Consumer confidence at near two-year high as World Cup and UK holidaying lift summer spending

Shein was the ultimate disruptor in fashion. By turning online trends into $11 jeans or $3 crop tops in a matter of days, the ultrafast fashion retailer overtook established companies such as Zara and H&M, prompting it to eye an initial public offering that would value the company at nearly $100 billion. But after years of delay amid failed attempts to go public in New York and London, the Chinese-founded company is staring down a starkly different reality as its stock finally started trading publicly in Hong Kong. On Tuesday, Shein’s shares tumbled nearly 10% at the open, reinforcing lackluster demand as the company’s struggles have mounted. In the IPO last week, Shein raised $1.7 billion, valuing the company at $26.5 billion – down more than 70% from its peak valuation of $98.2 billion in 2022. The sharply lower valuation and meagre interest underscore investors’ concerns about its business prospects amid increased competition, geopolitical pressure, and questions surrounding its sustainability and labor practices. Last year, Shein saw its net income plunge 39% from a year ago, despite a growth in revenue, according to its prospectus released in July. But in the first qua

It’s been a rough summer on the Strip. In addition to sizzling 115-degree days, Las Vegas’ famous resorts and casinos are plodding through a tourism slump. This year, a new and possibly existential threat has emerged: the meteoric rise of prediction markets. Prediction platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket – where users wager on sports, politics, culture, and the weather – have transformed from a niche space for superfans to a seemingly ubiquitous multibillion-dollar industry. With the Trump administration’s blessing, these startups are structured as financial markets for trading, not casinos or sportsbooks for gambling. Under this system, prediction companies bypass state gaming boards and instead get licensed by an obscure federal commodity regulator to offer “event contracts.” This setup also means they aren’t taxed like gambling, which generated nearly $18 billion in revenue for states last year. Analysts blame Vegas’ slowdown on rising consumer costs, not prediction sites. But the casinos aren’t taking chances. They mobilized for “all-out war,” and have now become a driving force in the nationwide fight to rein in prediction markets, according to nearly

President Donald Trump is trying to make your hamburger cheaper, but his plan may not put much of a dent at the supermarket register. Last week, Trump signed an executive proclamation allowing 300,000 metric tons of beef to enter the US duty-free for 90 days starting on September 1. The imports are required to be sold at “25 percent below the market price,” according to the proclamation. A pound of ground beef currently costs Americans about $6.89 on average, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The White House hasn’t specified how a lower tariff rate on ground beef would lower prices, only telling CNN that foreign exporters are willing to discount the beef because there are no duties. It’s also unclear how the agencies tasked with overseeing the program will monitor whether the imports are actually being sold at those prices. But even if the beef is sold for a lower price, that won’t make much of a difference at grocery stores. “It’ll be some additional pounds on the market that we didn’t have before, and in that context, that could be good for consumers,” said Glynn Tonsor, an agricultural economist at Kansas State University who studies meat pricing. â

As one of Europe’s biggest consumers of gas the UK may be particularly exposed to heightened price volatility Europe is on course to enter the cooler months with gas stores at their lowest level in 13 years, which has triggered “winter panic” among energy traders, experts have warned. The EU’s gas stocks were 63% full in the last week of August, well below the 80% average for late August over recent years and among the lowest levels ever recorded for this time of year. At the current sluggish rate of gas storage injections, the EU is likely to enter the winter heating season with gas stocks about a fifth below the five-year average, and at their lowest level since 2013, according to Greg Molnar, a gas analyst and professor. “Low storage levels are naturally increasing the risk of heightened winter price volatility,” he said in a post on LinkedIn, which could be made worse by “cold spells or slow wind patterns” increasing gas usage over the winter. The UK may be particularly exposed to market volatility, because it is one of the biggest gas consumers in Europe but has some of the lowest levels of domestic gas storage capacity. Typically, the UK relies on imports of g

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that states can regulate prediction markets like gambling, dealing a major blow to the booming industry. There are still related lawsuits pending across the country, and legal experts believe the matter will ultimately be settled by the Supreme Court. But Friday’s ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is the largest courtroom victory to date for the states as they seek to regulate prediction sites. The 3-0 ruling came from a panel of three Trump-appointed judges. The case originated from Nevada, where regulators tried to shut down the Kalshi prediction site. On prediction sites like Kalshi and Polymarket, users can wager on nearly everything, from sports to culture, award shows, album releases, the weather, the value of gold, and beyond. With the backing of the Trump administration, prediction markets have been operating as federally regulated financial exchanges. They get licenses from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to offer “event contracts, which is a type of derivative swap. But a staggering 44 states have argued that these platforms are, in fact, gambling and should be subjected to state gaming laws and taxes. “The

Rolling coverage of the latest events in global financial markets, the economy and major corporate moves The US’s top central banker then warns that there are concerning signs that US inflation is running too high, meaning the Federal Reserve may have “work to do” unless price pressures ease. In his speech to the Jackson Hole symposium today, Kevin Warsh points to signs that some prices are rising rather faster than the Fed’s 2% target. Fed chair Warsh indicates that he is more concerned about inflation, than the labor market (where the unemployment rate remains low), declaring that “the Fed’s predominant focus right now should be on prices.” double quotation markOver the past 12 months, 54% of goods and services in the PCE basket showed price increases above 3%. This is well below the post-pandemic highs of about 77 percent, but it remains well above the level of 32 percent in the two decades that preceded the pandemic. Looking over just the past six months, the conclusion is similar: Of goods and services in the PCE basket, 49 percent showed annualized price increases above 3 percent. Again, this is well below the post-pandemic highs but still quite elevated. Warsh