French President Emmanuel Macron delivering his televised New Year’s address to the nation from the Elysee Palace in Paris on Dec. 31, 2024.Kiran Ridley | Afp | Getty ImagesAs France enters the new year, there’s little hope that the political and economic uncertainty that’s been plaguing the euro zone’s second-largest economy for months will disappear in 2025.France was plunged into a political crisis last summer when snap parliamentary elections, called by President Emmanuel Macron, failed to produce a decisive result, with both far-left and far-right parties claiming victory in the polls.Amid infighting over who should govern, Macron installed a centrist,…
Author: usaeverydaylife
Travelers view the arrival and departure boards at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021.Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAir travel demand continued to surge in 2024, led by a bounce back in international trips.From January through October alone, revenue-passenger miles worldwide, a demand metric, was up nearly 11% over last year, according to the International Air Transport Association. In 2025, IATA estimates aircraft departures of 40 million, up 4.6% from 2024.Airlines scrambled to add flights and increase premium seating, which brings in higher revenue, especially on long-haul trips. Challenges from…
People walk past an advertisement for the iPhone 16 Pro at an Apple store during National Day holiday on October 3, 2024 in Chongqing, China.Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesApple is offering discounts on its top-end iPhones and other products in China for the upcoming Chinese New Year as the U.S. tech giant faces heightened competition in one of its most crucial markets.The Cupertino giant is giving customers 500 Chinese yuan ($68.50) off of the iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro Max, and 400 yuan off the iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Plus. Offers also include discounts…
A Leapmotor vehicle with range extension is on display at the company’s headquarters in Hangzhou, China, on June 22, 2024.Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesBEIJING — Hybrid-powered vehicles are proving more popular than battery-only ones in China, even as consumers shift away from gas-only cars, full-year data show.BYD, by far the market leader, said in a filing Wednesday it sold around 4.3 million passenger cars in 2024. Nearly 2.5 million of those vehicles were hybrid-powered, a reversal from 2023 when BYD sold slightly fewer hybrid cars than battery-only vehicles.Tesla, which sells battery-only cars, is on track to sell more than…
A view of the ball drop during Times Square New Year’s Eve 2025 Celebration on December 31, 2024 in New York City. TheStewartofNY | Filmmagic | Getty ImagesThis report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.What you need to know todayEnd of year celebrations for marketsU.S. stocks ended the last trading day of 2024 on a negative note, but they finished the year higher. Asia-Pacific markets fell on Tuesday, which was a…
European markets kicked off 2025 in positive territory on Thursday.The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was 0.27% higher by 8:05 a.m. London time. Regional bourses are all reopening after the New Year’s Day holiday, with markets that were open on New Year’s Eve closing higher.There are no major earnings or data releases Thursday.Asian stocks traded mixed overnight, with China stocks leading losses as several major markets resumed trading after the New Year holiday.U.S. stock futures were slightly higher as trading got underway for 2025. Traders hope that the market can regain the momentum that propelled it to log two straight years…
The Bank of Korea (BOK) in Seoul on Dec. 28, 2024.Kim Jae-Hwan | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesRisks posed by South Korea’s political turmoil to its economy could subside within half a year, but external pressures owed to possible tariffs on the country’s exports to the U.S. are “troublesome,” a key Bank of Korea official said.”We had two presidential impeachments before, and for both cases, the political turmoil or uncertainties have subsided within three to six months,” Soohyung Lee, Monetary Policy Board member at the Bank of Korea said Thursday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”It’s possible that the political turmoil may…
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomes French President Emmanuel Macron before a private dinner at the “Kochzimmer” restaurant in Potsdam outside Berlin, Germany, June 6, 2023.Michael Kappeler | Pool | via ReutersIt’s been a topsy-turvy last year for the euro zone with its largest economies, Germany and France, seeing political and economic turbulence that means neither has a budget in place for 2025.Economists say the trajectory for both countries is worrying, warning that the absence of growth, fiscal imbalances and political intransigence could lead to decline and a loss of standing for Europe, as a whole.”The situation today is different from…
Discover APRs are accurate as of December 12, 2024. If you want to maximize your rewards, a 5% cash-back card can be a smart addition to your wallet as they often have standard interest rates and no annual fee.The Discover it® Cash Back is one of three Discover cards that can be activated to earn 5% cash back on the first $1,500 in purchases in rotating categories each quarter, then 1%. Discover’s 5% cash-back calendar has previously included everything from grocery stores and drug stores to select streaming services (excludes Walmart and Target purchases). The eligible merchants rotate quarterly, and cardholders…
Breaking habits or forming new ones is hard — and starting on January 1 doesn’t change that.To give yourself the best chance at success, pursue one, manageable to-do at a time, says Michael J. López, a consultant, career coach and author of the upcoming book “Change: Six science-backed strategies to transform your brain, body, and behavior.””You can really only change a couple things at a time,” López says. “My recommendation for the people I coach is start with one goal and give yourself a three-month interval before you add anything new to that.”Let’s say you want to learn a new…
