Author: News Room

Centerview Partners, one of the financial world’s top independent investment banks, has long been known as a largely Democratic outpost. One of its leaders, Blair Effron, is among the most influential fund-raisers in Democratic politics, while a longtime counselor is Bob Rubin, the former Treasury secretary. Rahm Emanuel, the erstwhile Obama chief of staff, also worked for the firm.This week, Centerview took a step that was widely seen as a counterbalance: It hired Reince Priebus, the first White House chief of staff in the first Trump administration and a finance chairman of Trump’s second inauguration committee, as a senior adviser.…

At the headquarters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, faint shadows above the entrance are all that remain of the letters that once spelled the agency’s name.In the Trump administration’s broad dismantling of the federal government, the consumer bureau was one of the first agencies to fall, its offices shuttered and all 1,700 workers sent home. “CFPB RIP,’’ Elon Musk wrote on social media on Feb. 7.But the consumer bureau has refused to die.Last week, the agency’s consumer response team was called back to work to tackle a backlog of 16,000 complaints, including dozens from homeowners facing imminent foreclosures. The…

The counties where tariffs could hit jobs, by presidential vote winner Share of jobs in industries targeted by tariffs Ala.Ariz.Ark.Calif.Colo.Del.Fla.Ga.IdahoIll.Ind.IowaKan.Ky.La.MaineMd.Mass.Mich.Minn.Miss.Mo.Mont.Neb.Nev.N.H.N.J.N.M.N.Y.N.C.N.D.OhioOkla.Ore.Pa.S.C.S.D.Tenn.TexasUtahVt.Va.Wash.W.Va.Wis.Wyo. + – × Source: New York Times analysis of data from Lightcast and the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. Note: Vote results are for the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Data not available for Alaska. As President Trump imposes tariffs on products from countries around the world, foreign governments are answering back with tariffs of their own.China has targeted corn farmers and carmakers. Canada has put tariffs on poultry plants and air-conditioning manufacturers, while Europe will…

At his job at an apparel store in SoHo, Thomas Lanese uses phrases that he would never utter outside of a work setting, like, “I’ll shoot this email to you by end of day.” Sometimes, he said, it feels like he is living two separate lives.It is something fans of “Severance” might relate to. In the buzzy show that concludes its second season on Apple TV+ next week, the characters literally live two distinct lives.Their “innies” (no relation to belly buttons) are their work selves. Their “outies” exist anywhere outside of work. They have chosen to work for Lumon Industries,…

The price of gold set a record high on Friday, breaking above $3,000 per troy ounce for the first time as investors reckon with President Trump’s seesawing tariff policy, fears of an economic slowdown and a sinking stock market.Gold is often sought out by investors as a safe haven during times of turmoil, and the price has risen by about 14 percent this year. By contrast, the S&P 500 index tumbled into a correction on Thursday, falling more than 10 percent over the past month as investors fret about Mr. Trump’s economic agenda.Market watchers have upgraded their forecasts, predicting that…

Here are some things I believe about artificial intelligence:I believe that over the past several years, A.I. systems have started surpassing humans in a number of domains — math, coding and medical diagnosis, just to name a few — and that they’re getting better every day.I believe that very soon — probably in 2026 or 2027, but possibly as soon as this year — one or more A.I. companies will claim they’ve created an artificial general intelligence, or A.G.I., which is usually defined as something like “a general-purpose A.I. system that can do almost all cognitive tasks a human can…

It’s easy to make a medical case for blockbuster weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound, which have been shown to prevent heart attacks and strokes and save lives.But for the employers and government programs being asked to pay for the medications, the financial case for them is less clear. Are the drugs’ benefits worth their enormous cost?The answer right now is no, according to a new study published on Friday in the journal JAMA Health Forum, by researchers at the University of Chicago.To be considered cost effective by a common measure used by health economists, the price of Novo…

Stocks on Wall Street rallied on Friday to their biggest daily jump since President Trump’s election, bouncing off a drop that had left the market in a correction after weeks of selling. But the gains weren’t enough to overcome the steep losses from earlier in the week, and the S&P 500 remained in negative territory for the week.The benchmark index rose about 2.1 percent on Friday as the risk of a government shutdown appeared to lessen, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies each jumped more than 2.5 percent. Shares in Europe and Asia…

The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning on Friday that advised consumers against inhaling nitrous oxide products such as Galaxy Gas, Baking Bad, Whip-it! and Miami Magic.Recreational use of nitrous oxide as a party drug has long been prevalent, but whipped cream charger products such as Galaxy Gas have recently found a young and enthusiastic user base. Experimentation with an intentional misuse of the product has developed into a popular subgenre on social media, with widely shared videos of teenagers inhaling the gas from tubelike canisters of flavors like strawberry cream, tropical punch and vanilla cupcake. The videos have…

A contracting firm called Leidos took in more than $16 billion in revenue last year, most of it through contracts with federal agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs.So when the Trump administration’s budget cutters took aim at the V.A. last month, it seemed like bad news not just for the department’s employees but also for Leidos and dozens of other private-sector firms.“No more paying consultants to do things like make Power Point slides and write meeting minutes!” the department’s secretary, Doug Collins, wrote on X. Overall, the department indicated that it was canceling more than 850 contracts worth nearly…