Attractions

The U.S. Women's Hockey team hasn't won gold since the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Tonight the team faces off against Canada for another chance at gold. But these U.S. hockey players won perhaps their biggest victory   in March 2017, almost a year ago. That came when women on the national team won a fight for  better pay  and scored a contract that rivals that of the men's national team. The women claimed USA Hockey wasn't paying them a living wage, despite the team medaling in every Winter Olympics since women's hockey debuted in 1998. The   men's national team was also afforded more benefits and marketing attention. Most of the women on the team said they had to work one or two other jobs in addition to training and competing because they were making so little from being on the national team. The women asked for a $68,000 salary and the same treatment that the men receive, including the ability to bring a guest to competitions, fly busi...

Unlike last year, when Super Bowl advertisers put politics and Trump-related content   on display, this year's line-up was far more subtle. In 2017, Trump supporters called for a boycott of several brands after the big game. Last year's Super Bowl aired shortly after Donald Trump's inauguration as president. It featured a hair commercial that said "America, we're in for at least four years of awful hair," an 84 Lumber ad with immigrantsand a border wall, and a Budweiser ad that told the story of its immigrant founder. Kia used Melissa McCarthy, who had just started her parody of then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Even though she wasn't in character for the spot and the ad wasn't political, it still caused a backlash among Trump supporters. The tone in 2018 was far more reserved. This year, viewers saw a T-Mobile ad with a message about equality and a Ram Trucks commercial that used a sermon by Martin Luther King, Jr. to promote ...

Should it remain in the customs union that allows goods to flow freely across the European Union? Should it leave the customs union? Or opt for somewhere in between? How best to approach this riddle has been the subject of a major political brawl in recent days. The answer could bring down the U.K. government (say British media), prevent it from striking a Brexit deal with the EU, or both. Here's what the spat is about: The customs union enables the 28 EU member states, and other countries such as Turkey that have signed up to its rules, to function as a single trading area. In practice, it means that cars made in France can be sent to Italy without facing tariffs or a customs check at the border. Goods made outside the union are allowed to circulate freely once they've gained initial entry. However, membership prevents a country from negotiating its own bilateral trade deals with other nations. The ability to agree new trade deals -- with the United States...

In fact, most of the passenger trains in the United States operate on tracks shared with freight lines. And rail lines are for the most part privately owned by the freight railroads. Sunday's crash happened when an Amtrak train operating on CSX tracks in South Carolina was misdirected into a stopped freight train, killing the Amtrak engineer and conductor and injuring more than 100 passengers. The signal system along the section of track where the crash occurred wasn't working at the time, so the tracks were being manually controlled by CSX, Amtrak CEO and president Richard Anderson told CNN on Sunday. According to Anderson, CSX has complete control of the tracks, signals and switches in the area where the crash happened. CSX has not denied responsibility for the crash, which is under investigation by federal safety regulators. The freight railroad, which operates 21,000 miles of track east of the Mississippi, says it hosts more passenger rail traffic than any other m...

Bitcoin was down 15% for the day, while ethereum was down a whopping 20%, according toCoindesk. The cryptocurrency plunge was happening as the Dow dropped more than 1,000 points on Monday, after closing down 666 points on Friday. The trouble started brewing in December. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the FBI started to crack down on alleged fraud in fundraising by some cryptocurrency companies and traders. Digital currency had been operating in a regulatory vacuum since bitcoin's debut in 2009. But regulators started paying closer attention and warned investors about potential scams. The SEC created a Cyber Unit to go after suspected fraudsters. Garrick Hileman, a cryptocurrency researcher at the University of Cambridge, said some big banks also recently pushed back on digital currencies, which are not issued by any government, unlike traditional currencies. "The recent spate of bad news continues for cryptocurrencies, with several ...

A historic drop in the Dow on Monday was followed by more heavy selling in Asia and Europe on Tuesday. The sudden plunges come after a strong rally for global stocks in 2017, raising the question of whether the party is over. Many experts say this week's slump is likely to be a short-term blip and not cause for bigger concerns. Here's why: Firing on all cylinders The global economy is in good shape. "As long as recession is unlikely in the U.S. and globally, it's likely to just be a correction," said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at money manager AMP Capital. And   there's no talk of recession among economists. In the U.S., unemployment is at a 17-year low. Average hourly wages went up last month the most in eight years. Consumer and business confidence are near record levels. That counts for a lot more than a few days of losses on Wall Street. "Listed companies are not very important economically," said Paul Dono...

Laurent Potdevin, who headed the athletic apparel company since January 2014, has also stepped down from the company's board of directors, effective immediately. Chairman Glenn Murphy will serve as executive chairman in the interim, and three other senior leaders will take on additional responsibilities. "Lululemon expects all employees to exemplify the highest levels of integrity and respect for one another, and Mr. Potdevin fell short of these standards of conduct," the company said in a release Monday afternoon. The company didn't say how he fell short of its standards.   Lululemon didn't immediately respond to a request further comment. Potdevin is not leaving empty-handed. He will be paid a lump sum of $3.35 million cash and $1.65 million over 18 monthly installments starting two months after he leaves,   according to a regulatory filing. Potdevin came on board after CEO Christine Day stepped down in 2013. She left after the company's...

The VIX volatility index, which tracks short-term market turbulence, jumped 116% on Monday -- the highest daily percentage recorded. The index has data going back to 1990. It's the biggest move since February 2007, when the index rose 64%."That shows how much fear has jumped back into the market in a very short period of time," said Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research. Monday was the worst day for markets in recent memory. The Dow plunged almost 1,600 points before recovering slightly. It closed down 1,175 points, the worst single-day point decline in Dow history. Its 4.6% fall was the biggest percentage decline since August 2011, during the European debt crisis. The VIX reflected that turmoil. The index, which hit 37.32, is now the highest it's been since August 24, 2015, the last time the Dow plunged 1,000 points in a day. A big reason for the sudden surge in volatility is that stocks have been calm for months, which has kept the VIX...

Falcon Heavy is the name of a highly anticipated SpaceX rocket that's set to launch for the first time on Tuesday. Liftoff can happen anytime between 1:30 pm and 4 pm ET. You can attribute the buzz to the Falcon Heavy's size: It will be the most powerful rocket in the world. It's built by the industry disrupting rocket company started by billionaire Elon Musk. If you're just catching up to the action, we've answered all the questions you need to know before next month's launch. Why does it matter? This rocket will have thrust equal to 18 Boeing 747 jetliners. SpaceX has said the rocket will be capable of sending humans to Mars, even though SpaceX is planning to build an entirely different system for Mars travel, called the BFR. It'll also be the most powerful rocket currently in operation -- and one of the most powerful ever built. The most powerful rocket in history was NASA's Saturn V rocket, which was used for the Apollo moon landings...

If it works, Falcon Heavy will become the world's most powerful operational rocket. Its first uncrewed test flight is scheduled for Tuesday between 1:30 pm and 4 pm ET at at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "It's the biggest rocket in the world by far," SpaceX CEO Musk told CNN's Rachel Crane Monday. With its 27 engines, the rocket will give off a thrust equal to 18  Boeing   ( BA )  747 jetliners. With that kind of thrust, Falcon Heavy will be capable of sending humans to the moon or Mars, SpaceX says. "It really creates a great sense of possibility if this mission is successful," Musk said. Near the launch site on Florida's Space Coast, hotels rooms are sold out, parking lots are packed and thousands of people are anxiously awaiting the launch. But Musk wants to keep expectations in check. This is a test flight, and the Falcon Heavy's massive power comes with big risks. "People [came] from all around the world," he said...

The stock is down 18% and at least one major institutional investor, Thornburg Investment Management, confirmed to CNN that it sold its entire stake of 891,000 shares on January 26. That was the day a Wall Street Journal article revealed allegations of sexual misconduct by Wynn, its founder and CEO. Wynn has denied the allegations in the Journal story, calling them "preposterous." Thornburg, which had been the 15th largest institutional investor in the company, wouldn't comment on the sale other than to confirm that the Journal report was "material" to its decision. Shares in Wynn Resorts have been turning over in a big way. The day the Wall Street Journal report came out, 22 million shares traded -- most of them after the story published. And nearly 26 million shares were traded the following session. Each day had more than 10 times the average trading volume for Wynn Resort shares. And even though the shares haven't moved as much since the plunge th...

It's called Falcon Heavy, and if it launches as planned Tuesday, it'll become the most powerful rocket in use. The rocket is poised for its first test at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Takeoff is slated to happen Tuesday between 1:30 pm ET and 4 pm ET. "People [came] from all around the world to see what will either be a great rocket launch or the best fireworks display they've ever seen," Elon Musk said in an interview with CNN's Rachel Crane. If Tuesday doesn't work out, due to weather or some other delay, there's a backup launch window on Wednesday. Why all the buzz for this launch? For one, this rocket is built by SpaceX, the game-changing company helmed by billionaire  Tesla ( TSLA )  CEO Elon Musk. SpaceX has shaken up the rocket industry by becoming the first company to successfully reuse rocket boosters in order bring down the cost of space flight. To do that, it guides the rockets back to Earth for a safe landing after they se...

Ford made the announcement at the Detroit Auto Show, and screened a dimly lit teaser video that gave a glimpse of a few of the car's parts, including a large rear wing. The GT500 will exceed even the power output of the Ford GT, Ford's $450,000 exotic supercar. That car can produce 647 horsepower from a turbocharged V6 engine. Since the GT500 will have over 700 horsepower, it also has a good chance of out-powering theDodge Challenger Hellcat muscle car, which has a 707-horsepower supercharged engine. And the GT500 will probably be hundreds of pounds lighter than the Hellcat, which will make it even faster. The first Shelby GT500 appeared in 1967. That car had half the horsepower of this one. The most recent Shelby GT500, which went out of production in 2015, produced 662 horsepower from a 5.8-liter V8 engine. Ford   ( F )  has a complicated but fruitful relationship with Las Vegas-based Shelby American company. Shelby Mustangs were originally made by Shelby usi...

The vaunted Wall Street firm reported a nearly $2 billion quarterly loss Wednesday -- its first loss in six years -- due to a short-term hit from the new tax law. The lack of market volatility also led to a steep drop in trading revenue during the last three months of 2017. This weakness is even hitting Goldman Sachs employees. The firm's compensation and benefits expenses -- its so-called bonus pool -- rose just 2% last year. But the company's headcount rose 6%. When you do the math, workers actually got 4% less than they did in 2016. Granted, Goldman Sachs employees still received $323,852 on average last year. So no need for tears. Still,  Goldman Sachs   ( GS )  workers took home $338,576 in 2016. And the average compensation for a Goldman Sachs employee in 2015 was $344,511. Shares of Goldman Sachs fell 3% Wednesday -- even though earnings beat forecasts after backing out the tax charges. Overall revenues topped forecasts too. The stock has gained less...

A breakup would represent a further dismantling of an already-shrinking empire that still makes everything from light bulbs and jet engines to MRI machines and power plants. John Flannery, the new CEO charged with engineering a turnaround at GE, signaled on Tuesday that the company is exploring a potential breakup as it continues to clean up messes from the past. "We are looking aggressively at the best structure or structures for our portfolio to maximize the potential of our businesses," Flannery said during a conference call. The comments are stronger than what GE has said in the past. The company continues to review its vast and complex portfolio. The news comes after  GE   ( GE )  surprised investors on Tuesday by disclosing a larger-than-feared $6.2 billion hit from insurance problems at GE Capital, the financial arm that the company has mostly sold off. GE further warned it will have to devote $15 billion to boost insuran...

The $3.6 billion in cuts this year — $2 billion from a program that sends federal dollars to hospitals that serve a high percentage of Medicaid or uninsured patients, and $1.6 billion from a drug discount program — will have the greatest effect on so-called safety net hospitals that provide medical care for all comers, no matter their ability to pay. The cuts are in addition to other losses of federal funds as a result of Congress' failure to reauthorize spending in 2018 on other programs affecting many hospitals. These include $1.5 billion to support community hospitals, a combined $370 million for the National Health Service Corps and Teaching Health Centers -- both of which support rural hospitals -- and $3 billion for the "Medicare extenders" program, which provides additional funding for isolated, low-volume hospitals and other  rural hospitals . "They are placing our already fragile health system in jeopardy," said Danne Howard, executive vice pre...