Business Update – July 03 2024
Welcome to our Weekly Digest – stay in the know with some recent news updates relevant to business and the economy.
US economic growth for last quarter is revised up slightly to a 1.4% annual rate
The American economy expanded at a 1.4% annual pace from January through March, the slowest quarterly growth since spring 2022, the government said Thursday in a slight upgrade from its previous estimate.
Record high prices, rising mortgage rates depress US home sales
U.S. existing home sales fell for a third straight month in May as record-high prices and a resurgence in mortgage rates sidelined potential buyers from the market.
Crypto hacks, scams totaled over half-a-billion dollars for Q2, 2024
Over half a billion dollars worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in the second quarter this year through hacks and scams, with two incidents making up the bulk of the stolen funds, according to a recent report by bug bounty platform Immunefi.
Small-business confidence climbs to post-pandemic high for entrepreneurs
Despite ongoing concerns with inflation, entrepreneurs’ revenue projections are finally starting to outweigh their anxiety about the broader economy, according to a recent survey. For founders, an optimistic view of the months ahead is now outweighing the nagging problem of inflation, according to the MetLife and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index.
Ten big banks settle US interest rate swaps rigging litigation
Ten large banks including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase will pay $46 million to settle a long-running antitrust lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to rig the now $465.9 trillion market, opens new tab for interest rate swaps.
Top Fed Official doesn’t expect lower interest rates this year
Michelle Bowman, one of the Fed’s seven governors and one of the 12 voters on the Federal Open Markets Committee, doesn’t expect lower interest rates until “future years.”
IRS lowered its sights on high-income taxpayer audits
The Internal Revenue Service switched over from focusing its audits on taxpayers earning $10 million or more to those earning $400,000 or more after passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, according to a new report.
US Supreme Court weakens federal regulators in boost for business
The Supreme Court has upended a 40-year-old decision that made it easier for the United States federal government to regulate the environment, public health, workplace safety and consumer protections, delivering a far-reaching and potentially lucrative victory to business interests.
US weekly jobless claims, equipment spending data point to slowing economy
First-time applications for U.S. unemployment benefits drifted lower last week, but the number of people on jobless rolls jumped to a 2-1/2 year high in mid-June, suggesting that labor market conditions were easing amid slowing economic growth.
The copyright lawsuits against OpenAI are piling up as the tech company seeks data to train its AI
OpenAI uses any and all publicly available data to train ChatGPT, including books and articles from the internet. Now, those who own them want to be paid for their work.
Get in touch
Contact us if you have any questions or want to discuss the next steps for your business.