The sudden collapse of SmileDirectClub has stranded users of its clear-plastic, removable teeth aligners — in some cases just weeks after they were given a discount for paying up front.
Why it matters: Customers experiencing problems with their treatment will not be able to get new aligners, treatment, or other support from the company.
Consumer prices increased modestly from October to November, but the falling price of gasoline helped keep overall inflation in check.
By the numbers: Gas prices were down 8.9% year over year and down 6% compared with October, according to the Consumer Price Index released today, Nathan writes.
The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas is now below $3 in 23 states, according to AAA.
Worth noting: New vehicle prices, which had led inflation higher earlier in the pandemic, were up only 1.3% year-over-year in November.
The cost of buying a vehicle and fueling it up isn't soaring anymore.
The Los Angeles Dodgers' massive contract with superstar free agent Shohei Ohtani offers a wonderful lesson in the time value of money.
Driving the news: The announced $700 million 10-year deal is misleading. Dual-threat pitcher and hitter Ohtani will make not $70 million a year but $2 million a year for a decade, followed by $68 million a year for the decade after that, when his playing days are presumably over.
The inflation story of late has been straightforward: Price pressures were easing nearly across the board, boosting hopes that the inflation war was just about won.
Why it matters: The worst of the crisis is in the past. Still, inflation's total return to normal might remain bumpy.
The Consumer Price Index rose a moderate 0.1% in November, as falling gas prices helped drag the overall index down, the Labor Department said on Tuesday.
Why it matters: Though some underlying price pressures appear to be sticky, the rapid price gains that defined recent years look to be in the past. Inflation continues to cool — a welcome development for consumers, the Federal Reserve and the White House.
A Philadelphia-based mall owner's 2020 bankruptcy deal was supposed to provide a bridge to better times. But then the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates.
Driving the news: Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, or PREIT, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late Sunday. The filing is effectively a "Chapter 22" — industry slang for a repeat filer.
Why it matters: Money mixing with art isn't revelatory, but his appearance comes as he moves from Seattle.
The big picture: He and other billionaires like Eric Schmidt, Google's former chair and CEO, are relocating to Miami amid a business boom in South Florida.
Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, earlier this year said Miami — or "Wall Street South" — could eventually overtake New York City as the world's financial center.
🕶️ Our thought bubble, via Axios' chief art correspondent Felix Salmon: It is well-known that the best way to look at art is while wearing sunglasses.
Nearly all of the job growth in the economy in November came from just three sectors: health care, government employment, and leisure and hospitality.
The big picture: "Job growth has pretty much ground to a halt in most of the rest of the economy, and that is mostly by design," said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, referring to the way the Fed's rate hiking campaign has cooled things off.
The number of workers out on strike in November dropped by about a third compared to the previous month, but was still the highest it's been in a decade, according to the latest jobs report.
Why it matters: The 35,000 workers who returned to their jobs last month (autoworkers and actors among them) helped boost the jobs numbers overall.
The biggest economic threat next year comes from geopolitical bad actors "who with one action can upset economic and market assumptions globally," a new survey of 500 institutional investors finds.
Driving the news: The annual survey from Natixis ranked the threat higher than central bank policy mistakes, consumer pullbacks, or China's sluggish economy.
