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The pace of price increases over the past year was higher than forecast in September while jobless claims posted an unexpected jump following Hurricane Helene and the Boeing strike, the Labor Department reported Thursday.The consumer price index, a broad gauge measuring the costs of goods and services across the U.S. economy, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.4%. Both readings were 0.1 percentage point above the Dow Jones consensus.The annual inflation rate was 0.1 percentage point lower than August and is the lowest since February 2021.Excluding food and energy, core prices increased 0.3% on the month, putting the annual rate at 3.3%. Both core readings also were 0.1 percentage point above forecast.A separate report Thursday showed ...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg presents Orion AR Glasses, as he makes a keynote speech during the Meta Connect annual event, at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, U.S. September 25, 2024. Manuel Orbegozo | ReutersWhen Facebook changed its name to Meta in October 2021, CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the occasion to show the world his vision of a digital future of work and recreation accessible through a virtual reality headset. The company soon opened its play universe called Horizon Worlds, featuring floating personalized avatars.As the rebranding to Meta approaches its third anniversary, none of that stuff has gone mainstream. But the company appears to have found its footing in virtual and augmented reality through a different medium.After achieving surprise early success in the s...

Ian Read, chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer Inc., gestures as he speaks during a panel session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017.Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesActivist Starboard Value accused Pfizer of threatening litigation against the company's former CEO and CFO in order to get them to break ranks with the investor's nascent turnaround campaign at the pharmaceutical giant.Starboard managing member Jeff Smith said in a Thursday letter to Pfizer's board that the company or its advisors also "threatened" to claw back former chief executive Ian Read and ex-CFO Frank D'Amelio's past compensation and cancel their unvested shares.Smith asked that the board assemble a special committee to investigate the matter, describing i...

The latest inflation report came in slightly hotter than expected, knocking stock prices lower. But there are some encouraging signs within it. The consumer price index rose by 0.2% in September on a month-over-month basis and 2.4% from the year-earlier period . Economists polled by Dow Jones had forecast expected a 0.1% gain month over month and 2.3% increase year over year. Core CPI, which strips out food and energy, also was more than expected. Some investors worried the report means the Federal Reserve may not be able to cut rates further. But the odds of a quarter-point Fed rate cut in November actually rose after the report came out. Per the CME Group's FedWatch tool, the fed funds futures market indicated a 94% probability of a quarter-point rate cut next month. That's up from about...

Portra | E+ | Getty ImagesThe Social Security Administration has announced a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment for 2025.The agency announced the change on Thursday morning via its press office feed on X and confirmed the news to CNBC by phone.The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2025 is the lowest annual increase since 2021, when beneficiaries saw a 1.3% increase to benefits. In recent years, COLAs have been larger in response to record high inflation.While the cost-of-living adjustment for 2024 was 3.2%, beneficiaries saw the highest increases in four decades in 2023, with an 8.7% increase, and in 2022, with a 5.9% boost to benefits.Now that the pace of inflation has come down, the cost-of-living adjustments are more average. Social Security's annual benefit increases have avera...

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:1. Wait-and-CPIStock futures slipped Thursday as investors await the latest CPI data, out at 830 a.m. ET. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell or 0.1%, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures fell roughly 0.2%. each. Economists polled by Dow Jones anticipate the consumer price index for September to show a 0.1% increase on a monthly basis and a 2.3% jump over the prior 12 months. That result will inform the Federal Reserve's next policy steps when the central bank meets in November. Follow live market updates.2. Cutting it closeJerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, during the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, US, on Monday, ...