TV News LIES

Inflation slowed for a tenth straight month in April as another drop in grocery bills offset a rebound in gasoline costs, providing some relief to Americans squeezed by a two-year run-up in prices.

Consumer prices increased 4.9% from a year earlier, down from 5% in March and a 40-year high of 9.1% last June, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index. That's the smallest yearly increase since April 2021. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.4% following a 0.1% increase in March.

For shoppers and drivers, Wednesday’s inflation report was mixed. Gasoline prices jumped 3% just in April. By contrast, grocery prices dropped for a second straight month. Used car prices surged 4.4% after nine months of declines. Rental costs rose but at a slower pace.

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The -dominant home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond has filed for bankruptcy protection after months of losing shoppers and money.

The cooncempany, which also owns the BuyBuy Baby chain, has struggled to regain its financial footing after a series of turnaround attempts that proved to be mistimed or ineffective.

The retailer says its 360 Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 120 BuyBuy Baby stores remain open, but will shutter over time. Starting on Wednesday, April 26, the chain will stop accepting coupons and discounts and sales will be final. Gift cards are expected to stay valid through May 8.

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First Republic Bank, facing a crisis of confidence from investors and customers, is set to receive a $30 billion lifeline from a group of America’s largest banks.

“This show of support by a group of large banks is most welcome, and demonstrates the resilience of the banking system,” the Treasury Department said in a statement Thursday.

The major banks include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Trust.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is laying off another 10,000 people and instituting a further hiring freeze as part of the company’s “Year of Efficiency”, the chief executive announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

The restructuring, which also sees a further 5,000 unfilled job adverts closed without hiring, comes less than six months after the company announced another wave of 11,000 redundancies. At its peak in 2022, Meta had grown to 87,000 employees globally, with a substantial portion of that hiring occurring since the onset of the Covid pandemic.

“This will be tough and there’s no way around that,” Zuckerberg wrote in a blogpost. “Over the next couple of months, org leaders will announce restructuring plans focused on flattening our orgs, canceling lower priority projects, and reducing our hiring rates.”

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President Joe Biden insisted Monday that the nation’s banking system was safe, seeking to project calm after the collapse of two banks stirred fears of a broader upheaval and prompted regulators to offer emergency loans to banks to stave off additional failures.

“Your deposits will be there when you need them,” Biden said.

Despite the message from the White House, investors continued to dump shares in bank stocks. Shares of First Republic Bank plunged more than 70% even after the bank said it was accessing emergency funding from the Federal Reserve as well as additional funds from JPMorgan Chase.

U.S. regulators closed the Silicon Valley Bank on Friday after depositors rushed to withdraw their funds all at once. It was the second largest bank failure in U.S. history, behind only the 2008 failure of Washington Mutual. New York-based Signature Bank also failed Sunday.

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that the federal government would not bail out Silicon Valley Bank, but is working to help depositors who are concerned about their money.