its rice farmers. While Japan is committed to import a minimum of around 682,000 tons of rice a year under obligations to the World Trade Organization, the rice is largely isolated from Japanese consumers and used largely for processing and feed. 

Rice exports from Japan have also jumped sixfold from 2014 to 2022 to nearly 30,000 tons, Rabobank’s Tjakra observed.

Higher rice prices pushed Japan’s headline inflation higher in August, rising 2.8% year-on-year on the back of higher energy and food costs. Rice and chocolate prices were among the largest drivers in the food basket.

BEIJING — China’s slowing economy needs more than interest rate cuts to boost growth, analysts said.

The People’s Bank of China on Tuesday surprised markets by announcing plans to cut a number of rates, including that of existing mortgages. Mainland Chinese stocks jumped on the news.

The move may mark “the beginning of the end of China’s longest deflationary streak since 1999,” Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie, said in a note. The country has been struggling with weak domestic demand.

“The most likely path to reflation, in our view, is through fiscal spending on housing, financed by the PBOC’s balance sheet,” he said, stressing that more fiscal support is needed, in addition to more efforts to bolster the housing market.

The bond market reflected more caution than stocks. The Chinese 10-year government yield fell to a record low of 2% after the rate cut news, before climbing to around 2.07%. That’s still well below the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield of 3.74%. Bond yields move inversely to price.

“We will need major fiscal policy support to see higher CNY government bond yields,” said Edmund Goh, head of China fixed income at abrdn. He expects Beijing will likely ramp up fiscal stimulus due to weak growth, despite reluctance so far.

“The gap between the U.S. and Chinese short end bond rates are wide enough to guarantee that there’s almost no chance that the US rates would drop below those of the Chinese in the next 12 months,” he said. “China is also cutting rates.”

The differential between U.S. and Chinese government bond yields reflects how market expectations for growth in the world’s two largest economies have diverged. For years, the Chinese yield had traded well above that of the U.S., giving investors an incentive to park capital in the fast-growing developing economy versus slower growth in the U.S.

That changed in April 2022. The Fed’s aggressive rate hikes sent U.S. yields climbing above their Chinese counterpart for the first time in more than a decade.

The trend has persisted, with the gap between the U.S. and Chinese yields widening even after the Fed shifted to an easing cycle last week.

“The market is forming a medium to long-term expectation on the U.S. growth rate, the inflation rate. [The Fed] cutting 50 basis points doesn’t change this outlook much,” said Yifei Ding, senior fixed income portfolio manager at Invesco.

As for Chinese government bonds, Ding said the firm has a “neutral” view and expects the Chinese yields to remain relatively low.

China’s economy grew by 5% in the first half of the year, but there are concerns that full-year growth could miss the country’s target of around 5% without additional stimulus. Industrial activity has slowed, while retail sales have grown by barely more than 2% year-on-year in recent months.

Fiscal stimulus hopes

China’s Ministry of Finance has remained conservative. Despite a rare increase in the fiscal deficit to 3.8% in Oct. 2023 with the issuance of special bonds, authorities in March this year reverted to their usual 3% deficit target.

There’s still a 1 trillion yuan shortfall in spending if Beijing is to meet its fiscal target for the year, according to an analysis released Tuesday by CF40, a major Chinese think tank focusing on finance and macroeconomic policy. That’s based on government revenue trends and assuming planned spending goes ahead.

“If general budget revenue growth does not rebound significantly in the second half of the year, it may be necessary to increase the deficit and issue additional treasury bonds in a timely manner to fill the revenue gap,” the CF40 research report said.

Asked Tuesday about the downward trend in Chinese government bond yields, PBOC Gov. Pan Gongsheng partly attributed it to a slower increase in government bond issuance. He said the central bank was working with the Ministry of Finance on the pace of bond issuance.

The PBOC earlier this year repeatedly warned the market about the risks of piling into a one-sided bet that bond prices would only rise, while yields fell.

Analysts generally don’t expect the Chinese 10-year government bond yield to drop significantly in the near future.

After the PBOC’s announced rate cuts, “market sentiment has changed significantly, and confidence in the acceleration of economic growth has improved,” Haizhong Chang, executive director of Fitch (China) Bohua Credit Ratings, said in an email. “Based on the above changes, we expect that in the short term, the 10-year Chinese treasury bond will run above 2%, and will not easily fall through.”

He pointed out that monetary easing still requires fiscal stimulus “to achieve the effect of expanding credit and transmitting money to the real economy.”

That’s because high leverage in Chinese corporates and households makes them unwilling to borrow more, Chang said. “This has also led to a weakening of the marginal effects of loose monetary policy.”

Breathing room on rates

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate cut last week theoretically eases pressure on Chinese policymakers. Easier U.S. policy weakens the dollar against the Chinese yuan, bolstering exports, a rare bright spot of growth in China.

China’s offshore yuan briefly hit its strongest level against the U.S. dollar in more than a year on Wednesday morning.

“Lower U.S. interest rates provide relief on China’s FX market and capital flows, thus easing the external constraint that the high U.S. rates have imposed on the PBOC’s monetary policy in recent years,” Louis Kuijs, APAC Chief Economist at S&P Global Ratings, pointed out in an email Monday.

For China’s economic growth, he is still looking for more fiscal stimulus: “Fiscal expenditure lags the 2024 budget allocation, bond issuance has been slow, and there are no signs of substantial fiscal stimulus plans.”

ChatGPT is ready for more natural audio chats.

OpenAI said Tuesday that its popular chatbot now has an advanced voice feature for people who pay for the premium service. The tool allows for more fluid conversations.

The release will continue through the week. The company said it’s not yet available in EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland or the U.K.

OpenAI announced the new capability in May. The rollout got plenty of publicity because of a voice called Sky that resembled that of Scarlett Johansson in the 2013 movie “Her.” Legal counsel working on behalf of Johansson sent OpenAI letters claiming the company didn’t have the right to use the near-identical voice, and OpenAI paused using it in its products, CNBC reported.

In the months since, people have been able to configure ChatGPT to talk to them in other voices through a free tier. The advanced version responds more quickly and will stop talking and listen if you interrupt it. There are now nine voices to choose from, and you can enter instructions for voice chats in the Customizations part of the app’s settings.

“Hope you think it was worth the wait,” Sam Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and CEO, wrote in an X post on Tuesday.

It’s an increasingly competitive space for OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft.

For the past couple weeks, Google has been releasing its own Gemini Live voice feature in English on Android devices. And on Monday, Reuters reported that Meta will introduce celebrity voices later this week that can be accessed through Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

OpenAI got a head start in the generative AI chatbot market, when it launched ChatGPT in late 2022. In August, OpenAI told media outlets that ChatGPT had over 200 million weekly active users.

The advanced mode is only available to those with subscriptions to OpenAI’s Plus, Team or Enterprise plans. The most affordable option is the Plus tier at $20 per month.

Here’s what to do

If you’re paying, it’s easy to get started, assuming OpenAI has granted access to your device.

First, make sure you have the latest version of the app on your phone.

Open the ChatGPT app.

OpenAI says you’ll receive a notification in the app once it’s turned on access to the new feature. Hit the continue button to get started.

Create a new chat by swiping right or tapping the two-line icon in the top left corner and selecting ChatGPT at the top. To the right of the “Message” text field and the microphone icon, you should see a sound wave icon. Tap that and make sure your sound is on.

In a few seconds, you’ll hear a little “bump” sound, and the circle in the middle of the screen will morph into a fluid sky-like blue and white animation. Start speaking. You should receive a response quickly. Don’t be surprised if audio breaks up a bit.

OpenAI said it has improved accents in some foreign languages and has increased the speed of conversations. But if you don’t like what you’re hearing, you can ask ChatGPT to speak differently. You can tell it to speed up, for example, or incorporate a Southern accent.

With advanced voice mode, you can have ChatGPT tell you a bedtime story, help you get ready for a job interview or even work on your foreign language skills.

But even if you’re paying, you won’t have unlimited access to advanced voice mode. After using it for about a half hour on Tuesday, I started seeing “15 minutes left” at the bottom of the screen.

OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to a request for details about the time limit.

WATCH: OpenAI is the indisputable leader in the AI supercycle, says Altimeter Capital’s Apoorv Agrawal

The Hong Kong-based airline banned the pair after video footage emerged of an onboard disagreement that occurred on a long-haul flight on Sept. 17, according to a statement the company posted on the social media platform Xiaohongshu.

The video, which was posted on the same platform, which is often described as China’s Instagram, showed the couple taunting, using vulgar hand gestures, and jostling the chair of a female passenger who reclined her seat on a 14-hour flight from Hong Kong to London.

Cathay Pacific has not responded to CNBC’s request for comment, but said in the statement that it “sincerely” apologized for the incident.

“We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards any behavior that violates safety regulations or disrespects other passengers’ rights,” the company wrote, according to CNBC’s translation of the Chinese.

The woman, who narrates parts of the video that was posted on the same platform, said the couple harassed her after she declined to return her seat to the upright position.

In the video, she said she asked the flight attendants for help.

“I was shocked because it was not meal time, but the flight attendant … she asked me to compromise, so I rejected the suggestion,” the woman said in the video, according to CNBC’s translation of the Chinese.

The harassment intensified after the staff failed to intervene, she alleged. The video captures her chair moving from being kicked and pushed from behind. Eventually, she was moved to another seat, the video showed.

However, Cathay Pacific said in its statement that onboard staff had issued two “serious” verbal warnings to the two disruptive passengers.

The unruly behavior rose to the point where nearby passengers intervened. Passengers can be heard in the video saying: “Show some decency!” “Don’t bully that little girl!” “You are bringing shame to our Hong Kongers.”

One of the passengers who had been banned repeatedly referred to the reclining passenger as a “mainlander.”

Online reactions

Despite Cathay Pacific’s ban, many social media users in mainland China criticized the carrier’s initial response to the dispute.

“Only after other people spoke up did Cathay try to rectify the situation. It’s not news to me that Cathay’s not friendly to mainland travelers,” one top comment said.

To many mainland citizens, this incident brought back memories of another scandal that caused a stir on Chinese social media last year. The carrier fired three flight attendants following a viral clip where the crew were heard mocking a non-English-speaking passenger who mistakenly used the word “carpet” when requesting a blanket.

Social media platforms, such as Xiaohongshu, are rife with mainland Chinese alleging ill treatment while in Hong Kong. Some of them say they feel discriminated against in the city — where locals speak Cantonese, not Mandarin, the official Chinese dialect.

The divide between mainland China and Hong Kong has been a persistent problem, rooted in the economic and cultural disparities between mainland China and the former British territory, which was returned to China’s rule in 1997.

Tensions further intensified during the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests, as some locals rebelled against Beijing’s tightening control over the city.

Cathay Pacific was caught in the crossfires then too, as it tried to pacify anger from the Chinese government after some staff took part in the pro-democracy protests.

To recline or not to recline?

Reclining one’s seat — a once common and innocuous act — has developed into yet another in-flight battleground as “airplane etiquette” rises in prominence amid ever-devolving onboard behavior.  

As passengers have increased in size, seat pitches — roughly, the distance between seats from front to back — have dwindled, leading to mid-air disputes over the smallest of airplane real estate, from middle seat armrests to the area under passengers’ seats.

Unlike those issues which have a consensus — ؅middle person gets both armrests, passengers are allotted the area under the seat in front of them — there is widespread disagreement about seat reclining.

Proponents often argue seats recline for a reason, while opponents argue it’s an inconsiderate act, “period,” when done in economy class.

Still, more say the answer depends on a confluence of factors, from the time a flight occurs, its duration, whether the passenger seat behind you can recline and whether one obtains permission from the passenger first.

China’s yuan hit its strongest level in over 16 months on Wednesday after Beijing unveiled a slate of stimulus measures to shore up the slowing economy on Tuesday.

The Chinese offshore yuan strengthened briefly to 6.9946 per dollar, the strongest since May 2023. China’s onshore yuan is currently trading at 7.0319 against the greenback, also holding at the strongest levels since last May.

A rapid strengthening of the Chinese Yuan may add further deflationary pressure to China’s exports by propping up the domestic stock market, which correlates with U.S. and international stocks, Ben Emons, founder of Fed Watch Advisors, wrote in a note early Wednesday. 

BNP Paribas expects the movement in USD/RMB to be capped by expectations of more fiscal support, corporate hedging needs and better risk appetite.

“We think the weak growth and low inflation environment in China should put some pressure on RMB going forward,” said Edmund Goh, head of China fixed income at abrdn.

In contrast to other major currencies like the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen, which have a floating exchange rate, China maintains a tight control over the yuan’s value on the mainland. The yuan is permitted to trade within a limited range of 2% above or below the midpoint rate for the day.

The yuan also trades outside the mainland, mostly in Hong Kong but also in London, Singapore and New York — this is known as the offshore yuan, which is not as tightly controlled as the onshore yuan and influenced by market supply and demand.

“We see the possibility for USDCNH [offshore yuan] to trade below 7.0 over the next three months as the policymakers’ pro-growth stance may trigger more short covering of CNH bearish positions and the Fed easing outsizes the PBOC,” Zerlina Zeng, head of Asia Credit Strategy from credit research firm CreditSights, wrote in a note.

In a rare high-level press conference on Tuesday, the People’s Bank of China Gov. Pan Gongsheng announced that the central bank will cut the amount of cash banks need to have on hand, known as the reserve requirement ratio, or RRR, by 50 basis points. He also said the PBOC would cut the 7-day repo rate by 0.2 percentage points.

The monetary transmission channel is “clogged by property overhang” on banks’ balance sheets, which has led to a “crisis” in consumer confidence, Emons said. 

China bonds rallied after the PBOC announcement with 10-year and 30-year yields hitting record lows. Higher demand for a country’s bonds tends to strengthen its currency.

Yields on 10-year bonds were up 5 basis point to 2.074% on Wednesday, while those on 30-year bonds inched up to 2.182%.

Chinese equities also rallied yesterday following the announcement, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index seeing its best day in seven months, while mainland China’s CSI 300 recorded its largest one-day gain in over four years.

—CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this story.

What you need to know today

New highs, once again
U.S. stocks continued rising on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at new highs for the second consecutive day. Europe’s regional Stoxx 600 index rose 0.65%. Stocks linked to the Chinese market and consumers rose the most, buoyed by the China’s announcement of new stimulus measures.

Consumer’s not confident
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell to 98.7 in September, down from 105.6 in August. September’s figure comes in lower than the Dow Jones consensus forecast of 104 and is the biggest month-on-month drop in three years. Respondents saying jobs were “hard to get” rose to 18.3% from 16.8%.

Wall Street’s diverging views
Goldman Sachs Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman told CNBC the U.S. Federal Reserve can “sort of maintain a soft-landing trajectory” because “inflation levels are coming down, unemployment is manageable.” But Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said in a CNBCTV18 interview that, on the topic of a soft landing, he veers “on the cautious side.”

How much will oil demand grow?
Oil demand will experience “robust medium-term growth,” reaching 112.3 million barrels per day in 2029 from 102.2 million barrels per day in 2023, according to OPEC’s 2024 World Oil Outlook report. Not all analysts agree with that forecast. The International Energy Agency thinks oil demand will level off at 106 million barrels per day by the end of the decade.

[PRO] Two different stories
Depending on whom you ask, the economy is either robust or on the verge of weakening. Stocks, having just hit new highs on Tuesday, signal a thriving economy revving into high gear on the back of the Fed rate cut. On the other hand, the bond market is telling a different story.

The bottom line

We received slightly troubling news about the U.S. consumer yesterday.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell to 98.7 from 105.6, its biggest drop since August 2021 when inflation was starting to ignite.

Consumers, especially those between 35-54 and earning less than $50,000, were worried about jobs and inflation. Compared with August, more respondents in September said jobs were “hard to get” and scarcer. Inflation worries also resurfaced, with the 12-month outlook rising to 5.2%, up from 4.9% in August.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, in an interview with CNBCTV-18, also expressed doubts on the state of the economy. “Markets are pricing things like they’re going to be great. Put me on the cautious side of that one,” he said.

While inflation appears to be mostly tamed, at least by the measure of most Fed officials, Dimon thinks the economy might be dragged down because “geopolitics is getting worse … there is chance for accidents in energy supply.”

Still, investors seemed to shrug off the air of pessimism. The S&P added 0.25%, extending its streak of closing at a new high. The Dow rose 0.2% to, likewise, hit a record level. Boosted by Nvidia’s 4% jump, the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.56%.

Perhaps some downbeat data and stern reminders about potential risks consoled investors that the recent highs of stock indexes were not driven by irrational exuberance. It’s hard to prove this, of course. Markets could just be disregarding warnings about the economy.

But the fact that stocks continue rising even amid uneven economic data suggests the upward trajectory in markets is level-headed, for now. As Evercore ISI senior managing director Julian Emanuel pointed out, “We would be more concerned if we started hearing everything’s great [or] everything’s roses.”

– CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Brian Evans and Hakyung Kim contributed to this story. 

Asia-Pacific markets were largely range-bound on Wednesday, although Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index extended its rally and climbed 2.2% on the back of stimulus measures from China.

The gains on the index were led by the energy and basic materials sectors, while the Hang Seng Mainland Properties index also advanced, up 3.6%.

Chinese markets rallied yesterday after the country’s central bank announced a slate of economic support measures, with the HSI seeing its best day in seven months, while mainland China’s CSI 300 recorded its largest one-day gain in over four years.

On Wednesday, the PBOC slashed the medium-term lending facility rate to 2%, down from 2.3%. This is the second cut to the MLF in about three months, after the central bank cut rates from 2.5% to 2.3% in late July.

The offshore yuan also briefly strengthened to 6.995 against the U.S. dollar, breaking the 7.00 level for the first time since May 2023.

Investors are assessing Australia’s inflation numbers on Wednesday, with the consumer price index posting a 2.7% rise year on year in August, in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters and easing from the 3.5% rise in July.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed marginally, rebounding from two straight days of losses.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.32%, and the broad-based Topix reversed earlier losses and was up 0.11%.

South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.4%, while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.43%. South Korea on Wednesday announced its “Korea Value Up Index,” with trading set to start Monday.

The index will comprise 100 companies, with IT and industrial stocks making up more than 40% of the index.

Overnight in the U.S. The S&P 500 rose to a fresh record on Tuesday, gaining 0.25% to 5,732.93, while the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2%, also closing at a new record of 42,208.22.

The Nasdaq Composite added 0.56%, powered by shares of chipmaker Nvidia.

Shares of artificial intelligence darling Nvidia climbed nearly 4% after a regulatory filing showed that CEO Jensen Huang wrapped up his sales of the chipmaker’s stock for the time being.

—CNBC’s Brian Evans and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.

Here’s what CNBC TV’s producers were watching as the Dow and S&P 500 posted fresh records Tuesday, and what’s on the radar for the next session.

The staples

• CNBC TV’s Dominic Chu reports on consumer staples in Wednesday’s edition of “Sectornomics.”
• Consumer staples are right in the middle, ranked in sixth place among the 11 S&P sectors. In 2024, it’s up about 16%.
• Walmart is the top performing stock in the sector, up 53% this year.
• Kellanova ranks second, up 44% in 2024.
• Costco is third, up 36.6% year to date.
• At the bottom: Walgreens, Dollar Tree and Lamb Weston. Each of those names have been hit pretty hard this year. Lamb Weston is down 40% in 2024, while Dollar Tree is off about 50%. Walgreens is down 67% year to date.

China

• We’ll be watching for a follow-through after a big day for the Chinese ETFs. Beijing issued a series of stimulus measures aimed at propping up the economy, and stocks tied to the country jumped.
• The KraneShares China Internet ETF (KWEB) jumped 10.3% Tuesday. It is 8% from the May 52-week high. In the past week, it is up 16%.
• The iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI) was up about 9% Tuesday. It is 1% from the May 17 high. It is up around 14% in a week.
• The iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI) was up 9.8% Tuesday, and it hit a 52-week high. It is up 15% in a week.

Copper

• It is up 12.5% in the last six weeks.
• Copper’s movements sometimes follow China as that country is generally seen as a big buyer of the commodity.
• Newmont is now at a 27-month high after jumping 2.5% Tuesday. It is up 31% in three months.

Micron earnings are due after the bell

• CNBC TV’s Seema Mody is covering the company Wednesday.
• Micron Technology is down 32% in the past three months.
• The stock is 40% from the June 18 high.
• However, shares are up 36.5% in the last year.

First dates can feel like verbal land mines. You want to appear engaged but not nosey, and reveal enough about yourself without oversharing.

If you’re too concentrated on saying the right thing it can distract from the purpose of the date itself: getting to know the person across from you.

Aside from finances, most conversations are fair game, says Blaine Anderson, an Austin, Texas-based dating coach and founder of Dating by Blaine.

“There aren’t topics that are totally off limits,” she says.

Even typically taboo subjects can be addressed on a first date, and perhaps should be, if a potential mate’s opinion on them is a deal breaker.

“Politics can be a sensitive topic, but if you’re really passionate about politics and would only date someone who shares your viewpoints, then you’re probably better off bringing them up on a first date rather than waiting,” she says.

There are a few conversations that might sidetrack you from the goal of forming connection, though.

Here are three questions not to ask on a first date.

1. What’s your dating history?

It’s tempting to inquire about a person’s last serious relationship or how they’re finding the current dating landscape, but questions like this are, to put it plainly, just not “fun,” Anderson says, something that a first date should be.

“The only category of questions I’d advise singles to avoid outright on early dates is around dating history,” she says. “There’s no need to bring exes into your first dates. Stay present, and focus on the here and now.”

One of the primary goals of a date is to flirt, which can only really happen if both parties are comfortable.

“Be playful, and ask questions that will make your date smile,” Anderson says. Prying about an ex is unlikely to do that.

2. This was great! Do you want to go on another date?

Instead of nailing down the details of a second date while still on the first, take some time to think about whether you want to continue to get to know someone, says Grace Lee, a New York City-based dating coach and founder of A Good First Date.

“Planning for the second date is a form of courtship, a form of testing that mutual interest,” she says. “That’s why I like to leave the first date open. I like leaving that planning process in tact. Now, one person has to take a little bit a risk.”

Plus, she says, putting someone on the spot rarely encourages an honest answer.

“If you ask someone if they want to go on a second date, 99% of the time they’ll say, ‘yes’ because it’s so awkward not to say yes,” she says.

If you want to make it clear that you would like a second date, bring the conversation back to a restaurant or experience you both discussed.

“You can say, ‘We should totally check that out sometime,'” Lee says. “You’re alluding to something in the future, but you’re not asking them to do it.”

3. Drinks has been fun — should we get dinner now?

It’s generally a good sign if you don’t want the date to end, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t let it, Lee says.

“The problem with the seven-hour first date is you have this false sense of really being intimate without knowing if over time they will be consistent,” she says.

If you both feel a strong connection, you can continue to explore it on subsequent dates.

“As good as it feels, even if you’re on the most amazing date I’d encourage people to stop after the second round of drinks,” Lee says. “Leave wanting more. If the magic is there, it will lead to a second date.”

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The Biden administration on Tuesday announced its support for the latest short-term government funding proposal, greatly reducing the chances of a partial shutdown ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election.

In a statement from the Office of Management and Budget, the White House applauded the bill for giving Congress “more time to complete full-year funding bills later this year that deliver for America’s national defense, veterans, seniors, children, and working families, and address urgent needs for the American people, including for communities recovering from disaster.”

The statement was far from a ringing endorsement of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s, R-La., proposal. The statement criticized congressional Republicans for not including additional funding for disaster relief, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Small Business Administration.

“The Administration is deeply disappointed that congressional Republicans continue to block critical funding requested by the Administration to avoid severe disruptions to several critical Government services, including effectively ceasing operations of the Small Business Administration disaster loan program later this fall,” it said.

The White House also warned that it would oppose any funding cuts to the Internal Revenue Service in final appropriations legislation.

The bill — introduced by Johnson on Sunday after his original proposal failed to pass the GOP-controlled House earlier this month — would fund the government through Dec. 20, rather than March 2025. It does not include any part of the SAVE Act, a controversial voter ID bill.

President Joe Biden and many congressional Democrats staunchly opposed plans to include the SAVE Act in the government funding bill. But it was Johnson’s own caucus members who defeated his initial funding measure, when 14 House Republicans voted against it on Sept. 18.

The new proposal appears to defy the wishes of former President Donald Trump, who publicly called on congressional Republicans to shut down the government if the SAVE Act was left out of the funding bill.

The latest bill does include $231 million for the Secret Service, whose funding and resources have been in the spotlight in the wake of two assassination attempts against Trump.

Congress and the White House have until midnight on Sept. 30 to pass the bill and see it signed into law, avoid a partial government shutdown, which would have come just over a month from Election Day.

House Republican aides said Sunday that the funding proposal could reach the House floor for a vote as soon as Wednesday.

“The Administration calls for swift passage of this bill in both chambers of the Congress to avoid a costly, unnecessary government shutdown and to ensure there is adequate time to pass full-year FY 2025 appropriations bills later this year,” the White House statement said.

S&P 500 futures were little changed. Nasdaq 100 futures ticked up less than 0.1%, and futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1%.

The moves come after the S&P 500 and Dow closed at record highs after gaining 0.25% and 0.20%, respectively. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.56% and is less than 4% from its record high.

All three averages are on track for a positive September, though fears of a slowing economy still linger after last week’s rate cut from the Federal Reserve.

Now that the central bank has begun to lower interest rates, the economy is becoming a bigger focus for investors.

“I’m a buyer of this rally until unemployment claims start rising, until earnings start declining, really until growth’s a problem. And I think we’re going to see a really volatile market between those growth and slowdown narratives until that time,” Lauren Goodwin, chief market strategist at New York Life Investments, said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.”

Upcoming economic data includes new home sales for August, due out on Wednesday morning, and weekly jobless claims on Thursday.

Investors will also be paying close attention to commentary from companies, especially as earnings season ramps up early next month.

“We’re just starting to head into … the Q3 earnings season, and I think that will be as important if not more to what happens to stocks going forward as what happens with the Fed and with interest rates,” Certuity chief investment officer Scott Welch told CNBC.

Gold still has upside, but near-term could be rocky, Strategas’ Verrone says

Gold futures settled at another record high on Tuesday, extending a rally that started long before the Federal Reserve’s rate cut became assured.

Strategas head of technical strategy Chris Verrone said on “Closing Bell” that he sees further upside for the yellow metal but cautioned that there could be a near-term dip.

“Some of the sentiment the last week or two I think is getting a little on the hotter side. If you got a pullback $2450, $2500 I think is very good support. I’d be a buyer there,” Verrone said.

Verrone also said that silver looks “timely” right now. Silver futures rose more than 4% on Tuesday for their best day since May.

— Jesse Pound

KB Home slides after earnings miss

Shares of KB Home dropped 6% in extended trading after earnings for the fiscal third quarter came in below expectations.

KB Home reported $2.04 in earnings per share, slightly below the $2.06 per share expected by analysts, according to LSEG. The company’s housing gross margin also declined year over year.

Homebuilders will be a group watched closely by Wall Street now that the Federal Reserve has started to cut rates. Investors will want to see if home sales can rise as mortgage rates fall. New home sales data for August is due out on Wednesday.

Check out more after hours movers here.

— Jesse Pound

S&P 500 futures open flat

Stock futures were little changed at 6 p.m. in New York, with S&P 500 futures hovering near the flat line.

— Jesse Pound

Market could be due for an ‘everything rally,’ says EMJ Capital’s Eric Jackson

The market could be in store for even more growth ahead, according to EMJ Capital’s Eric Jackson.

“We could be in for an everything rally,” the firm’s founder and president told CNBC’s “Money Movers” on Tuesday. “It’s not just small-cap tech, although that will participate, it’ll be the Mag Seven, it’ll be other stuff too.”

In terms of where he sees opportunities, Jackson said he likes Tesla especially, believing it could be a beneficiary of China’s new economic stimulus measures. The stock has soared more than 14% in the past one month and more than 38% in the past three months.

“I just don’t think they have gotten the credit to this point for being an AI play that they will,” he said, adding that he thinks the rally will continue.

— Sean Conlon

The constant ping of notifications and the pressure to share even the most insignificant moments of my day, instead of actually just living them, had become incredibly overstimulating. Social media dependency is a real problem, recent data shows. On average, Americans check their phones 144 times a day, according to a 2023 survey by Reviews.org.

So much of my free time throughout the day was consumed by mindless scrolling on the social media platform X and Instagram. I wanted to see how I could use that time differently.

My decision to step away from social media came hours after I interviewed George Jerjian, author of “Dare to Discover Your Purpose: Retire, Refire, Rewire” whose life changed after going on a 30-day silent retreat.

“I think in the noise-filled world that we live in, silence is a secret weapon. It’s a commodity that is priceless, because it allows you to shed the masks,” Jerjian tells CNBC Make It.

“When you shed these masks, you come to face your true self. And I cannot tell you how important that is, because you don’t want to meet that self on your deathbed.”

The following day, I interviewed Weiting Liu, founder of Arc.Dev, who has been to eight silent retreats since 2022. Here’s what Jerjian and Liu shared with me about the benefits of disconnecting.

Disconnecting allows time for a self-audit

Going on a 30-day silent retreat is a much greater challenge than ditching social media for a few days.

One commonality between social media detoxes and silent retreats is that Jerjian and Liu also weren’t able to access social media during the retreats — where the use of phones wasn’t allowed outside of emergencies. Jerijan and Liu also weren’t able to communicate with anyone at all, including the people around them.

“In that silence, I met my vulnerable self. I met the self that I would not ordinarily introduce to people,” Jerjian says.

Being silent for 30 days allowed him to become in tune with his emotional and sensitive side that he neglected when he was on the go. He used the time to do an audit of his life, observing the high points and low points that he experienced over the years.

After extensive journaling about his life, he realized “every crisis in my life was the platform for a new opportunity.”

You can achieve better emotional regulation

Liu’s takeaways from silent retreats are similar. He’s been to at least one silent retreat every quarter since the end of 2022. The length of the retreats ranged from five days to 10 days.

At silent retreats, “you’re no longer taking in external stimuli, and that kind of forces you to start to look deeper internally,” Liu says.

“Most of us have stored traumas, hidden, serious or not, to different degrees, stored within our subconscious, right? So in those environments, those can really start to bubble up, and that enables you to reflect [on] things.”

Deep reflection on the negative experiences in his life allowed him to adhere to the Buddhist teaching that “the source of human suffering is basically aversion or craving.” Essentially, Liu learned “you can’t really control the external circumstances, but you can actually control how you react to these circumstances. It’s actually how you react that dictates the quality of your experience.”

This realization allowed Liu to achieve better emotional regulation and become a more productive leader.

“I’m no longer a slave to my own emotions. I used to be a very bad-tempered person,” he says, recalling times when he read into a person’s tone in an email or felt slighted after being ghosted by potential investors.

“I no longer have this negative, reactive loop [and] that made a world of difference.”

You don’t have to be silent for 30 days to see benefits

I’m not yet at the stage where I’d be ready to go on a 30-day silent retreat, but my time away from social media has helped me to reach similar conclusions as Jerjian and Liu.

“It’s definitely a good idea to ease yourself in. Like for someone who has never really been still or been quiet for more than three hours, it would probably be too big of an ask for them to disappear for 10 days,” Liu says.

“Just start to cultivate a mindfulness or meditation habit. Even five minutes a day can really move the needle.”

Liu started his journey into disconnecting by meditating for just 20 minutes a day before ever attending a silent retreat. Since beginning my social media detox, I spend a minimum of 10 minutes daily, without external stimuli, to look out the window and observe my surroundings. At first it was uncomfortable; now I look forward to it.

Once you feel more comfortable sitting with yourself in silence, you can consider Jerjian’s suggestion for beginners.

“I would recommend you do eight days, a week’s silence. And it doesn’t have to be in an institution,” Jerjian says. “You could just go away into a cabin in the woods or something. I don’t care, just get away from people, everyday people, and have time with yourself.”

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Caroline Ellison, the star witness in the prosecution of her former boyfriend, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced Tuesday in New York federal court to two years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 billion for her role in the massive fraud and conspiracy that doomed the cryptocurrency exchange once valued at $32 billion.

The prison term was significantly stiffer than the recommendation by the federal Probation Department that Judge Lewis Kaplan sentence Ellison, who had run the hedge fund Alameda Research, to three years of supervised release, with no time at all behind bars. Defense lawyers also had requested a no-prison sentence for Ellison.

Alameda received much of the $8 billion in customer funds looted by Bankman-Fried from FTX. The stolen money was used for Alameda’s trading operation and other purposes.

While Kaplan praised Ellison for her extensive cooperation with prosecutors — which led to the conviction of Bankman-Fried — the judge said her criminal sentence needed to deter other potential bad actors from committing fraud.

The judge said the FTX case is probably the greatest financial fraud perpetrated in the history of the U.S., and because of that a “literal get-out-of-jail-free card I can’t agree to,” Kaplan said in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where Ellison’s parents and two sisters looked on from the courtroom’s gallery.

“I’ve seen a lot of cooperators over the years and I’ve never seen one quite like Miss Ellison,” said Kaplan, who also said he believed that Ellison was genuinely remorseful for her crimes and that her cooperation carried a steep price for her emotionally.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon urged Kaplan for leniency, citing Ellison’s consistent truthfulness while refusing to minimize her role in the fraud. Sassoon also said she could not overstate Ellison’s assistance in convicting Bankman-Fried.

Ellison’s attorney, Anjan Sahni, urged Kaplan to give Ellison a second chance saying she has “recovered her moral compass” and “profoundly regrets” not leaving FTX and Bankman-Fried’s orbit.

Ellison read from a statement in a shaky voice while crying at times as she apologized to the people she had hurt and said she was deeply ashamed. She also said she was sorry for not being brave enough to walk away from FTX and Bankman-Fried.

Kaplan allowed Ellison to remain free on bail until she surrenders to prison either on or after Nov. 7.

Ellison reached a plea deal with prosecutors in December 2022, a month after FTX spiraled into bankruptcy. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy and financial fraud charges.

Bankman-Fried, in contrast, chose to stand trial and was convicted of all seven criminal fraud charges against him. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March and also was ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture by Kaplan.

Bankman-Fried since then has appealed his conviction, and requested a new trial and a different judge, arguing that Kaplan was biased against him.

Two other former FTX executives, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, are scheduled to be sentenced later this year. Like Ellison, they pleaded guilty instead of standing trial.

On Tuesday, before sentencing Ellison, Kaplan noted that while the FTX founder had denied criminal conduct, she cooperated with authorities.

“It didn’t work out so well” for Bankman-Fried, in part because of Ellison’s cooperation, the judge said.

Kaplan credited Ellison for providing prosecutors with seven fake spreadsheets, which he called “one of the huge pieces of evidence in the case” against Bankman-Fried.

Late Monday, Ellison’s attorneys in a court filing said they had finalized financial settlements with prosecutors and the FTX debtor’s estate.

The filing did not say how much she would pay in those settlements, which are separate from the forfeiture order, but it was already known that Ellison’s $10 million in shares in the AI startup Anthropic, which have grown substantially since she first bought them, provide the bulk value of her settlements.

Both Bankman-Fried and Ellison had faced the same statutory maximum sentence of about 110 years in prison for their crimes.

Defendants in criminal cases who cooperate with prosecutors instead of fighting the charges, particularly in white-collar cases such as FTX, often receive leniency when they are sentenced.

WATCH: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried appeals fraud conviction

Former President Donald Trump unveiled several new manufacturing proposals at a rally in Savannah, Georgia, on Tuesday, part of an effort to sharpen his economic platform as Vice President Kamala Harris prepares a new policy rollout of her own.

The Republican presidential nominee said if he were elected, he would reward U.S.-based manufacturers with expanded research and development tax credits, which would allow businesses to “write off 100% of the cost of heavy machinery and other equipment in the first year.”

If implemented, this proposal would reverse a major component of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which phased out traditional R&D tax credits.

Starting in 2022, businesses were no longer allowed to write off their R&D expenses the same year they incurred them. Instead, they have to amortize their R&D costs over five years and then write off that value, the effect of which is often to shrink the tax benefits.

Trump’s proposal on Tuesday appeared to walk back that piece of the TCJA. “You’re going to get full expensing. In other words, you have a one-year write-off,” he said.

The former president also said he would appoint a specialized “manufacturing ambassador” if he wins a second term in the White House. This appointee would be solely responsible for traveling around the world to “convince major manufacturers to pack up and move back to America,” Trump said.

Trump also doubled down on his hardline approach to trade, saying he would impose a “100% or 200% tariff” on cars imported from Mexico.

With 42 days until the Nov. 5 election, Trump is working to strengthen his economic posture, as Harris beefs up her own platform and works to cast her Republican opponent in a negative light.

Earlier Tuesday, the Harris campaign hosted billionaire investor Mark Cuban and Teamsters National Black Caucus Chair James Curbeam on a campaign call, where they panned Trump’s economic agenda.

“The Vice President, her team thinks through her policies,” Cuban said. “She doesn’t just off the top of her head say what she thinks the crowd wants to hear, like the Republican nominee.”

Harris has received some criticism of her own from economists and the business community, especially pertaining to her aggressive approach to regulating corporations.

Cuban on Tuesday worked to assuage some of corporate America’s concerns.

He argued, for example, that Harris’ proposed corporate tax hikes would put less pressure on companies than Trump’s across-the-board tariffs would. He also said he does not believe a Harris administration would impose heavy regulations on cryptocurrencies.

“I think she’s better for business,” said Cuban.

On Wednesday, Harris is expected to roll out new economic policy proposals in a speech in Pittsburgh.

One of the world’s largest e-commerce companies is emerging as a top pick on Wall Street as investors look for tech opportunities beyond the Magnificent Seven.

MercadoLibre, an Argentinian e-commerce and payments platform that’s incorporated in Delaware and actively traded on Nasdaq, is up 34% in 2024, compared to a roughly 27% rise for Amazon, and 20% for the S&P 500. The company was founded 25 years ago by CEO Marcos Gaplerin at the height of the dot com boom. It now dominates online sales in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile and makes up roughly half of online sales in South America, according to eMarketer. It also operates a digital payments platform called Mercado Pago.

Roughly 90% of Wall Street analysts who cover the stock rate it a “buy,” with an average price target of $2,268 — about 8% upside from where it was trading this week, according to FactSet. There are no sell ratings.

Brad Gerstner of Altimeter Capital is one such bull. He highlighted expanding profit margins and MercadoLibre’s AI potential as reasons he’s “excited” by the stock.

“You look at companies like MercadoLibre … a lot of companies that people have kind of forgotten about as [investors] moved in to the Magnificent Seven — I think there are going to be a lot of internet companies that are benefited by AI,” Gerstner told CNBC’s Scott Wapner at the Goldman Sachs Communicopia conference this month. “It’s not only margin expansion, but reacceleration at the top, where they can acquire customers, improve products in a way that make it easier for customers to buy, and take friction out of the system.”

Silicon Valley to Buenos Aires

Galperin came up for the idea of MercadoLibre while he was a student at Stanford Graduate School of Business in Palo Alto, California. He started to look for seed funding at a time when few investors were committing capital outside California.

“There was no venture capital for Latin America. Actually, there was little venture capital for anything outside of Silicon Valley. Even if you were an entrepreneur based in New York, the investors were all on Sand Hill Road,” Galperin told CNBC, referring to the Wall Street of the West Coast. “I don’t think they really cared about exploring other parts of the world.”

That investor mindset has changed. Last year, venture-backed companies in Latin America raised $3.3 billion across nearly 1,000 deals, according to PitchBook. At the peak in 2021, the region brought in $16.3 billion.

But back in the late 1990s, Galperin pitched a private equity investor who happened to be lecturing at Stanford, and framed the lack of infrastructure and competition in Latin America as an opportunity.

“In Latin America, there was no existing infrastructure. You couldn’t do online payments. There was no efficient logistics for peer-to-peer commerce, we had to build that all ourselves,” Galperin said. “That made it harder at the beginning — but for us today, it’s great.”

While MercaroLibre is sometimes referred to as the “Amazon of South America,” Galperin built the company at a time when eBay dominated online commerce. Amazon, at the time, was still more of an online book store. In fact, MercadoLibre partnered with eBay, which bought 20% of the company in 2001, and sold the stake in 2016.

“We learned a lot from that relationship, and then eventually we started pivoting away from auctions,” Galperin said. “Today, I think we are much closer to what Amazon is.”

Amazon is starting to see opportunity in South America, too. The dominant North American e-commerce platform has expanded into Mexico. “We’ve been competing since we started — it’s something that will continue for many years,” Galperin said.

Competitive tailwinds

He pointed to tailwinds that may help MercadoLibre withstand competition. E-commerce and online payments are steadily growing, and Latin America has a young, mobile-savvy population of more than 600 million people. MercadoLibre grew revenue 42% in the second quarter, and 112% on a currency-neutral basis. Its operating profit margin expanded to 14.3%.

“When you look at the penetration of e-commerce in Latin America, it’s still quite low compared to the U.S., Europe or Asia,” Galperin told CNBC. “Roughly half of the population is unbanked or underbanked. It’s an enormous opportunity for us to distribute financial products to all these people that historically have been excluded.”

“The way that highly successful people build relationships is really not taking your relationships for granted,” life coach Francesca Hogi told CNBC Make It at the Fast Company Innovation Festival. They work on their communication skills, respect other people’s boundaries and are clear about their own.

Another thing successful people do is develop a sense of self-awareness about how they interact with other people. “I think of it as doing an audit” of relationships, says Hogi.

Here’s how.

‘Maybe I’m good at showing up at a time of crisis’

One way to gain that self-awareness is to identify patterns in your interactions with others. Ask yourself, what are my strengths in relationships, and where can I do better?

“Some people are very good at being a sounding board,” says Hogi, “but maybe they’re not as good at being vulnerable and letting themselves be seen.”

Some can get close to people very quickly, but will push them away when a hurdle comes along. On the flip side, “maybe I’m good at showing up at a time of crisis,” adds Hogi, “and that’s great, but maybe I’m not as engaged when things are going well.”

Take an honest look at how you handle yourself in relationships and take note of what you’re prone to do.

‘What’s my version of that?’

Another way to better understand how you relate to people is to observe the other relationships around you.

“You could look at other people in your life and that can help give you some information,” says Hogi. Are they impatient? Do they give the person across from them their full attention? Then ask yourself, what’s my version of that?

“What role might I be playing that I’m actually blind to, because it’s just so much a part of how I’m used to showing up?” says Hogi.

Ultimately, the point of taking this inventory of your relationships is to see how you can improve.

Building strong relationships comes from a set of “skills that you can develop,” says Hogi, “but it has to start with recognizing that they are skills and recognizing that there is room for growth.“

Remember as you do this, not to be too hard on yourself. No one’s behavior is perfect, says Hogi. “This is all our first time being human.”

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The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday sued Visa, the world’s biggest payments network, saying it propped up an illegal monopoly over debit payments by imposing “exclusionary” agreements on partners and smothering upstart firms.

Visa’s moves over the years have resulted in American consumers and merchants paying billions of dollars in additional fees, according to the DOJ, which filed a civil antitrust suit in New York for “monopolization” and other unlawful conduct.

“We allege that Visa has unlawfully amassed the power to extract fees that far exceed what it could charge in a competitive market,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a DOJ release.

“Merchants and banks pass along those costs to consumers, either by raising prices or reducing quality or service,” Garland said. “As a result, Visa’s unlawful conduct affects not just the price of one thing – but the price of nearly everything.”

Visa and its smaller rival MasterCard have surged in the past two decades, reaching a combined market cap of roughly $1 trillion, as consumers tapped credit and debit cards for store purchases and e-commerce instead of paper money. They are essentially toll collectors, shuffling payments between the merchants’ banks and cardholders.

More than 60% of debit transactions in the U.S. run over Visa rails, helping it charge more than $7 billion annually in processing fees, according to the DOJ complaint.

But the payment networks’ dominance has increasingly attracted attention from regulators and retailers.

In 2020, the DOJ filed an antitrust suit to block Visa from acquiring fintech company Plaid; the companies initially said they would fight the action, but soon abandoned the $5.3 billion deal.

In March, Visa and Mastercard agreed to limit their fees and let merchants charge customers for using credit cards, a deal retailers said was worth $30 billion in savings over a half decade. A federal judge later rejected the deal, saying the networks could afford to pay for a “substantially greater” settlement.

“Visa wields its dominance, enormous scale, and centrality to the debit ecosystem to impose a web of exclusionary agreements on merchants and banks,” the DOJ said in its release. “These agreements penalize Visa’s customers who route transactions to a different debit network or alternative payment system.”

 This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

The tax extension deadline is Oct. 15, but you have options if you still can’t pay your balance, experts say.

This year, the federal tax deadline was April 15. Those struggling to meet that due date could submit Form 4868 for a six-month extension to file.

But while the tax extension provided more time to file, 2023 taxes were due April 15. In the meantime, unpaid taxes continue to accrue IRS penalties and interest.     

“That’s a surprise to a lot of people,” said Josh Youngblood, an enrolled agent and owner of The Youngblood Group, a Dallas-based tax firm. 

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If you missed the tax deadline, the late payment penalty is 0.5% of your unpaid balance per month or partial month, capped at 25%. You will also incur interest on unpaid taxes.

By comparison, the failure-to-file penalty is 5% of unpaid taxes per month or partial month, up to 25%.

However, some taxpayers in disaster areas receive both an automatic extension to file and more time to pay.

File your return even if you can’t pay

The IRS has options if you can’t pay your taxes, “but you have to be current on your filing requirement,” said Tom O’Saben, an enrolled agent and director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals.

After filing, there are “various payment options” online, and many filers will receive an immediate acceptance or rejection of payment plan requests without calling, according to the IRS.

“If you owe less than $50,000, establishing a payment plan with the IRS is almost going to be automatic,” O’Saben said.

IRS online payment plans, or “installment agreements,” include:

• Short-term payment plan: This may be an option if you owe less than $100,000, including tax, penalties and interest. You have up to 180 days to pay in full.

• Long-term payment plan: This may be available if your balance is less than $50,000, including tax, penalties and interest. You must pay monthly, and you have up to 72 months to pay off the balance.

Although the late-payment penalty and interest will continue to accrue, an IRS payment plan could cut your late-payment fee in half while the agreement is in effect, according to the IRS.

One downside of IRS payment plans is future tax refunds could be used to offset your unpaid balance, O’Saben said.

‘Don’t ignore it’

If you have unpaid taxes, you can expect notices from the IRS, and communication with the agency is key, experts say.

“Don’t ignore it because it won’t go away,” Youngblood said. “I’ve had clients come in, and they have a whole pile of unopened IRS letters.” 

“The IRS is not as bad as they think,” he added. “They actually want to work with people.”

In other words, a U.S. buyer can now afford a home $70,000 more expensive than what they were planning to purchase last year.

The findings are based on the monthly payment for a median-priced home in the U.S., a 20% down payment and a 6.2% mortgage rate. The analysis applied the same method to each of the 100 largest cities, calculating how much extra buying power homebuyers have in each local market compared with last year.

DON’T MISS: How to master your money and grow your wealth

Perhaps unsurprisingly, buyers in cities with the most expensive homes saw their spending power increase the most. In San Jose, California, for example, buyers can now afford a home worth $1.6 million for the same monthly payment they could get a $1.4 million home a year ago, according to Realtor.com.

Those savings will likely grow, too. With the Federal Reserve cutting its benchmark federal funds rate by 50 basis points last week, mortgage rates are forecasted to decline to 6% or less at some point in 2025.

If that happens, additional buying power for homebuyers in the 100 largest metro areas would increase to $84,800 for a median-priced home, compared with October 2023, according to the analysis.

Here are the 15 metro areas where buying power has increased the most based on 6.2% and 6% mortgage rates. Buying power is how much more home a buyer in each market can afford compared with October 2023.

1. San Jose

• October 2023 median list price: $1,380,694
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $240,556
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $275,489

2. Los Angeles

• October 2023 median list price: $1,159,000
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $201,931
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $231,254

3. San Francisco

• October 2023 median list price: $1,098,000
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $191,303
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $219,083

4. Ventura County, California

• October 2023 median list price: $1,050,000
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $182,940
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $209,506

5. San Diego

• October 2023 median list price: $999,000
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $174,054
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $199,330

6. Bridgeport, Connecticut

• October 2023 median list price: $889,225
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $154,928
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $177,426

7. Boston

• October 2023 median list price: $837,374
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $145,894
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $167,081

8. Honolulu

• October 2023 median list price: $798,750
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $139,165
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $159,374

9. Seattle

• October 2023 median list price: $792,250
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $138,032
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $158,077

10. New York

• October 2023 median list price: $729,444
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $127,090
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $145,545

11. Sacramento, California

• October 2023 median list price: $649,000
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $113,074
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $129,494

12. Denver

• October 2023 median list price: $635,000
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $110,635
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $126,701

13. Portland, Oregon

• October 2023 median list price: $619,995
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $108,021
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $123,707

14. Washington, D.C.

• October2023 median list price: $599,995
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $104,536
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $119,717

15. Portland, Maine

• October 2023 median list price: $599,950
• Extra buying power with 6.2% rate: $104,528
• Extra buying power with 6% rate: $119,708

Want to master your money this fall? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course. We’ll teach you practical strategies to hack your budget, reduce your debt, and grow your wealth. Start today to feel more confident and successful. Use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off, now extended through September 30, 2024, for the back-to-school season.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is done selling the chipmaker’s stock for the time being, cashing in more than $700 million under a prearranged plan.

The 61-year-old executive in mid-March adopted a trading plan for the sale of up to six million Nvidia shares by the end of the first quarter of 2025. Huang has hit that threshold months ahead of schedule after a flurry of transactions between June 13 and Sept. 12, according to a new regulatory filing.

Even though the sales were made under a 10b5-1 plan, which allows insiders to sell shares under a preplanned structure, Nvidia shares seemed to get a boost from the update Tuesday, trading more than 4% higher.

The chipmaker has been the biggest beneficiary of the artificial intelligence boom, with shares rallying more than 140% this year. Nvidia briefly topped a $3 trillion market cap earlier this year, and its dominance has grown so big that it tends to influence the broader market and investor sentiment.

Nvidia declined CNBC’s request for comment.

Barron’s first reported on the completion of Huang’s preplanned sales Tuesday.

After the sales, Huang now holds 75.4 million Nvidia shares and another 786 million shares through different trusts and a partnership, according to a separate filing. In the company’s latest proxy statement, Huang was listed as the company’s largest individual shareholder.

Nvidia sells processors that are powering the generative AI boom and services such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The company counts Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, Amazon and Oracle as its main customers.

Good afternoon! Wegovy, the blockbuster weight loss treatment from Novo Nordisk, tops the list of drugs that could soon become part of the second round of price negotiations between manufacturers and Medicare. 

That’s according to a paper published last week in the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy. By February, the government will unveil the next 15 costliest Medicare Part D drugs that will be subject to the talks, for price changes that will go into effect in 2027. 

The Biden administration last month announced new negotiated prices for the first 10 Medicare Part D drugs selected for the talks. Those prices will take effect in 2026. 

Medications containing the same active ingredient and manufactured by the same company will be considered a single drug for the talks, according to guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The researchers said that’s why they expect all of Novo Nordisk’s three branded drugs containing semaglutide – Wegovy, the diabetes injection Ozempic and an older diabetes pill called Rybelsus – to be selected for the talks as a single product.

That may be a big deal for older adults who use those treatments, which each carry price tags of around $1,000 per month before insurance. However, it’s still unclear how much Medicare could negotiate down those costs — and how much patient costs would fall after insurance and rebates. 

The Biden administration, lawmakers and patient advocates have long criticized the Danish drugmaker for the high list prices of its obesity and diabetes drugs. Novo Nordisk’s CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen faced a Senate grilling on Tuesday over those prices. 

While Jørgensen did not commit to lowering prices of Wegovy and Ozempic, he vowed to “collaborate” with pharmacy benefit managers “on anything that helps patients get access and affordability.” He also pushed back on Medicare price negotiations when asked about the potential selection of Wegovy and Ozempic, calling the talks “price-setting” that will have negative consequences for drug innovation.

Medicare Part D doesn’t cover weight loss treatments unless they are approved and prescribed for another health condition. But Wegovy could make the list for negotiations because it is now approved to reduce the risk of major cardiovascular complications, making it likely that some Part D plans have started covering the treatment, according to the researchers. 

Under CMS guidance, drugs must be on the market for at least seven years without generic competitors before Medicare can select them for price talks. Semaglutide will have been on the market for seven years and one month by February and does not have any generic equivalents.

Other researchers and Wall Street analysts have said they expect Ozempic to be subject to negotiations because of how much Medicare Part D spends on the treatment. 

The program spent more than $5.6 billion on semaglutide drugs in 2022, which only reflects spending on Ozempic and Rybelsus since Wegovy was not covered at the time, the paper said. Researchers also projected that Medicare Part D spent nearly $7.5 billion on Ozempic and Rybelsus in 2023, which is $3 billion higher than spending for the second-highest eligible drug. 

They noted they likely “underestimated” their projected spending figures for semaglutide

The other drugs expected to be subject to price talks include GSK‘s Trelegy Ellipta, a prescription inhaler used to treat asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and Xtandi, a rheumatoid arthritis medication from Astellas Pharma. 

Still, researchers said the final list of drugs selected will depend on whether generic versions launch before February. 

We’ll be following the next round of Medicare drug price negotiations closely, so stay tuned for our coverage. 

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

Latest in health-care tech: Particle Health files antitrust suit against Epic Systems

Data startup Particle Health on Monday filed an antitrust lawsuit against Epic Systems, a software vendor that houses medical records for around 280 million patients in the U.S.

Particle alleges that Epic is using its dominance in the electronic health records space to stifle competition in other markets that use this data. The suit was filed in the Southern District of New York. 

Oracle and Meditech are other prominent companies in the electronic health records segment, and patients often have data stored across multiple vendors. Even so, Epic is a formidable competitor. The company commands the most acute care market share in the U.S., covering more than half all acute care multispecialty beds, according to a report from KLAS Research. Additionally, Epic was the only vendor that saw a net increase in this market share in 2023, the report said.  

Particle’s lawsuit comes after the two companies clashed over data-sharing practices earlier this year. Epic and Particle both belong to an interoperability network called Carequality, which helps facilitate a large-scale exchange of patient information.

Epic filed a formal dispute with Carequality in March, citing concerns that Particle and its participant organizations “might be inaccurately representing the purpose associated with their record retrievals.” To join the Carequality network, organizations must be approved and abide by “Permitted Purposes,” generally having to do with treatment, for the exchange of patient records.

In its 81-page complaint, Particle said Epic’s dispute was “manufactured” and that Epic asserted some Particle customers, not Particle itself, were obtaining records improperly. Particle said Epic used its “outsized influence” over Carequality to get a favorable outcome, and argues that it has suffered damages because of Epic’s conduct.

“Absent repercussions, Epic will be incentivized to run this playbook again the next time a competitor emerges,” Particle said in a release Monday.

Epic said it will “vigorously defend itself against Particle’s meritless claims,” and that it will continue to protect patients’ privacy.

“Particle’s claims are baseless. This lawsuit attempts to divert attention from the real issue: Particle’s unlawful actions on the Carequality health information exchange network violated HIPAA privacy regulations,” an Epic spokesperson told CNBC in a statement Tuesday. “Particle’s complaint mischaracterizes Carequality’s decision, which in fact proposes banning Particle customers that were accessing patient data for impermissible purposes.” 

It will likely be a while before there’s a definitive ruling, as antitrust cases often move slowly. Google, for instance, lost an antitrust case last month that was originally filed in 2020. A federal U.S. judge ruled that the company illegally held a monopoly over text advertising and search.

You can read the full Particle complaint against Epic here.

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.

The windows are tinted and the blinds are closed in her home in Hartford, Wisconsin. A special film to block UV light covers her parents’ car windows.

Adeline was born with a severe type of porphyria — a group of blood disorders that impact the skin or nervous system, and affect about 200,000 Americans, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

The girl’s skin is hypersensitive to the sun. When exposed to UV light, it blisters painfully, leading to a risk of infection and scarring. Until a cure is found, she must hide from the sun for life.

Adeline’s parents were shocked when she was diagnosed at 18 months old.

“It was a complete gut punch,” Kurt Tonhaeuser, 60, tells TODAY.com. “We were just a mess emotionally.”

“It’s very isolating for her,” adds Megan Dunn, 46. “She makes it well known to us that she hates the disease. … She wants to be normal, and she wants to go outside and play like the other kids.”

Adeline got to do just that recently when she attended Sun Escape, a sun-proof camp for photosensitive children where all activities take place indoors or in the evening.

Mystery symptoms as baby

Adeline’s family had never heard of porphyria and had no reason to worry about her health at first. Dunn’s pregnancy was normal, and the baby seemed fine.

But when Tonhaeuser changed Adeline’s diaper, he noticed her urine had a reddish color. She lost her toenails and had what looked like an insect bite on the back of her leg that wouldn’t go away. Blisters appeared on her hands, arms and feet — any body part that wasn’t covered by clothing.

Her pediatrician diagnosed her with hand, foot and mouth disease, a viral infection; and impetigo, a bacterial skin infection.

But a pediatric dermatologist quickly suspected porphyria. Tests showed Adeline had an incredibly rare type called congenital erythropoietic porphyria, with only about 200 cases reported worldwide, according to the National Organization for Rare Disorders.

It’s a genetic disorder in which Adeline inherited a gene variant carried by both her parents, though they themselves don’t have the disease.

The mutation leads chemicals in her body, called porphyrins, to build up in her skin, bone marrow, teeth and bones, and when they interact with sunlight, painful blisters appear, the United Porphyrias Association notes.

Other symptoms include reddish urine, brownish-colored teeth, nail loss and excessive hair growth. Researchers believe the vampire myth may have originated with the disorder.

Playing outside is too risky

Adeline’s parents say they were lucky to receive a diagnosis early so they could start protecting her at a very young age, preventing the blister outbreaks and the infection and scarring that can follow.

They modified their house to be a fortress against UV light, worked with her school to make similar accommodations in her classroom, and they dress the second grader from head to toe in protective clothing. If the girl needs to go outside briefly during the day, she must also wear a full-face mask.

Indoors, she uses sunscreen on her face for a bit of extra protection.

“As long as Adeline stays covered and has zero exposure to any UV or outside light, then she will not have any reactions,” Dunn says.

“As far as playing during the day, no. We just don’t let her outside. it’s just too risky. It gets more difficult as she gets older because naturally, she sees her siblings outside and she wants to be out there,” Tonhaeuser adds.

“The isolation, sometimes I get to worry about that with her.”

At school, she must use an indoor recess room. Field trips are out of the question. So are beach vacations or daytime sports matches. It was a treat when her brother played his first nighttime soccer game and she was able to attend, Tonhaeuser says, breaking down with emotion.

Last summer, for the first time since Adeline was diagnosed as a toddler, she had a severe outbreak of blisters — likely because she snuck out a few times during the day to play with her siblings, her parents say.

It was painful and scared her, so she’s now much more careful and aware of the consequences, they note.

Night camp

In May, Adeline got to be a regular kid when she and her family attended the Sun Escape camp at Victory Junction in North Carolina. The event was specifically designed for children sensitive to sunlight, with activities like zip lining at night.

She loved horseback riding in an indoor arena lit up by lamps with incandescent bulbs, fishing at night and meeting other kids who must take the same precautions as she does.

“That was like a no worry weekend,” Dunn says. “She had such a blast.”

The annual camp is a joint project by the United Porphyrias Association and Shadow Jumpers, a nonprofit that helps people with photosensitive conditions founded by Craig Leppert, who has erythropoietic protoporphyria.

His condition means pain “similar to that of accidentally cutting yourself with a knife mixed with accidentally burning yourself on a stove” after about 15 minutes of sun exposure, he says. No medication eases the pain, and the affected area swells.

“I often tell people I would rather break a bone than get a bad reaction from the sun,” Leppert, 33, who works in the TV industry and lives in Los Angeles, tells TODAY.com.

He named his organization after the nickname his parents gave him when he would jump from shadow to shadow as a child to hide from the sun.

Leppert understands the isolation children like Adeline can feel, so the camp was a passion project. It’s free to attend for the kids and their families, and their travel costs are reimbursed.

“It was truly one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life,” Leppert says. “A fulfilling and joyful life is possible for families and children with these conditions; we just need to be open to thinking outside the box a bit.”

Vitamin D and blood draws

Doctors have told Adeline’s parents she should be fine as she grows older as long as she’s always protected from the sun.

She must take vitamin D supplements to make up for the lack of sunlight.

She also gets a blood draw every six months to monitor her health, including her liver and iron levels, which can be affected by the disease.

The girl may undergo a bone marrow transplant in the future, but it’s not recommended for now, Dunn says. In patients like Adeline, where the excess porphyrins are produced in the bone marrow, the healthy donor marrow might correct the problem.

“We just keep going. You can’t look back. We just keep moving forward,” her mom adds. “I think she’s rocking it. We really just have to continue to build her up. She’s very confident and I want her to stay that way.”

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from Today:

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Global benchmark Brent crude falling below $70 a barrel in early September — its lowest in 33 months — is terrific news for consumers, who will consequently see lower prices at the pump.

It’s also the stuff of nightmares for OPEC+, for whom oil revenues are critical.

The oil producer alliance led by Saudi Arabia earlier this month decided to delay oil production hikes for two additional months in an effort to shore up prices, but so far to no avail. Low global demand forecasts, coupled with new oil supply coming from non-OPEC countries, spell a long period of subdued crude prices. 

It’s led some in the market to ask the question: Have we officially reached “peak oil”? Has demand growth hit its apex, and is it just downhill from here?

By the forecasts of OPEC itself, that’s a hard no. 

The oil producer group’s 2024 World Oil Outlook report, released Tuesday, predicts strong energy demand growth of 24% globally between now and 2050. It also forecasts “robust medium-term growth” in oil demand reaching 112.3 million barrels per day in 2029, an increase of 10.1 million barrels per day compared to 2023.

A fair number of energy analysts appear to disagree with that calculation — not least those at the International Energy Agency. The Paris-based agency sees demand actually leveling off by the end of the decade to around 106 million barrels per day, according to its annual mid-term outlook published in June. The IEA still sees global oil demand rising; it just forecasts a smaller rise, and expects it to peak by the end of the decade. 

The battle of the forecasts between OPEC and the IEA has gained publicity in recent years, with the latter organization pushing hard for a net-zero future. 

S&P Global Commodity Insights, meanwhile, sees the medium-term future as somewhere in between, with demand reaching a peak of 109 million barrels per day in 2034 and gradually declining to fall below 100 million barrels per day in 2050. 

OPEC, by contrast, sees demand hitting a whopping 120 million barrels per day by 2050. 

All parties agree that demand will fall in the developing world, while rising in emerging markets led by India. 

The medium-term outlook

As for the near-to-medium term outlook, analysts are bearish on oil demand and prices. This is despite the early September announcement by OPEC+ that the group would be extending its crude production cuts into December in an attempt to limit market supply.

“That two month extra time hasn’t convinced anybody who’s skeptical about the market that that’s going to do much to shore up prices,” Dave Ernsberger, head of market reporting at S&P Global Commodity Insights, told CNBC.

“So that’s the in-the-moment issue. But the much bigger issue is, existentially speaking, are we moving past the moment of peak oil demand?”

Ernsberger pointed to the growth of alternative energy forms, including the increasing use of biofuels in the maritime industry. 

“What we’re moving into is an era of post-demand growth. It’s not a post-oil moment, but it’s a post-growth moment. And how does OPEC+, how does the market readjust to a world of low or no growth in demand overall?”

Price increase prospects are also dimmed by China, the world’s largest oil importer, which has put itself on a dedicated path to electrification. 

“The biggest threats to higher prices for OPEC+ are external,” Li-Chen Sim, a non-resident scholar at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, told CNBC.

Those are chiefly “lackluster demand, especially from China, oil supply from non-OPEC+ sources, and internal; some members are producing more than assigned quotas.”

Estimates by international and Chinese sources show a slowing demand for oil and refined products in China, Sim said. 

That is in part due to slowing Chinese economic growth of around 3% to 5% annually in recent years — still better than many other countries, she noted. 

“But there’s also a structural element to the reduction in oil consumption, driven by a conscious effort to reduce its high dependence on oil (and gas) imports, and expressed in policies such as electric vehicle uptake and encouraging expansion of renewable and nuclear power,” Sim added.

In the near term, OPEC+ is still expected to bring some production back in December, several countries in the alliance are producing beyond their quotas, and more supply is coming onto the market from non-OPEC+ producers like the U.S., Guyana, Brazil, and Canada. 

“It’s difficult to see prices moving much higher from here as long as that threat is out there in the market to bring those supplies back,” Ernsberger said.

In the much longer term, the eventual decline of the oil era – if it happens – will be brought on due to changing demand rather than dwindling supply, many analysts argue.

It was the late Saudi Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani who said in 2000: “The Stone Age came to an end not for a lack of stones and the Oil Age will end, but not for a lack of oil.”

U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt on Tuesday defended the company’s planned sale to Japan’s Nippon Steel, expressing confidence that the deal will be completed despite President Joe Biden’s vocal opposition.

“We strongly believe the deal closes on its merits,” Burritt said in an interview on CNBC’s “Money Movers.” “It strengthens national security, it strengthens economic security and it strengthens job security.”

Biden has publicly vowed that U.S. Steel will remain American-owned. Two people familiar with the matter told NBC News earlier this month that the president is preparing to formally block the $14.9 billion sale. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump also both oppose the deal.

“We have to remember that Nippon North America has been doing business here for 50 years and while it may sound sexy for it to be a company that stays the same, we won’t be able to succeed without Nippon,” Burritt said.

He said the transaction would save jobs, and pointed to Nippon’s commitment to invest $2.7 billion in U.S. Steel’s struggling mills as an example. When asked why U.S. Steel cannot make these investments, Burritt said the company has an obligation to shareholders.

“It’s about resource allocation,” Burritt said. “They’re about three times our size. They also have the best R&D and technology in the industry as it relates to integrated mills.”

“Our priorities would be different,” Burritt said. “Our priorities would not invest in these because we have to decide where we can get the best returns, because at the end of the day we have a fiduciary obligation to our stockholders.”

The sale is currently under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a body that reviews the national security implications of transactions by foreign entities. Burritt said he expects a decision to come after the U.S. presidential election in November.

CFIUS told Nippon that the sale could “lead to a reduction in domestic steel production capacity,” according to a letter obtained by Reuters earlier this month. The committee said supply chains could be disrupted in sectors critical to national security such as transportation, infrastructure, construction and agriculture.

Burritt dismissed potential national security concerns Tuesday, “With this agreement that could be signed, they will adhere to the trade laws in the United States,” he said.

“It’s going to be run by U.S. citizens and there will be a board of directors that … is largely U.S. citizens as well,” Burritt said.

Agriculture is responsible for more than 10% of global carbon emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But while agriculture is a massive carbon offender, it could now be part of a solution, as startups are trying new ways of using nature to save itself.

Farmers have long spread crushed lime on their fields to balance soil acidity, improve its structure and increase the nutrients available for crops. Startups such as Lithos, UNDO Carbon and California-based Eion are experimenting with several types of carbon-absorbing rocks that can accomplish what lime does while permanently removing carbon from the atmosphere at the same time. This is a process known as enhanced rock weathering.

Eion, for example, uses a volcanic rock called olivine. It grinds it up to make a dust.

“We apply a rock dust onto farms, and that helps farmers condition the soil or make the soil better for improvements,” said Anastasia Pavlovic, CEO of Eion. “Then over time, that manages to secure and sequester carbon, permanently removing it from the atmosphere.”

Olivine is similar to agricultural lime in terms of improving the soil, but when it rains, olivine goes through a chemical process that causes it to absorb carbon dioxide from the air permanently.

“By 2030, Eion will be removing about 2 million cars, the equivalent of 2 million cars, of carbon from the atmosphere every year,” Pavlovic said.

Eion gets its olivine from Norway, which makes it slightly more expensive, but by using different types of tax credits and carbon removal purchases, it is able to subsidize the cost for farmers, like Dan Prevost, who operates Prevost Farms in Mississippi.

“What I get is a discounted product that shows up on my farm at a 50% to 60% cost reduction over what I would pay for an equivalent product, so it’s an immediate financial benefit to me that has positive impacts for my bottom line,” Prevost said.

Eion has raised a total of $20 million from investors including utility company Exelon and agricultural company Growmark.

For now, Eion operates mainly in Mississippi, but the startup expects to expand into Illinois and more of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, Pavlovic said. Now that Eion is out of the seed stage, Pavlovic said it expects to reach “hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue over the next five years.”

— CNBC producer Lisa Rizzolo contributed to this piece.

Elliott Management said Tuesday it will call a special meeting at Southwest Airlines “as soon as next week,” shortly after the company put forward a sweeping board shake-up that it hoped might stave off a proxy fight.

The push comes days before the airline’s investor meeting, where it is expected to unveil improvements and operating changes. Elliott is seeking to oust CEO Bob Jordan and Executive Chairman Gary Kelly, the latter of whom has already committed to stepping down in 2025. The activist has put forward a 10-director slate comprised of airline executives and former regulators or government officials.

“We believe that competent new leaders, working through a deliberate and thoughtful process, should chart the course forward for Southwest,” Elliott partner John Pike and portfolio manager Bobby Xu said in a letter to shareholders.

“We do not support the Company’s current course, which is being charted in a haphazard manner by a group of executives in full self-preservation mode,” Pike and Xu wrote.

Southwest responded late Tuesday by reiterating its support for Jordan and criticizing Elliott’s approach to change at the airline.

“Any Leadership change amid such a significant transformation would be detrimental to all
Shareholders, and handing control of the Board to Elliott and its Director candidates – when Elliott has not articulated any ideas for improving Southwest’s business plan and operations – would present a catastrophic risk to Shareholders,” the carrier said.

Southwest’s shareholder meeting is typically scheduled for May, but by calling for a special meeting Elliott is looking to elect new directors much sooner than that. It takes a few months for both sides to solicit shareholder support, and a settlement is always possible in the interim.

Elliott said Southwest’s advisors were maneuvering to limit the number of shareholders eligible to vote, via something known as a “false record date.”

Southwest Airlines in July unveiled major changes to its more than 50-year-old business model: It will soon ditch open seating for assigned seats, offer seats with more legroom that command higher fares and start operating red-eye flights. Last week, COO Andrew Watterson warned staff to brace for more “difficult decisions” in its push to restore profits as the airline faces rising costs and shifting travel patterns.

The company isn’t planning to furlough workers but it could cut its presence in certain cities and give workers the chance to transfer to other bases, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Southwest will release a routine schedule update on Wednesday that will show its flights through early June. Earlier this month, Kelly, who served as Southwest’s CEO before handing the reins to Jordan in early 2022, said he would step down after the carrier’s shareholder meeting next spring.

The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represents Southwest’s mechanics and met with Elliott, said last week the activist investor made “clear that its vision of a Southwest turnaround is one where Robert Jordan does not remain as CEO, and if Elliott can assert enough Board influence, other top executives would also, most likely, be replaced.”

“The need for change is urgent, and our request for a special meeting may come as soon as next week,” Pike and Xu said.

More than 400 economists and former White House policy advisors announced their support for Vice President Kamala Harris over former President Donald Trump in an open letter Tuesday.

The endorsements come as Democrats and Republicans fight to frame their respective candidates as the better option for the U.S. economy in the November election, as high costs of living remain voters’ top priority in national polls.

“The choice in this election is clear,” the letter read. “It is a choice between inequity, economic injustice, and uncertainty with Donald Trump or prosperity, opportunity, and stability with Kamala Harris.”

The bulk of the 405 signers are progressive economists, many of whom formerly served in Democratic administrations including those of President Joe Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

They include Harvard economist Jason Furman, who chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under Obama; Evercore founder Roger Altman, former deputy treasury secretary under Clinton; Penny Pritzker, former commerce secretary under Obama; former Federal Reserve vice chair Alan Blinder; and former staff members from regulatory agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CNN was first to report the endorsements.

Some on the list, such as Biden’s former National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, have already been advising the Harris campaign behind closed doors.

A few of the signers worked under Republican administrations. Sean O’Keefe was deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget in former President George W. Bush’s White House. Phillip Braun was a staff member of former President Ronald Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers.

The letter could provide Harris with a talking point in her upcoming economy-focused speech on Wednesday, during which she is expected to unveil new policy proposals.

Some of the signers, such as Furman, have previously criticized some of Harris’ proposals. For example, he opposed her plan to impose a federal ban on “price gouging” in the food and grocery sectors.

“Did I like the proposal she had about price gouging? No,” Furman said in an August interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Still, he joins the chorus of economists who oppose many of Trump’s economic proposals, which include hardline tariffs on all imports, deep corporate tax cuts and giving the president a say in Federal Reserve decisions about interest rates.

Prior to Biden’s decision to drop out of the race and endorse Harris, a large set of mostly progressive and center-left economists had already expressed their opposition to Trump’s plans and endorsed the Democratic ticket.

In one case, sixteen Nobel Prize-winning economists endorsed Biden’s candidacy on June 25, two days before the fateful debate that ultimately led the president to drop his reelection bid.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog threatened further military action against Hezbollah one day after Israel launched airstrikes across Lebanon, killing more than 550 people in the country’s deadliest day in nearly two decades.

It marks a dramatic escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah following nearly 12 months of strikes since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, stoking fears of an all-out regional war.

Thousands of Lebanese residents in the country’s south are fleeing their homes amid the bombardments, with many receiving automated text messages and calls telling them to evacuate. Israel’s government issued warnings to people in areas of Lebanon where it was targeting Hezbollah.

Asked if Israel will launch a full-scale ground operation in Lebanon, Herzog insisted that his country did not want war.

“Israel is not interested, did not want this war, and is not interested in going to war with Lebanon,” Herzog told CNBC’s Dan Murphy on Tuesday.

“But Israel has been attacked from Oct. 8 from Lebanon endlessly. And if you look at the situation today, Hezbollah has launched missiles and rockets all over the northern part of Israel. So we will do whatever it takes to bring our citizens back home and enable calm in our cities. That’s the situation.” 

“We’ve shown our capabilities, and we have much more on the way, if they will continue,” Herzog added.

Hezbollah has continued firing rockets into northern Israel since the attack, most of which have landed in open areas or been intercepted by air defenses. On Saturday, the group launched a salvo of more than 100 missiles into northern Israel, wounding at least five people, Israeli authorities said. 

Hezbollah said the strikes were in response to the previous week’s pager and device detonation attack that killed 38 people, including some children, and injured more than 3,000. It says the attacks were carried out by Israel, which has not commented. 

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Israel’s strikes on Monday killed at least 558 people, including 50 children, and injured more than 1,800.

Monday’s death toll not only marked the deadliest day of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah since their 34-day war in 2006; it also exceeded that from the 2020 Port of Beirut explosion that killed nearly 200 people and destroyed several of the capital city’s neighborhoods.

At the opening of the 79th United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned member states of the risk of Lebanon “becoming another Gaza.”

“Gaza is a nonstop nightmare that threatens to take the entire region with it. Look no further than Lebanon,” Guterres said, adding that all states should be “alarmed by the escalation” between Israel and Hezbollah.

On Monday, President Joe Biden said the U.S. was trying to calm the situation, while the Pentagon said it stood by “Israel’s right to self-defense” and announced that additional U.S. troops were being sent to the Middle East. The U.S. has around 40,000 troops in the region.

Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border have had to leave their homes as a result of the cross-border fire in the months following Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. Israel’s leaders have vowed that evacuated residents of northern Israel will be able to return to their homes. 

“First and foremost, we have to remove the threat from Israel’s northern border, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Herzog said.

Some lawmakers in Israel’s government, which is the most right wing in the country’s history, have called for the reoccupation of southern Lebanon. Israel occupied Lebanon’s south between 1985 and 2000 — a period of bloody sectarian warfare — following a spate of attacks into Israeli territory carried out by Lebanon-based Palestinian militants.

Asked if reoccupying southern Lebanon was part of the end goal for Israel, Herzog replied, “No, it’s not.”

“The position of the Israeli government has been clear, and I reiterate it all the time, we don’t have territorial expectations or any ambitions in Lebanon or elsewhere,” the president said.

“We don’t have territorial ambitions in Gaza either, but we have the inherent right, which is given to any nation in the world to live in peace and quiet, not to be attacked day in day out by missiles and rockets and terror.” 

Israel launched its invasion of Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants that killed some 1,200 people in Israel and took a further 253 hostages, 116 of whom have been freed. Since then, Israel’s assault on the blockaded enclave has killed more than 41,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Trump Media shares closed higher Tuesday as the company behind Truth Social looked to pull up from a downward spiral that coincided with company insiders, including majority owner Donald Trump, getting clearance to start selling their stock.

The company, which trades as DJT on the Nasdaq, ended the trading day up more than 5% at $12.79 per share.

Traders exchanged more than 21 million shares in the session, vastly exceeding the 30-day average daily volume of 8.8 million shares, according to data from FactSet.

Tuesday’s upswing followed six straight trading days in the red, which drove Trump Media stock down more than 32%.

That dive was just the latest negative stretch in a monthslong slump for Trump Media, which went public in late March after completing a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

Since surging to an intraday peak of $79.38 per share in its Nasdaq debut, Trump Media stock has lost nearly 84% of its value.

On Monday, the stock fell to its lowest point since before October 2021, when news of a planned merger between Trump Media and the SPAC, Digital World Acquisition Corp., was first made public.

Trump currently owns nearly 57% of the company’s outstanding shares. While the value of his stake has declined by billions of dollars in recent months, it is still worth nearly $1.5 billion.

The Republican presidential nominee and other early investors in the company were barred from selling their shares until lockup agreements had expired, which they did at the closing bell Thursday.

The lockup expiration fueled waves of speculation about whether early investors would seek to dump their shares in the company, whose sole product, Truth Social, has generated scant revenue in recent fiscal quarters.

Trump has vowed not to sell his stake.

But Trump Media warned that other early investors were planning to cash out as soon as the lockups expired.

It was unclear Tuesday morning if any formerly locked-up entities had sought to sell since Thursday. But in most cases, these sales would trigger disclosure requirements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Real estate is a key puzzle piece in achieving the U.S.’ climate goals, according to federal officials.

Residential and commercial buildings account for 31% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, after accounting for “indirect” emissions like electricity use, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s more than other economic sectors like transportation and agriculture.

The Biden administration has adopted various policies to cut residential emissions.

The Inflation Reduction Act, enacted in 2022, offers financial benefits including tax breaks and rebates to homeowners who make their homes more energy-efficient, for example. The White House also recently issued guidelines for buildings in order to be considered “zero emissions,” meaning they are “energy efficient, free of onsite emissions from energy use and powered solely from clean energy,” according to the Department of Energy.

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Morgan Wojciechowski, 33, is among the first homeowners to get that federal “zero emissions” label. (That assessment was bestowed by the third-party firm Pearl Certification.)

Wojciechowski, her husband Casey, and their three dogs — Dixie, Bo and Charlie — moved into the newly built residence in Williamsburg, Virginia, in August 2023.

Wojciechowski, who is also the president of Healthy Communities, a local real-estate developer focused on sustainable construction, spoke with CNBC about her new home, its financial benefits and how consumers can best upgrade their homes to be more efficient.

The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Greg Iacurci: What does it mean for your home to be considered ‘zero emissions’?

Morgan Wojciechowski: It’s a very, very, very highly efficient home that’s all-electric. Those are kind of the first two bullet points of the White House definition.

The third part is we are part of the green energy program with [our power provider] Dominion. Not only am I producing solar [energy] and any excess is going back onto the grid, but the power from the grid coming into my home is clean and sustainable. It’s about $10 extra a month for me to get that clean energy.

GI: How much did your house cost to build?

MW: Like $1.1 million.

GI: And how big is the house?

MW: 5,400 square feet.

It’s a large home. But mine is not what everybody’s doing. My home was my personal project because I believe in sustainability and wanted to do it in a home that would be my forever home. But one that’s more replicable would be like what [Healthy Communities] builds at Walnut Farm, which is like 1,500 square feet. We’re selling it for $433,000.

GI: Can you break down your home’s estimated savings?

MW: Our utility bills are projected to be about $917 a year with [solar] panels, or around $80 a month.

The annual savings are $7,226 [relative to an average U.S. home, according to rater TopBuild Home Services]. That’s just from the efficiency of the home with solar.

If you took the solar production away, I would be saving $5,431 annually. The solar offsets it.

GI: What do you mean solar offsets it?

MW: You create energy. Your home uses that energy and sends excess energy back to Dominion. Those credits are stored in an account, and then those credits offset your bill. It’s called net metering.

GI: So the power company is paying you that money?

MW: Those credits are applied to your next billing cycle. They offset your overall utility bill, and that’s where your savings come in.

Solar panels only make sense if you build an energy-efficient home that’s really all-electric.

GI: Why is that?

MW: You have to have a home that’s constructed energy-efficiently enough or retrofitted — by replacing your windows with higher-grade windows, adding insulation — so that you will need fewer panels on your rooftop, so you have a quicker return on your investment. Solar only makes sense if you’re going to have a return on your investment within a few years.

GI: That makes solar more attractive?

MW: If you don’t do energy-efficient upgrades to a pre-existing home or if you don’t build a home that’s energy-efficient enough, you have to add more panels to compensate for the lack of energy efficiency. And if that number gets too big it turns people upside down.

Solar has to make sense with the home that you’re putting it on, or else, don’t do it. Maybe just upgrade your windows, add insulation, condition your crawl space, upgrade your mechanical systems.

There are a lot of things consumers can do. You don’t have to do it all at one time. You don’t have to have a solar home to be zero emissions; you have to have an energy-efficient house that’s all-electric, and you have to buy renewable energy from your utility company.

That’s extremely approachable. Lots of people can do that. Everybody can join in at their level of sustainability.

GI: How do you recommend people get started?

MW: I would tell a consumer, why don’t you start with windows and doors. That’s a very easy one. Do that and see how you notice any [efficiency] changes.

In a lot of older homes windows are very old and they leak. Air is coming in and out. If you think about it, a house is like an envelope. You you want to seal the inside of your home the best that you can.  

I would hit insulation next.

A lot of older homes have HVAC systems, duct work inside of their attic. Insulate it so that it’s a conditioned space, so that those building systems don’t have to work in overdrive to keep up with really hot temperatures or really cold temperatures. That keeps it more energy efficient.

And there are tax incentives [available] for energy-efficient upgrades to your home. Consumers can get and write them off, so that’s attractive to people as well.

GI: If you’re a renter, there are certain things that are out of your control. I suppose you can ask your landlord.

MW: Depending upon what your rental situation is. I feel like that’s a little bit more daunting, to change someone else’s mind. Once you get to your own home, eventually, then you have more say of what you can do.

Until then, you could be mindful about the energy you use. Turn lights off. I mean, that’s a real thing. People don’t turn lights off. I mean, even though I have a really efficient home, I have timers on things because I don’t want to be wasting energy. That’s an easy one that anybody could do.

Correction: The house is 5,400 square feet. An earlier version misstated the figure.

Consumers’ view on the economy tumbled in September, falling by the largest level in more than three years as fears grew about jobs and business conditions, the Conference Board reported Tuesday.

The board’s consumer confidence index slid to 98.7, down from 105.6 in August, the biggest one-month decline since August 2021. The Dow Jones consensus forecast was for a reading of 104. By contrast, the index had a reading of 132.6 in February 2020, a month before the Covid pandemic hit.

Each of the five components the organization samples fared worse on the month, with the biggest fall coming among those aged 35-54 and earning less than $50,000.

“Consumers’ assessments of current business conditions turned negative while views of the current labor market situation softened further. Consumers were also more pessimistic about future labor market conditions and less positive about future business conditions and future income,” said Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board.

The last time the confidence index dropped more came as inflation was just beginning a climb to what ultimately was the highest level in more than 40 years.

Stocks saw some brief losses following the release, while Treasury yields moved lower.

In addition to the steep drop in the confidence index, the present situation measure worsened by 10.3 points to 124.3 and the expectations index was off 4.6 points to 81.7. On the expectations measure, a reading below 80 is consistent with a recession.

Respondents’ concerns focused mostly on jobs and inflation.

Those saying jobs are plentiful continued to decline, falling to 30.9% from 32.7% in August, while the jobs “hard to get” measure rose to 18.3%, up from 16.8%.

On inflation, the 12-month outlook rose to 5.2%, with concerns over price increases topping the list of economic concerns.

“The proportion of consumers anticipating a recession over the next 12 months remained low but there was a slight uptick in the percentage of consumers believing the economy was already in recession,” Peterson said.

The survey comes less than a week after the Federal Reserve voted to lower benchmark interest rates by a half percentage point, citing a more favorable outlook for inflation and worries over a potentially softening labor market. It was the first rate cut in four years and double the traditional quarter-point reduction.

The survey, though, was conducted through Sept. 17, the day before the Fed approved the rate cut.

Former President Donald Trump has made headlines over the past week with yet another surprise economic policy announcement. After promising free in vitro fertilization treatments for women, no federal income tax on tips, tax-free overtime pay and no income tax on Social Security benefits, Trump now says that if he is elected president in November, he will cap credit card interest rates at around 10%.

“While working Americans catch up, we’re going to put a temporary cap on credit card interest rates,” the Republican presidential nominee said at a rally in New York on Wednesday. “We can’t let them make 25% and 30%.”

Trump’s promise falls in the home stretch of an extremely close presidential race between him and the surprise Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s also a moment in which credit card debt is heavily burdening many U.S. households.

The average credit card balance was $6,329 in the second quarter of 2024, compared with $4,828 during the same period in 2021, according to TransUnion. The current delinquency rate of more than 3% is the highest since 2011, Federal Reserve data shows.

Trump’s proposed rate cap, if enacted, would have a huge impact on both consumers and on the financial industry.

The average interest rate on credit cards is currently over 20%, with some cards charging as much as 36% APR, said Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate.

“A 10% cap would completely upend the credit card market,” Rossman told CNBC.

While the Trump campaign has yet to provide details of how the proposed cap would work, campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the intent was to “provide temporary and immediate relief for hardworking Americans,” including those “who are struggling to make ends meet and cannot afford hefty interest payments on top of the skyrocketing costs of mortgages, rent, groceries and gas.”

Harris hasn’t specifically proposed capping the interest on credit cards. However, she has focused on the burden of debt on Americans, with a vow to wipe away medical debt for millions of households. The vice president has also repeatedly touted her work in the Biden administration to get billions of dollars in federal student loans forgiven.

The Biden administration has worked to reduce the so-called junk fees consumers pay, including steep charges for late payments on credit cards. In February, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau conducted an analysis of the interest rates on credit cards, concluding that, by some measures, the cards have never been so expensive and that issuers are profiting hugely as a result.

A national interest rate cap requires Congress

Under current federal law, nationwide limits on credit card interest rates are scarce, consumer advocates say.

The 2006 Military Lending Act set a 36% rate cap on many lending products sold to active duty service members and their families. Likewise, federal credit unions are typically restricted to an 18% interest rate on their credit cards.

Beyond these examples, however, the authority to set bank interest limits is largely left to the states, said Adam Rust, director of financial services at the Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit.

Under the 19th century National Bank Act, banks are required to abide only by the specific interest rate limits of the individual state in which the lender is headquartered, Rust said.

“Not coincidentally, most credit cards are issued by banks located in South Dakota, Delaware or Utah, because those states have very permissive rules,” he said.

Despite his recent campaign trail promise, even if Trump were in the White House, he would not have the authority to alter this landscape, Rust said.

“A president cannot set a cap on credit card interest rates,” said Rust.

Nor can the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the U.S. government agency tasked with protecting consumers from financial abuses.

If Trump wants to impose a nationwide interest rate cap, “it will take congressional legislation,” Rust said.

Specifically, Congress would likely need to pass an amendment to The Truth in Lending Act, before the federal government could implement a national interest rate ceiling on credit cards.

But recent bills seeking to limit how much banks could charge for credit card interest have stalled, including an effort to cap rates at 36%, and another to cap them at 18%.

“It’s a compelling political talking point,” Rossman said of Trump’s proposal. “But I seriously doubt something like this would pass” the House and Senate.

Meanwhile, consumer advocates are skeptical that a second Trump presidency would actually produce better terms for borrowers than current policies.

“The past Trump administration weakened the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, rolled back protections against 400% APR payday loans and took a number of other steps that weakened consumer protections,” said Lauren Saunders, associate director at the nonprofit National Consumer Law Center.

A 10% interest rate cap could backfire

Financial experts on both sides of the debate expressed concerns that a 10% interest rate cap could backfire on consumers, in various ways.

One argument is that if banks were to see a dramatic reduction in the interest rates they were permitted to charge all credit card holders, they would respond by limiting the number of higher-risk consumers to whom they agreed to issue credit cards, said Nicholas Anthony, a policy analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives.

“In response to this cap, lenders are likely to cut people off if they’re deemed too risky or expensive to serve, or they might also give out fewer services,” Anthony said.

Rossman, of Bankrate, agreed.

“The unintended consequence would be that access to credit would dry up,” he said. “It just won’t be profitable [for banks] if 10% is the most they could charge.”

But Saunders warned against letting the banking industry’s gloomy predictions about the potential impact of a proposed 10% interest rate cap drown out what she sees as a strong case for imposing an interest rate cap above 10%, but below the current highs.

“Banks have opposed any rate cap,” she said. “They claim the sky would fall with a 36% rate cap, too.”

Nonetheless, consumer advocates had other concerns about the inadvertent costs of Trump’s proposal.

“Capping interest rates will help consumers so long as it does not lead to crossover increases in penalty fees,” Rust said. “Otherwise, it is a game of whack-a-mole.”

In 2022, credit card issuers charged $14 billion in late fees, he noted. This figure represented more than 10% of the $130 billion total that the companies charged consumers in interest and fees, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found.

A new CFPB rule that would limit credit card late fees to $8 is currently tied up in the courts, facing lawsuits brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and banking trade groups.

In May, a Trump-appointed federal judge temporarily blocked that rule from taking effect.

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President Joe Biden addresses the United Nations General Assembly for the final time in his presidency, with a speech that will attempt to tout his administration’s foreign policy achievements against a backdrop of ongoing wars in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, and her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, are also set to meet with foreign leaders visiting the U.S. for the U.N. events this week.

The stigma of the “childless cat lady” persists, but these days, more young adults are embracing that label and opting out of parenthood — and benefitting, at least monetarily.

Nearly a quarter, or 23%, of millennials and Generation Zers without children do not plan on having children, primarily due to financial reasons, according to a recent consumer spending and saving index by MassMutual.

A preference for financial freedom and the inability to afford children are equally cited by 43% of younger generations, MassMutual found. The survey polled 1,000 adults in July.

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To be sure, money is a major reason some young adults are choosing not to have kids.

But also, over decades, attitudes about marriage and parenthood have changed.

Since the 1970s, the overall share of married adults has declined and fewer couples are having children, according to a 2023 report from Pew Research Center. Last year, the U.S. fertility rate reached a historic low.

Now, adults without children, both married and unmarried, are better off than than their peers with kids, in terms of median wealth and retirement savings, a separate Pew Research Center study found in May.

The majority of adults without children said not having kids has made it easier for them to afford the things they want and be successful in their job or career, Pew also found.

Although there is a financial benefit, “it’s not like you are child-free and checks fall out of the sky,” said Jay Zigmont, author of “The Childfree Guide to Life and Money.”

Financial considerations for SINKs and DINKs

In many cases, being a SINK (single income, no kids), DINK (dual income, no kids) or DINKY (dual income, no kids yet) does come with certain financial planning considerations that differ from the standard strategy.

“Nearly all financial planning assumes you do or will have kids,” said Zigmont, who is a certified financial planner and founder of planning firm Childfree Wealth. But child-free couples often have different goals when it comes to building up a cash cushion, estate planning and long-term care.

For example, “most child-free folks don’t make passing money down to the next generation a priority,” said Zigmont, who plans to leave his own nephews only a modest inheritance — “if they get $1 million, I’ve made a mistake.”

Often Zigmont advises clients to spend down their savings, rather than build it up, which could open the door to pursuing a passion project or continuing education later in life.

And while technically not part of the “sandwich generation,” child-free adults may also bear the brunt of caregiving responsibilities for aging parents or relatives, making it even more important to take into account long-term care for their parents and themselves, “which is stupidly expensive,” Zigmont said. “That’s half a million dollars you need a plan for.”

Then, consider “how much money do I have to spend to bring down my net worth,” he said. “It’s backwards from the way we are trained.”

Parenthood is now an election issue

Decisions around parenthood are not just about personal finance, said Brett House, economics professor at Columbia Business School.

Since having, or not having, children also impacts employment, wages and wealth, it is “really an economic growth and productivity issue as well,” House said — and that affects all Americans, making it “one of the most important issues for policy makers and for businesses,” House said.

Heading into a U.S. presidential election, parenthood has already become a point of contention on the campaign trail after Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the running mate of former President Donald Trump, accused key Democrats — including Vice President Kamala Harris — of being miserable “childless cat ladies.”

In July, Vance said on The Megyn Kelly Show on SiriusXM that his remarks were “not about criticizing people who for various reasons don’t have kids,” but rather “criticizing the Democratic party for becoming anti-family and anti-child.”

When Taylor Swift announced her endorsement of Harris in an Instagram post that featured a photo of herself with a cat, she signed the post with her full name and “Childless Cat Lady.”

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LIVERPOOL, England — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted on Tuesday that tough decisions taken now will spark a new era for Britain, as he sought to shake a fog of pessimism that has clouded his new premiership.

“Change must mean nothing less than national renewal,” he told a crowd of Labour Party delegates Tuesday.

“The truth is that if we take tough long-term decisions now, if we stick to driving purpose behind everything we do … then that light at the end of this tunnel, that Britain that belongs to you, we get there much more quickly,” he said at the close of Labour’s annual party conference, its first in power for 15 years.

Starmer lambasted the previous Conservative government for decimating public services and destroying trust, insisting that politics could be a “force for good” as he outlined Labour’s plan for progress.

“We must build a new Britain. We must be a great reforming government,” he said.

The prime minister’s efforts to instill a sense of optimism come after the government has been accused of doom-mongering over the state of the U.K. economy and providing little detail on how it plans to improve things.

A decision to limit winter fuel payments for pensioners and controversy over ministers’ use of donations for clothing and hospitality have also hampered enthusiasm for the new government less than three months after its landslide victory in July.

“If this path were popular or easy, we would have walked it already,” Starmer said, defending the fuel cuts.

Among his government’s progress so far, Starmer cited settling the NHS doctors’ strike, new solar projects and offshore wind farms, planning reforms, stopping no-fault evictions, the creation of a National Wealth Fund, and legislation to renationalize railways.

“The work of change has begun. The patient, calm, determined era of government as service has begun,” he said.

“And we’re only just getting started,” he added, citing plans to reduce knife crime, introduce a new industrial strategy and combat benefit fraudsters, among others.

Starmer used his speech to repeat his five priorities for securing the so-called national renewal: boosting economic growth, reforming the National Health Service, enhancing Britain’s borders, improving education and shifting to clean energy.

He also declared his success in shifting the party to the political center from its previous left-wing leadership under Jeremy Corbyn, and restoring it to “the service of the working people.”

“People said we couldn’t change the party, but we did. People said we couldn’t win across Britain, but we have. People say we can’t deliver national renewal, but we can and we will,” he said.

“We will stabilize our economy, clear out the Tory rot, fix the foundations and deliver the mandate of change,” he added.

Finance Minister Rachel Reeves also sought to strike a tone of positivity on Monday, saying in her keynote speech that her “optimism for Britain burns brighter than ever,” even as she warned that the road ahead is “steeper and harder than we expected.”

The chancellor’s upcoming autumn budget, set to be delivered on Oct. 30, is expected to include tax rises and spending cuts after she warned of a £22 billion ($29 billion) “black hole” in the public finances. However, Reeves said it would also be one of “real ambition,” with no return to austerity.

Labour’s optimistic messaging has been echoed by government ministers across the party’s three-day annual conference in Liverpool.

Wes Streeting, minister for health and social care, said that promised improvements to the U.K.’s National Health Service would take time to implement.

“The honeymoon period will come later because the scale of the challenge is enormous. We need to rebuild the economy, rebuild public services and rebuild trust in politics,” he said at the conference Monday.

Economic secretary to the Treasury, Tulip Siddiq, also said the country would ultimately benefit from the “tough decisions” currently being made.

“We are trying to fix the foundations of our economy, because if we have some pain in the medium term, in the long term we will benefit,” she said during a fringe event Monday.

It comes as public enthusiasm for the government has shown signs of waning. Half of Britons, including a quarter of Labour voters (26%), are disappointed with the government’s achievements so far, Ipsos opinion polling showed Friday. 

CNBC has reached out to the Conservative Party for comment.

Collaboration software maker Smartsheet on Tuesday announced Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners will acquire it in an all-cash deal valuing the company at about $8.4 billion.

Stockholders will receive $56.50 per share, a 41% premium to Smartsheet’s average closing price over the last three months.

The company had been gauging interest from potential acquirers for several months. Smartsheet went public in 2018 and sought to go head-to-head with other software companies like Atlassian.

“As we look to the future, we are confident that Blackstone and Vista’s expertise and resources will help us ensure Smartsheet remains a great place to work where our employees thrive,” CEO Mark Mader said in a release. Smartsheet shares rose 6% on the news.

The transaction has a 45-day go-shop period, allowing Smartsheet to solicit other bidders. Barring another offer, the deal is expected to close by January 2025, pending shareholder approval.

Qatalyst advised Smartsheet. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley advised the private equity bidders.

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said Tuesday she thought her colleagues should have taken a more measured approach to last week’s half percentage point interest rate cut as she worries that inflation could reignite.

Bowman was the lone dissenter from the Federal Open Market Committee’s decision to lower benchmark interest rates for the first time in more than four years. No governor had dissented from an interest rate decision since 2005.

In explaining her rationale, Bowman said the half percentage point, or 50 basis point, reduction posed a number of risks to the Fed’s twin goals of achieving low inflation and full employment.

The jumbo cut “could be interpreted as a premature declaration of victory on our price-stability mandate. Accomplishing our mission of returning to low and stable inflation at our 2 percent goal is necessary to foster a strong labor market and an economy that works for everyone in the longer term,” she said in remarks to a bankers group in Kentucky.

Inflation by the Fed’s preferred metric is running at 2.5%, above the central bank’s 2% goal. Excluding food and energy, core inflation is at 2.6%.

Though Bowman favored a reduction, she preferred the Fed lower by a quarter percentage point, more in line with the traditional moves at the central bank. The FOMC last cut by half a point in the early days of the Covid pandemic in March 2020, and before that the global financial crisis in 2008.

Bowman cited several specific concerns: that the big move would indicate that Fed officials see “some fragility or greater downside risks to the economy”; that markets might expect a series of large cuts; that large amounts of sideline cash could be put to work as rates fall, stoking inflation; and her general feeling that rates won’t need to come down as much as her fellow policymakers have indicated.

“In light of these considerations, I believe that, by moving at a measured pace toward a more neutral policy stance, we will be better positioned to achieve further progress in bringing inflation down to our 2 percent target, while closely watching the evolution of labor market conditions,” she said.

In recent statements, Fed officials have cited easing inflation and a softening labor market as justification for the cut. At last week’s meeting, individual policymakers indicated they expect another half percentage point in reductions this year and another full point in 2025. Market pricing, however, is more aggressive, expecting 2 full percentage points in cuts through next year.

The Fed’s benchmark overnight borrowing rate is now targeted at 4.75%-5%.

Bowman said she respects the committee’s decision and emphasized that policy isn’t on a preset course and will depend on the data, which she said has indicated the labor market has softened a bit but is still strong

“I continue to see greater risks to price stability, especially while the labor market continues to be near estimates of full employment,” she said.

Even so, the share of people working remotely and hybrid has ticked up in the last year, while those working from an office full-time declined, according to a new report.

Some 27% of workers say they work in a hybrid arrangement, up from 26% in 2023, according to a survey of 2,000 knowledge workers from Owl Labs, the video-conferencing technology maker.

Another 11% say they work fully remotely, up from 7% in the last year, according to the report.

The remaining 62% say they work from a physical office five days a week, down from 66% this time last year.

It’s “a surprise” to see remote and hybrid work increase slightly in what’s shaping up to be “the year of the mandate,” says Frank Weishaupt, CEO of Owl Labs.

But hybrid workers continue to face challenges in what they want versus what their employers require. Most say they prefer to be in-office three days a week (33%) followed by two (20%), but the most common in-office schedules actually require three (41%) or four (32%) days a week.

Employee tracking is on the rise

Companies are also increasing their efforts to track employees’ attendance during the week. Nearly half of employees say their employer has added or increased the use of employee tracking software to gather activity data in the past year.

And workers say their employers are stricter about enforcing attendance policies (like being fired for noncompliance) now, compared with 2022, according to data from WFH Research.

However, “the issue with strict attendance policies is that they can become unenforceable,” says Jose Maria Barrero, co-founder of WFH Research and assistant professor at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México Business School.

“If employees work from home effectively, and there is no real reason for them to come into the office other than ‘it is just the policy,’ will managers really punish them?” he says. “Are you willing to piss off a good employee and potentially push them to find a different job if their work is otherwise up to standard?”

Some business leaders may create strict office policies to get people to quit and avoid layoffs, he says, “but I’m skeptical that they would take a hard line if things are working well.”

On the employee side, there’s been “a severe backlash” to many attendance and tracking efforts, says Deepali Vyas, the global head of fintech, payments and crypto practice at Korn Ferry. “Employees want autonomy and feeling like they’re not being micromanaged.”

When set up effectively, tracking policies and tools can “enhance transparency and performance,” Vyas says. “But I feel like it’s a bit invasive. It can actually erode trust, which is something really crucial in any workplace.”

In fact, 73% of professionals say employee-tracking initiatives like monitoring badge swipes and computer activity are not necessary or helpful, according to a recent Glassdoor poll of 1,400 users.

However, Weishaupt expects 2025 will see a continuation of more RTO mandates, tracking software and badging enforcement, despite Owl Labs’ and other data indicating that “employees want flexibility,” he says. “And I think that will create a trust barrier between employers and employees.”

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Warner Bros. Discovery is partnering with Google to integrate the internet giant’s AI technology into its Max video streaming platform to automatically generate captions.

The two companies said they were working to make Max’s captions more accurate using a new caption generation tool, which is being referred to internally as “caption AI.”

They said the tech, built on Google’s Vertex AI development platform for generative artificial intelligence products, is able to automatically convert video content into text. It will initially be used for unscripted programming on Max, as opposed to scripted shows and films where dialog is already available.

The new tool cuts costs relating to generating captions by up to 50%, while creating new file captions can also take up to 80% less time as a result of Google’s AI tech, Warner Bros. Discovery and Google said.

Avi Saxena, chief technology officer of Warner Bros. Discovery’s direct-to-consumer business, said in a statement that providing high-quality captions was important to the company.

“Working with Google Cloud to utilize Vertex AI within Warner Bros. Discovery’s caption AI workflow has not only helped to accelerate our captioning process, but also has improved our efficiency and speed, while reducing costs,” Saxena added.

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, the tech giant’s cloud computing division, said that the partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery demonstrated AI’s “potential to transform a variety of processes across the media and entertainment industry that deliver real business impact.”

The company’s Max platform offers an extensive library of movies and TV shows, including fantasy hit “Game of Thrones” and its spinoff series “House of the Dragon,” as well as “The Last of Us,” the zombie apocalypse series adapted from a video game of the same name.

The media and entertainment world are increasingly looking to AI to cut some of the cost-intensive processes involved in making and producing content. But it has sparked wide concerns within the industry that jobs could end up being replaced due to automation.

In an interview earlier this month, Rob Minkoff, director of 1994’s “The Lion King,” told CNBC that there are “legitimate concerns” about the rise of AI and its impact on Hollywood, but that, ultimately, he sees the tech as having a democratizing effect on film and entertainment.

“I think what AI will do is potentially democratize the process of making content, because if literally anyone is given these incredibly powerful tools, then what we should see is truly an explosion of content, an explosion of new voices,” Minkoff told CNBC at the time.

In the case of caption AI, Warner Bros. Discovery and Google are working on tech that could ultimately automate a large chunk of the work done by manual caption transcribers. However, both companies note that manual transcribers will still be needed to check AI-generated transcripts for accuracy.

Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:

1. Inching higher

U.S. stocks climbed again Monday as investors digest the Federal Reserve’s major rate cut last week. The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite all rose only modestly, as the 30-stock Dow notched another record close. As traders look ahead to the Fed’s next policy decision in November, stocks could become more responsive to signs of economic weakness. One indicator will come Tuesday in the Conference Board’s consumer confidence reading for September. Follow live market updates.

2. No clear path

After the Fed last week made its first half percentage point rate cut since 2008, officials have indicated mixed views on how to proceed. Speaking to CNBC on Monday, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari suggested the central bank could go back to its more traditional 25 basis point moves. Kashkari, who is not a voting member this year, said he expects “we will probably take smaller steps unless the data changes materially.” Speaking separately Monday, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, a voting member, suggested the Fed could be less cautious, saying as of now he expects to be “normalizing monetary policy sooner than I thought would be appropriate even a few months ago.”

3. Charging up

General Motors‘ electric vehicle business is spinning up. After stops and starts driven by slow demand and production issues, the Detroit automaker’s EV sales are rising. GM sold 21,000 EVs in the U.S. in July and August, and sales were up 70% through August from the previous year, according to data GM provided to CNBC. The increase comes as the company builds out an EV lineup with prices ranging from about $35,000 to $300,000. “We are definitely outstripping the industry in terms of growth, in terms of EVs,” Rory Harvey, GM president of global markets told CNBC. Legacy automakers are struggling to catch up to EV market leader Tesla.

4. Rough air

Southwest Airlines told employees it has “difficult decisions” to make. The carrier is aiming to increase profits and ease pressure from activist investor Elliott Management, which has called for changes in the company’s leadership. Southwest has already made huge tweaks to its unique operating model, opting for assigned seats and listings on sites like Google Flights and Kayak, among other changes. “Now, all that’s not enough. We also have to change our network,” COO Andrew Watterson said in a video message to staff last week. Southwest is hosting its investor day on Thursday.

5. Best foot forward

As Foot Locker turns 50, the sneaker retailer is trying to mount a comeback while navigating a changing retail environment and relationship with key supplier Nike. Foot Locker has seen signs of a turnaround as it revamps its store footprint, as last month it posted comparable sales growth for the first time in six quarters. Still, questions remain about whether a specialized sneaker retailer can not only survive but also thrive, as brands move more toward selling online and directly to consumers. Read more about the company’s turnaround efforts here.

– CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Jeff Cox, Michael Wayland, Leslie Josephs and Gabrielle Fonrouge contributed to this report.

Novo Nordisk‘s top executive faced a Senate grilling on Tuesday over the high prices of the company’s weight loss drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic, as demand for both injections soars in the U.S. 

Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen did not explicitly promise lawmakers at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., that he would slash prices for the two drugs.

But Jørgensen said he wants to work with them on policy solutions that will address the “structural issues” that drive up prescription drug costs. He also committed to sitting down with pharmacy benefit managers – middlemen who negotiate drug rebates with manufacturers on behalf of insurers – to “collaborate on anything that helps patients get access and affordability.”

That pledge came after Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who chairs the Senate panel, said he received commitments in writing from all of the major PBMs that they would not limit coverage of Wegovy and Ozempic if Novo Nordisk reduced their list prices. The hearing comes roughly five months after Sanders opened an investigation into the Danish drugmaker’s pricing practices. 

“All we are saying, Mr. Jørgensen, is treat the American people the same way that you treat people all over the world,” Sanders said during the hearing Tuesday. “Stop ripping us off.”

He noted that Novo Nordisk has raked in nearly $50 billion in sales from Wegovy and Ozempic, with most of that revenue coming from the U.S. Sanders contends that Novo Nordisk charges Americans substantially higher prices for its blockbuster drugs than it does for patients in other countries. Before insurance, Ozempic costs nearly $969 per month and Wegovy costs almost $1,350 per month in the U.S. 

Meanwhile, both treatments can cost as little as under $100 for a month’s supply in some European countries, according to a release from the committee. Ozempic costs just $59 in Germany, while Wegovy costs $92 in the U.K.

Sanders also said last week that the CEOs of major generic pharmaceutical companies have told him that they could sell a version of Ozempic for less than $100 a month at a profit. There are currently no generic alternatives to Ozempic available in the U.S. 

Major PBMs, including UnitedHealth Group‘s Optum Rx and CVS‘ Caremark, and some health plans said $100 monthly list prices for Wegovy and Ozempic would help make those drugs more widely available to patients, according to a release from Sanders.

That could undercut Jørgensen’s claim in his written testimony that PBMs are to blame for the high list prices of Novo Nordisk’s drugs and “exercise near-total control over the ability of hundreds of millions of Americans to get the medicines they need at affordable prices.” The company has argued that it needs to be able to pay rebates to those middlemen to get their drugs on formularies, or lists of medications covered by insurance.

Jørgensen noted that the written promises that Sanders received from PBMs are “new information to me,” but said he understands “that perhaps the PBMs have changed their minds.”

Novo Nordisk has argued that it has spent billions to research, develop and expand manufacturing for the treatments and is funneling more money into researching their potential to treat other obesity-related health conditions. That investment has extended and improved the lives of millions of Americans, which helps reduce the health-care costs associated with obesity and diabetes, according to written testimony from Jørgensen.

During the hearing, Jørgensen said the company has fought to secure public and private insurance coverage for the medications.

He also in part blamed the “complex U.S. healthcare system” for making it difficult for patients to access affordable prescription drugs, noting that “no single company alone can solve such vast and complicated policy challenges.”

Jørgensen promised that Novo Nordisk will “remain engaged and work with this committee on policy solutions to address the structural issues that drive up costs.”

But Jørgensen contended that lowering prices could have consequences, saying it could lead to less insurance coverage.

In his written testimony, Jørgensen said Novo Nordisk’s insulin product Levemir was previously available to 90% of U.S. patients through formularies. But insurers began to drop coverage of the insulin after Novo Nordisk cut its list price, leading to only 36% of patients having access.

That eventually drove the company to discontinue the insulin, Jørgensen said in his written testimony.

Sanders and other lawmakers, health experts and insurers have warned that the insatiable demand for Novo Nordisk’s drugs and similar weight loss and diabetes treatments from rival Eli Lilly could potentially bankrupt the U.S. health-care system unless prices drop.

Both drugmakers make GLP-1s, which mimic hormones produced in the gut to tamp down a person’s appetite and regulate their blood sugar. Eli Lilly’s weight loss injection Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro similarly cost around $1,000 per month before insurance and other rebates.

In a release, the Senate Health Committee said it would cost the U.S. $411 billion per year if half of all Americans took weight loss drugs from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. That’s $5 billion more than what Americans spent on all prescription drugs in 2022. 

Medicare spent $4.6 billion on Ozempic in 2022 alone, according to health policy research organization KFF. 

Other insurers and employers have implemented strict requirements to control weight loss drug costs, or have dropped coverage of those treatments altogether. Many health plans cover GLP-1s for diabetes, but not for weight loss. The federal Medicare program doesn’t pay for weight loss treatments unless they are approved and prescribed for another health condition. 

The hearing comes as the Biden administration and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle try to rein in health-care costs in the U.S., in part by pressuring the pharmaceutical industry and drug supply chain middlemen. On average, Americans pay two to three times more than patients in other developed nations for prescription drugs, according to a fact sheet from the White House.

Notably, Ozempic will likely be subject to the next round of price negotiations between manufacturers and Medicare — a key provision of President Joe Biden‘s Inflation Reduction Act that aims to lower costs for seniors. Wall Street analysts say Ozempic will likely be eligible for negotiations by the time the next round of drugs is selected in 2025, for price changes that will go into effect in 2027.

Lawmakers asked Novo Nordisk to commit to not suing the federal government if Ozempic and Wegovy are selected for the next round of negotiations.

Jørgensen did not explicitly make that commitment, noting that the company believes the talks are “not a fair negotiation, but actually price-setting” that will have negative consequences for drug innovation.

Microsoft-owned developer platform GitHub on Tuesday said it is giving enterprise users the ability to limit the storage of their sensitive software code to data centers located in the European Union.

The move, which is part of a bid to meet the bloc’s strict data protection requirements, comes amid a broader political push for digital “sovereignty.”

The company said that it would offer customers of its GitHub Enterprise Cloud greater control over where their repository data is stored, with the option to hold it only in Microsoft Azure-owned severs within the EU, rather than in other countries where data protections may be less robust.

Firms will be able to control the “data residency” of software code stored on GitHub — effectively meaning they can decide which regions the data is kept in.

GitHub said enterprise users will be given the ability to manage and control user accounts and choose unique namespaces specific to their company that are separate from their open-source experience.

Business users will also be given enhanced business continuity support and disaster recovery, which could help in the event of any cyber breaches or outages affecting physical server equipment.

GitHub Enterprise Cloud is a paid product the firm only offers to businesses. Companies using its enterprise-focused tools tend to store closed-source — rather than open-source — software projects on the platform.

GitHub is primarily known as a destination for individual coders and teams to create and store open-source code. However, the firm has been increasingly pushing a business-to-business sales model, especially after its takeover by Microsoft in 2018.

For businesses storing closed-source projects, the ability to control where that sensitive programming is stored and controlled, as well as the level of access granted to users, is paramount — especially in the EU, according to GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke.

“Europe is the place where cutting-edge regulation and laws around privacy and data protection and many other things, like AI, were born,” Dohmke told CNBC on a video call. “Here there are exciting frameworks to transfer data back and forth around the world.”

“Data residency emerged as an important driver for any enterprise’s cloud strategy, and enterprises want to know where crucial assets like data is being stored,” he added.

Shelley McKinley, GitHub’s chief legal officer, said that closed-source code is today considered the “crown jewels” of a company’s digital strategy.

“European customers were demanding more from us in this area,” she told CNBC. “The EU has been in the center of this [data residency] movement since the beginning of the cloud days.”

Going forward, GitHub plans to roll out data residency within its GitHub Enterprise Cloud across other regions, including Australia, Asia, and Latin America.

EU push for digital ‘sovereignty’

GitHub’s data residency push ties into a broader political and regulatory theme within the EU around so-called digital “sovereignty.”

The EU is investing billions into what it believes are fundamental and core technologies to boost its tech sovereignty and reduce dependency on the U.S. and China. The region is currently heavily reliant on technologies that come from beyond its borders. Top officials are in the process of trying to change this.

Earlier this month, a long-awaited report from former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi called for 800 billion euros of additional investment per year to make the bloc more competitive, citing technology innovation as a key area where improvement is needed.

“Europe must profoundly refocus its collective efforts on closing the innovation gap with the US and China, especially in advanced technologies. Europe is stuck in a static industrial structure with few new companies rising up to disrupt existing industries or develop new growth engines,” Draghi said in the report.

GitHub’s Dohmke said that Europe is currently lagging behind the U.S. and China when it comes to adoption of cloud computing.

According to figures from data center operator Stackscale, 45% of EU enterprises used cloud computing last year, up about 4 percentage points from 2021 to 2023. But it is particularly low in certain countries.

For example, in France, only 27% of enterprises in the EU use cloud technology, whereas in Nordic countries adoption rates are much higher, with 78% of enterprises using the cloud in Finland.

From a global perspective, though, Dohmke said he is optimistic about the future of tech advancements. In November last year, GitHub launched a new version of its “Copilot” programming assistant, called GitHub Copilot Enterprise, to give developers inside companies a way to more easily generate software code using AI technology.

According to Dohmke, developers using its Copilot assistant have been able to generate code 55% faster than programmers not using the AI software.

In the future, he envisages a world where AI automates an even greater share of the workload involved in writing code.

Developers will start to get “AI-native agents” to fulfil certain tasks in their coding journeys, he said, adding that it’ll also become easier for people who aren’t software programmers to be able to create their own software code thanks to artificial intelligence.

The Federal Reserve’s move to lower interest rates by 50 basis points puts the U.S. economy on track for a soft landing, according to Goldman Sachs Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman.

His comments come as market participants question whether the U.S. central bank’s jumbo rate cut has been delivered in time to bring down inflation without pushing the economy into recession.

Some analysts have raised concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy, warning that similar supersized rate cuts could not avert the recessions of the early 2000s and the global financial crisis.

In a decision that came as a surprise to some economists, the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday voted to reduce its benchmark overnight borrowing rate by half a percentage point, or 50 basis points, to a targeted rate of 4.75% to 5.00%. One basis point equals 0.01%.

It was the first time the FOMC had cut by that much since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic and, before that, the global financial crisis in 2008.

“I think this first 50 basis point cut is a clear signal in terms of the new direction. And hopefully that will unlock incremental amounts of confidence, and should obviously reduce cost of capital — and perhaps for some more strategic activity heading into the end of this year,” Coleman told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach on Tuesday.

“As we move into 2025, [it will] hopefully improve backlogs and more activity across the markets,” he said.

Asked whether the Fed’s rate cut may have secured a soft landing for the U.S. economy, Coleman said it was his hope and expectation that this would be the case.

“Right now, that is consensus,” Coleman said. “It’s always a very tricky job to manage economies through transition. But you know, inflation levels are coming down, unemployment is manageable, they’re starting to put through the rate cuts and sort of maintain a soft-landing trajectory.”

Dimon: ‘Put me on the cautious side’

Not everyone is convinced that the U.S. economy will continue to hold up over the coming months.

“I’m a long-term optimist. Short term, I’m a little more skeptical than other people that everything’s going to be great,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18 released Tuesday.

“Markets are pricing things like they’re going to be great. Put me on the cautious side of that one,” he added.

— CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this report.

Caroline Ellison was the star witness in the criminal case against disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. On Tuesday, she will face her own sentencing.

Ellison’s role in the implosion of the crypto empire run by her former boss and ex-boyfriend Sam Bankman-Fried was to lie to investors, help steal billions of dollars from FTX customers, and subsequently repurpose those funds toward bets and debts accrued at Alameda Research, the digital asset hedge fund she helmed as CEO.

Bankman-Fried and Ellison are both, in the eyes of the U.S. judicial system, guilty of the same crimes.

Two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Those charges carry a statutory maximum sentence of around 110 years, but there’s a sliding scale that takes into account the scope of the crimes and the criminal history of the defendant.

CNBC spoke to former federal prosecutors, trial attorneys and legal experts to get their take on what may be in store for Ellison at Tuesday’s hearing. They agree that Ellison is likely to walk away without any jail time at all.

After a jury of 12 unanimously found Bankman-Fried guilty of all seven criminal charges against him in November, he was sentenced in March to 25 years for his crypto fraud and ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture.

Unlike Bankman-Fried, Ellison agreed to a plea deal in December 2022. She pleaded guilty to all charges against her and spent two years cooperating with the government, regulators and the FTX bankruptcy estate.

Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried continues to deny virtually all criminal wrongdoing and is attempting to get his case retried.

Lawyers for Ellison and Bankman-Fried did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

No time behind bars

Cooperation with the prosecution in white-collar crimes, even in what has been billed as “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history,” goes a long way.

Ellison was the most important of the several insiders who testified for the government, said former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin J. O’Brien, who specializes in white-collar criminal defense in New York.

“Because of the closeness of her relationship to Sam, she was able to provide a personal portrait of Bankman-Fried, an elusive character to be sure, that was probably unique in the government’s case,” O’Brien said.

The federal Probation Department has recommended “time served with three years of supervised release” as a credit to Ellison’s “extraordinary cooperation with the government” and “her otherwise unblemished record.”

While District Judge Lewis Kaplan is under no obligation to accept the Probation Department’s recommendation, O’Brien said that, along with some sort of fine, that would be “a fair sentence” because it reflects the “enormous value” of Ellison’s cooperation.

The U.S. legal system tends to favor reduced sentences for those who assist in bringing down higher targets, said Braden Perry, a former senior trial lawyer for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

At most, Perry estimates that Ellison, who is the third executive tied to Bankman-Fried’s enterprise to be sentenced, faces 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Though Ellison was deeply involved in the fraudulent activities, “she did not have the same control or directorial authority as SBF, which will likely influence the judge’s decision about imposing a light sentence,” Perry said.

Encouragement to cooperate

More than likely, Ellison’s conviction will entail several years of supervised release and community service with a slew of attached activity restrictions, such as no trading in both crypto and noncrypto markets or foreign travel, said Yesha Yadav, law professor and associate dean at Vanderbilt University.

Unlike Bankman-Fried who has faced public admonition and been portrayed by the government as a recidivist character, Ellison has been praised repeatedly by prosecutors and by new FTX CEO and bankruptcy administrator John Ray III.

“On the stand, she came across as someone who felt guilt and pain at what she had done,” Yadav said.

SBF’s defense team asked for no more than 6½ years of incarceration, but Kaplan said Ellison’s testimony ultimately proved pivotal to his decision to sentence Bankman-Fried to nearly four times that.

Kaplan also sided with federal prosecutors when he revoked Bankman-Fried’s bail and sent him back to jail for witness tampering after he leaked private diary entries written by Ellison. Kaplan described the leak by Bankman-Fried as one designed to “hurt” and “discredit” Ellison.

Ellison “suffered very public humiliation over the last two years, often with sexist overtones,” Yadav said.

Most judges don’t like sending people to jail who aren’t a threat to harm others in the future, said former federal prosecutor Paul Tuchmann.

“The chance of Ellison ever harming anyone through criminal conduct in the future again are very low,” Tuchmann said.

If Kaplan ends up forgoing jail time in Ellison’s sentence, that could bode well for former FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, the co-founder and chief technology officer of FTX. Singh and Wang will be sentenced Oct. 30 and Nov. 20, respectively.

“I do think that if he wants to, Judge Kaplan can ‘afford’ to give all of these people no prison time,” said Tuchmann. “Most judges want to encourage people like that to cooperate, and a sentence of time served and probation is the best way to do that.”

WATCH: Sam Bankman-Fried’s family on sentencing: We are heartbroken and will continue to fight for our son

Two-thirds of the jobs at Commerzbank could disappear if UniCredit successfully carries out a hostile takeover of the German lender, a Commerzbank supervisory board member warned on Tuesday.

Stefan Wittmann, who is also a senior official at German trade union Verdi, told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach that “we certainly hope we can avoid” a hostile takeover by the Italian bank. Witmann said Commerzbank’s board had called on the German government to carry out an internal review of the possible takeover, which he hopes will give the bank a six-month period to take stock of the situation.

“But if it [a hostile takeover] is unavoidable, we think that two-thirds of jobs will disappear, that there will be another significant cut in the branches,” he said, according to a translation.

“We will see in particular that UniCredit does not want all Commerzbank customers at all, but that it focuses on the supposedly best customers, namely the wealthy customers,” he added.

Berlin, which was the largest shareholder of Commerzbank after it injected 18.2 billion euros ($20.2 billion) to rescue the lender during the 2008 financial crisis, is likely to play a key role in any potential merger between the banks.

“We are actually concerned with our economic and industrial responsibility. As far as the workforce is concerned, which trade unions are of course particularly focused on, they would always lose out in the merger, regardless of the point in time,” Wittmann said. The bank has yet to respond to a request for comment on Wittmann’s statements.

UniCredit announced Monday it had increased its stake in the German lender to around 21% and submitted a request to boost that holding to up to 29.9%, signaling a takeover bid might be in the cards. Earlier this month, the Italian bank took a 9% stake in Commerzbank, confirming that half of this shareholding was acquired from the German government.

UniCredit believes substantial value can be unlocked within Commerzbank, Germany’s second-largest lender, but it said that further action is required for that value to be “crystalized.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized UniCredit’s move on Monday, saying, “unfriendly attacks, hostile takeovers are not a good thing for banks and that is why the German government has clearly positioned itself in this direction,” Reuters reported.

‘Very tense’

Commerzbank’s supervisory board is due to meet this week to discuss UniCredit’s stake, people familiar with the matter who asked to remain anonymous previously told CNBC.

Wittmann said the mood is currently “very tense” within the company, adding that the bank was surprised by UniCredit’s announcement on Monday, which he described as a “180 degree-turn within 48 hours.”

“[UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel] last spoke on Friday that he wanted a friendly takeover in agreement with all stakeholders and politicians. And yesterday we were surprised by his hostile takeover attempt. That doesn’t add up,” Wittmann said.

The supervisory board member explained that the two main reasons to regard a potential merger in a critical light are the lack of a banking union in Europe, and the fact that UniCredit has “absorbed itself with Italian government bonds in recent years.”

He questioned what might happen should geopolitical tensions or “upheavals” impact UniCredit’s availability of capital to finance Commerzbank’s industry.

In response to the 2008 financial crisis, the European Commission announced plans to create a banking union to improve the regulation and supervision of banks across the region.

Economist and former European Central Bank Governor Mario Draghi flagged in a recent report that banks in Europe face regulatory hurdles which “constrain their capacity to lend,” also citing the “incomplete” banking union as one factor that impacts competitiveness for the region’s banks.

“We have always spoken out, including as employee representatives on the Supervisory Board, that there can and should be mergers at [a] European level, but only when the banking union is in place. And that is just our second point of criticism, that we say: create the rules of the game and the guardrails first, and then do it sensibly when it is clear which playing field we are on,” Wittmann said.

BEIJING — China’s Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday it was launching a probe into Calvin Klein-parent PVH Group over alleged business disruptions around its Xinjiang supply chain.

The ministry said the investigation is part of its “unreliable entities” list mechanism. Launched in 2019 shortly after the U.S. blacklisted Huawei, the list is China’s version of the U.S. Commerce Department’s entity list that restricts named companies from accessing items originating in the U.S.

The U.S. Commerce Department on Monday announced plans to ban the import or sale of cars with specific hardware or software linked to China or Russia.

China’s Commerce Ministry on Tuesday did not state why it was probing PVH now, but said the U.S. retail group had 30 days to respond. U.S. defense companies that previously landed on the “unreliable entities” list are barred from China-related imports or exports.

The Chinese probe alleges PVH “targeted Xinjiang suppliers in violation of the principles of normal market transactions, with disruptions to normal transactions with Chinese businesses, individuals and other people, along with other discriminatory measures,” according to a CNBC translation of the Chinese text.

PVH said in a statement to CNBC, “As a matter of company policy, PVH maintains strict compliance with all relevant laws and regulations in all countries and regions in which we operate. We are in communication with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and will respond in accordance with the relevant regulations. We have no further comment at this time.”

The group, which also owns Tommy Hilfiger, is one of several foreign retail companies that have faced scrutiny in China over efforts to distance themselves from alleged forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region.

In a July 2022 corporate responsibility report, PVH said that Xinjiang is one of the regions where no direct or indirect sourcing is permitted.

International revenue for Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger fell by 4.3% year-on-year to $1.38 billion in the quarter ended Aug. 4, dragged down by a “challenging consumer environment in Asia Pacific, particularly in China and Australia,” PVH said in an earnings release.

That overseas revenue accounted for more than half PVH’s total revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter.

Xinjiang is home to the Uyghur Muslims, who have been identified by the United Nations, United States, United Kingdom and others as a repressed ethnic group. China has repeatedly denied allegations of forced labor and other abuses in Xinjiang. The government says that facilities there that the U.S., U.K., Canada and human rights groups have characterized as internment camps are actually vocational training centers.

—CNBC’s Sonia Heng contributed to this report.

The yield on the 2-year Treasury pulled back 4 basis points at 3.536%. The 10-year Treasury yield hovered near the flatline at 3.732%.

Yields and prices move in opposite directions. One basis point is equivalent to 0.01%.

Consumer confidence slipped to its lowest level in more than three years for September, the Conference Board said Tuesday. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index declined to 98.7 for September, down from 105.6 in August. A consensus estimate from Dow Jones called for a reading of 104.

The 10-year Treasury yield ended last week almost 8 basis points higher after the U.S. central bank lowered interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday. Markets had raised the probability of the outsized move ahead of the meeting, but the announcement came as a surprise to many economists.

Market participants have questioned whether the move was good news for the world’s largest economy, or a sign it is weakening more severely than previously thought.

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman on Tuesday expanded on her dissenting vote on the Fed’s 50 basis point cut, and said she felt a more measured approach was warranted.

Bowman said she worried that the large cut “could be interpreted as a premature declaration of victory on our price-stability mandate.” She added that “accomplishing our mission of returning to low and stable inflation at our 2 percent goal is necessary to foster a strong labor market and an economy that works for everyone in the longer term.”

— CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Brian Evans and Jenni Reid contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden attempted to square the diplomatic record and goals of his presidency with the grim reality of wars in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan during a major address Tuesday at the annual gathering of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the final one of his presidency.

“I know many look at the world today and see difficulties and react with despair,” Biden said. “But maybe because all I’ve seen and all we have done together over the decades, I have hope.”

His speech touched on what the administration views as its most significant achievements. These include supporting Ukraine’s defense against Russia‘s 2022 invasion, managing competition with China, upholding the U.N. Charter, outlining global artificial intelligence principles, and working to address humanitarian crises in Gaza and Sudan.

With four months left in office, the speech was one of Biden’s few remaining opportunities to frame his foreign policy legacy in front of an audience of global leaders.

But given the geopolitical backdrop for Biden’s speech, there was little time for victory laps.

Since Biden’s last General Assembly address in September 2023, ongoing wars in Ukraine and Sudan have persisted, while long-simmering tensions in the Middle East have erupted into deadly conflicts.

Less than a year into Israel’s massive military operation in Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, the Middle East is teetering on the brink of an all-out regional war.

Hostages taken by Hamas in the attack are either dead or remain in captivity; tens of thousands of people in Gaza have been killed or wounded; and Palestinians are suffering through a grim and worsening humanitarian crisis.

Still, the Biden administration regularly emphasizes its commitment to a cease-fire and hostage deal.

“Now is the time for the parties to finalize its terms, bring the hostages home, to secure security for Israel and Gaza free from Hamas’ grip, ease the suffering in Gaza, and end this war,” Biden said Tuesday.

“As we look ahead, we should also address the rise in violence against innocent Palestinians on the West Bank,” he said.

Biden stressed the need for a two-state solution, “where the world, Israel enjoys security and peace, full recognition and normalized relations with all its neighbors. And Palestinians live in security, dignity and self-determination in a state of their own.”

Meanwhile, 2½ years into Ukraine’s war with Russia, some congressional Republicans now openly oppose continuing to provide U.S. arms to Ukraine as it holds on through battle after battle, with a murky path forward.

“We could have stood by and merely protested, but Vice President [Kamala] Harris and I understood that that was an assault on everything this institution was supposed to stand for,” Biden said. “And so, with my direction America stepped into the breach, providing massive security and economic and humanitarian assistance.”

Biden celebrated the expansion of the NATO in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine. But he told the room of foreign leaders that they “cannot let up.”

“You cannot grow weary,” he said. “You cannot look away. We will not let up on our support for Ukraine, not until Ukraine wins a just and durable peace.”

Biden also addressed his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential election in July, calling on other leaders to put their countries’ people over their own political ambitions.

“As much as I love the job, I love my country more. I decided, after 50 years of public service, it’s time for a new generation of leadership to take my nation forward,” he said. “My fellow leaders, let us never forget: Some things are more important than staying in power.”

Biden has a packed schedule of high-level meetings to work through the onslaught of geopolitical problems in closed-door settings.

On Sept. 21, Biden hosted a summit in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, with the leaders of Australia, India and Japan.

On Monday, Biden met with United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Washington. Following his speech on Tuesday in New York, Biden will host a summit on the ongoing effort to fight the trafficking of synthetic drugs.

On Wednesday, he will meet with President Tô Lâm of Vietnam, the White House said. On Thursday, Biden will host Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington.

As Biden wraps up his presidency, foreign leaders are also making time in their U.S. itineraries to meet with his potential successors: Harris and former President Donald Trump, the two major party nominees in November’s election.

Harris had her own sit-down with the UAE president on Monday, and she will meet with Zelenskyy on Thursday in Washington.

Trump is also expected to meet with Zelenskyy, along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Andrzej Duda of Poland, sources from his campaign told NBC News.

A year after Jamie Dimon named geopolitics as the world’s biggest risk, JPMorgan Chase‘s CEO sounded the alarm again, warning that the state of global stability has gotten worse.

During his visit to India, Dimon said in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18 released Tuesday, “My caution is all geopolitics, which may determine the state of the economy.”

“Geopolitics is getting worse, they are not getting better. There is chance for accidents in energy supply. God knows if other countries get involved. You have a lot of war taking place right now,” he said, before referencing attacks conducted by Yemen’s Houthi rebel group that have taken place in the Red Sea.

According to the U.S. military, the Houthis have attacked at least two crude oil tankers this month. 

Geopolitical instability “is my biggest caution,” Dimon said. He also urged the U.S. to prepare for a prolonged war between Ukraine and Russia.

The interview came almost a year after Dimon had called geopolitics, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the biggest risk that he sees facing the world, larger than high inflation or a U.S. recession.

Following a lengthy period of sticky inflation, the Federal Reserve last Wednesday made a jumbo rate cut, its first reduction since March 2020. Traders have piled on, driving the S&P 500 to a fresh closing high on Monday.

But Dimon expressed skepticism about the U.S. economy and what markets are pricing in.

“I’m a long-term optimist, but in the short run, I’m also more skeptical of other people that say everything [is] going to be great. Markets are pricing things like they’re going to be great. Put me on the cautious side of that one,” he said.

Shares of Chinese automakers climbed Tuesday, shrugging off a U.S. government proposal to ban certain types of vehicles equipped with car parts from China and Russia, amid a broad rally after Beijing announced policy easing.  

Hong Kong listed Li Auto rose over 8%, while Nio surged 9%. Shares of BYD climbed 2.7%, while Geely added 3.3%. Leapmotor jumped 4.35%. 

The proposed rule aims to ban the import and sale of cars with specific vehicle communication systems or automated driving systems with hardware or software linked to China or Russia. These systems enable external communication, such as Bluetooth, cellular, and Wi-Fi modules. 

The Joe Biden administration has cited national security risks for its latest measure aimed at curbing Chinese auto industry’s influence and reach in the U.S.

“Cars today have cameras, microphones, GPS tracking, and other technologies connected to the internet. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand how a foreign adversary with access to this information could pose a serious risk to both our national security and the privacy of U.S. citizens,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

The restrictions on software will be implemented for model year 2027, while those on hardware will start for model year 2030, or January 2029, for units without a model year.

The rally in the auto sector today was mainly driven by the overall market condition in Hong Kong, which was related to the support given by the PBOC, said Ivan Wu, equity research analyst at Guotai Junan International.

People’s Bank of China Gov. Pan Gongsheng said in a press conference on Tuesday that the amount of cash banks need to have on hand, known as the reserve requirement ratio, or RRR, will be cut by 50 basis points. He also announced that the PBOC would cut the 7-day repo rate by 0.2 percentage points, among other measures.

U.S. proposal to ban Chinese auto parts may not have a direct negative impact on the Chinese auto industry as the sales volume of Chinese auto exports to the U.S. markets are “very small” and limited, Wu said. Additionally, Chinese parts companies have already set up factories in South America, which can be exported directly to U.S. markets under the U.S.-Mexico Tariff Agreement, he added.

According to the China Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) recently, the country’s car dealers faced a total loss of 138 billion yuan ($19.55 billion) in the first eight months of the year as they were forced to sell new cars at significant discounts.