Carlyle Group co-CEO Kewsong Lee is optimistic about the private equity firm’s investment in superstar Taylor Swift. Carlyle Group, which has been an investor in Ithaca Holdings since 2017, helped finance the deal. Swift has called on the Carlyle Group for help. Presidential hopeful and Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted about the controversy last month, taking aim at private equity companies. “Unfortunately, @TaylorSwift13 is one of the many whose work has been threatened by a private equity firm

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said Wednesday the lender’s customers spent about 5.5% more this year over 2018, a bullish sign for the U.S. economy. “People are spending, and that’s good news for the U.S. economy,” Moynihan told CNBC’s Wilfred Frost on “Squawk Alley.” “That helps sustain this long, long growth session we’ve had.” Moynihan said the data comes from more than $3 trillion in Bank of America card transactions, checks and ATM withdrawals. Bank of America shares have surged 37% thi

DoubleLine Capital CEO and Wall Street “Bond King” Jeffrey Gundlach is not worried about a possible recession in 2020 even though he doesn’t think China and the U.S. will get a trade deal done anytime soon. “We’ve never had a recession without negative leading indicators,” Gundlach told CNBC’s Scott Wapner on Wednesday. Gundlach noted that consumers’ perception of current conditions would have to drastically deteriorate while weekly jobless claims spike up for a recession to take place. Manufact

LAS VEGAS — The legal marijuana industry is going through an epic shakeout. “This is 2008 for the cannabis industry,” said Kevin Murphy, chairman and CEO of Acreage Holdings. “It has been an exciting year, and not in the way that shareholders in this sector would like,” said Cam Battley, chief corporate officer of Aurora Cannabis. The top six publicly traded marijuana companies have lost a combined $25 billion in market value since the end of March. “Our belief was you needed to start hitting yo

The Fed leaves interest rates unchangedThe Federal Reserve held interest rates steady following its two-day meeting this week and indicated that no action is likely next year amid persistently low inflation. CNBC’s Steve Liesman reports.

Watch CNBC’s full interview with Jeffrey GundlachJeffrey Gundlach, DoubleLine Capital CEO, sits down with CNBC’s Scott Wapner at Doubleline Capital HQ in Los Angeles to talk about politics, investment ideas and what he means when he says investors should be playing defense.

The Federal Reserve forecasts no action on its main interest rate until 2021, after holding rates steady in its December meeting Wednesday. The central bank’s median rate is forecast to hold steady at 1.6% through the end of 2020, but will increase to 1.9% in 2021. In September, the Federal Open Market Committee was divided about future action on the fed funds rate.The Fed began slashing interest rates in July to boost the economy as the U.S.-China trade war weighs on global growth. Fed Chairman

Forever 21 has long been a staple in America’s shopping malls, but after this holiday season some of its stores will go dark. Its sales tumbled as Forever 21 was pitted against heightened competition from rivals such as H&M and Zara. Forever 21 also was burdened by its massive stores that can be as large as a department store, or more than 100,000 square feet. During its bankruptcy proceedings, Forever 21 said it plans to exit most of its businesses overseas, in Asia and Europe. At its peak, For

Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president, pauses whilst speaking during a news conference in Tehran, Iran, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2019. Bloomberg | Getty ImagesWASHINGTON — The U.S. will impose a fresh round of sanctions on Iran’s largest shipping company and biggest airline, the nation’s top diplomat announced Wednesday. The sanctions on Mahan Air, however, will take immediate effect. Earlier this year, Germany and France announced a ban on Mahan Air, in part, alleging the firm transports Iranian weapons

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 29: Olivia Newton-John attends the VIP reception for upcoming “Property of Olivia Newton-John Auction Event at Julien’s Auctions on October 29, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. The buyer of the leather jacket worn by Olivia Newton-John in the movie “Grease” has returned it to the actress after winning it at auction with a $243,000 bid. He bought the jacket at auction last month but almost immediately gifted it back to the actress who played “Sandy” in the sm

If the recent viral Peloton ad was any indication, buying the right health-related gifts can be a challenge. A wellness gift should be something that’s equal parts thoughtful and useful, and that inspires your loved ones. CNBC Make It found nine wellness picks to help your giftees be happier and less stressed. It’s about the size of a softball, and its shape lets you target hard-to-reach knots deeper than a foam roller. It’s designed to help tune out the world so you can fall asleep in uncomfort

“I stopped trying to just make as much money as I could a long time ago,” Cuban recently told Barbara Corcoran on her “888-Barbara” podcast. “When we sold [Broadcast.com], the stock was way up there, and it went up even higher,” Cuban told Corcoran. I just don’t need any more money,'” Cuban said. Money takes away a lot of the stress of paying the bills, but it doesn’t make you happy,” he told Corcoran. “The drug system is such a mess right now,” he told Corcoran.

Hedge-fund billionaire Ray Dalio revealed via Twitter on Tuesday that he is mentoring hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. In the video, Dalio and Combs discuss a range of topics, including success, Dalio’s concept of “radical open-mindedness” and team-building. Go after your goals, Dalio told Combs. “Push through to result,” Dalio told Combs. If you use this process “over and over, you have the formula for success,” Dalio said.

And, according to data provided to CNBC Make It by technology and financial services company Stash, it’s a conversation that just 20% of millennial women have had with their colleagues. In the survey, which includes more than 1,200 participants, Stash found that not only do the majority of millennial women not know how much their colleagues make, but they avoid the conversation with those close to them as well — just 35% know how much their friends make. Millennial men are also reluctant to havi

LinkedIn’s 2020 Emerging Jobs Report names artificial intelligence specialist as the job that saw the most growth in the the past five years. The career site looked at each job’s growth rate in hiring every year, averaged over the past five years, to determine the emerging jobs list. For example, hiring growth for AI specialists, which pays a national average of $136,000 per year according to LinkedIn salary data, has grown 74% each year, on average, since 2015. Artificial intelligence is a subs

When children are given an order, they’re more likely to resist being told what to do. When children are given an order, they’re more likely to resist being told what to do. While it may work in the moment, it’s still likely to cause resentment and make them less likely to cooperate in the future. While it may work in the moment, it’s still likely to cause resentment and make them less likely to cooperate in the future. Blaming is a put-down, and it can easily cause children to feel guilty, unlo

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz testifies about the Inspector General’s report on alleged abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, December 11, 2019. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Wednesday he and his team “identified significant concerns” about how the FBI conducted its investigation into Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. “The activities we

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady following its two-day meeting this week and indicated that no action is likely next year amid persistently low inflation. In its statement explaining the decision, the committee indicated that monetary policy is likely to stay where it is for an unspecified time, though officials will continue to monitor conditions as they develop. The decision to keep rates unchanged was unanimous, following several dissents in recent meetings. The lan

This is a comparison of Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee statement with the one issued on Oct. 30 after the Fed’s previous policymaking meeting. Text removed from the September statement is in red with a horizontal line through the middle. Text appearing for the first time in the new statement is in red and underlined. Black text appears in both statements.

A “pilot group” of customers who opted-in to the scheme will be the first to receive deliveries using the technology, Nuro added. Grocery giant Walmart is to pilot the autonomous delivery of groceries in Houston, Texas. The trial is being carried out using technology from Nuro, an autonomous vehicle firm. Starship Technologies, another firm that specializes in self-driving deliveries, says its robots can deliver items within a four mile radius. In August, the business announced it had completed