. >> cnn's matt egan and rahel solomon join me now. matt, what are we expecting?> well, bianna, we are expecting interest rates to go higher. the question is how much higher and for how long? the federal reserve is moving with almost unprecedented speed here. they've been from zero interest rates to 4% in about eight months. we really haven't seen anything like that since at least the early 1980s. this is raising some concerns, because central bank policy hits the real economy with a lag. it actually takes many months before you actually feel it. it's like if you took pain medicine for a headache, you might not feel it right away, but it doesn't mean it's not working. so the concern is the fed may go too far and raise interest rates too high, and cause a recession. everyone is wondering when the fed is going to slow the pace of interest rate hikes. jerome powell offered some hints how that could be coming soon. >> that's why i've had the last two press conferences, at some point it will be appropriate to slow the pace. that time is coming. it may come as soon as t

cnn's matt egan joins us now with more, and matt, for the last few months, consumer confidence had beened? >> reporter: well, boris and bianna, the consume reverse feeling this painful one-two punch. they're feeling inflation at the gas station and grocery store, when they go shopping for the holidays and they're also getting squeezed by this borrowing cost. the feds warn inflation has driven up mortgage rates, and credit card rates have never been higher. we've seen consumer settlement expectedly take a hitthis hit th getting close to record lows. we know what people say and do is not always the same thing. if they say they don't like the economy, but they keep spending, then this economy can keep going. on the other hand, if they stop spending, all bets are off. >> matt, this comes as we're saying the cryptocurrency market really devolved into chaos with one of its biggest companies announcing they're filing for bankruptcy. what is happening there in that sector? >> reporter: yeah, the collapse of ftx is really one of the most stunning implosions that we've seen. it's amazing first of

thank you, matt egan. the white house, in anticipation of this announcement, released a statement that the fed is independent, and the president believes the federal reserve does have the best monetary policy. joining us is catherine rampel and professor justin wolfe. we'll get to justin's reaction in a second, but catherine, this is really baked into the cake. i guess the question is, when does the fed stop, and how fast are they willing to go? >> that is the big question. everyone was basically expecting a 75-basis point. there are signs that the economy is slowing, that there are some growing weaknesses in the u.s. economy, certainly in the global economy at this point, and it operates on a lag. you may not see the effect of that for many months down the line. so the question is, which do they start slowing? and presumably we'll hear the chairman asked about it soon and how go they convince slowing does not mean a 50 base-point hike, for example, does not necessarily mean they have taken the eye off the

. >> cnn's matt egan joins us now. matt, what happened? >> yeah, this story is just so stunning.$32 billion valuation, prominent backers including tom brady and others. then in just the span of days it all blew up. it's just this incredible train wreck. everyone is searching for answers including law enforcement. just last hour kara reported that federal prosecutors in new york with investigating the collapse, this is being nskted by the u.s. attorney's office in the southern district of new york. ftx is based in bahamas. authorities there have a team of financial investigators probing potential criminal misconduct. we don't know precisely which part of this debacle they're looking at. "the wall street journal" and other media outlets are reporting that ftx used customer funds to prop up its sister hedge fund's high risk trading operation without their permission. ftx said it's investigating whether some crypto assets were stolen. experts say the missing assets could be worth almost half a billion dollars, just to take a step back for a minute, ftx is a crypto exchange. it's a pl

cnn business reporter matt egan has more on this. his chosen successor. things didn't go so well for chapek. what is disney saying about the transition and how long they expect iger to be helm. >> this is quite the plot twist at disney. the board of directors appeared to have lost patients with bob chapek and made a significant casting change by bringing back a legend in upon iger effective immediately. here is what the disney chair said about why they're making this decision, quote, the board indicated as disney ex barks on an increase lengthily difficult transition bob iger is situated to lead this company within this period. he did lead this company for 15 years through lots of success and growth, built it into a true media empire, including not just the theme parks that we all know and the films that we know and espn, but also going out and acquiring marvel and lucas films, buying 21st century fox and launching disney plus, the streaming service. wall street is greeting the return of iger with the financial equivalent of a standi

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matt egan joins me live now.jim. this holiday shopping season is going to look a little bit different. the national retail federation is projecting sales growth of 6% to 8%. now that is not too shabbych that's roughly in the line with the last ten years but it is a big slowdown from the record of 13.5% last year. and in many ways it makes sense that people might chill out a bit with their spending this year. inflation is obviously very high. we have recession fears and some companies, especially tech companies have been laying off workers. now i think the good fuse is that the experts are expecting a lot of discounts here. and retailers have a lot of stuff that they need to get rid of, these high inventories. and that does mean discounts. adobe is calling for massive discounts online or commute computers and electronics and toys. and they are offering black-friday like discounts starting in october. but the bad news is paychecks are not keeping up with the cost of living. and so we are expecting debt, people are

matt egan is live outside the federal reserve. how much pressure is the fed facing right now to make the right call here? >> reporter: well, ana, the pressure has just been building and building on the fed. it's palpable. people are angry about the high cost of living an feeling it at the supermarket and home heating bills and gas stations and at the same time we have politicians including senator elizabeth elizabeth warren they're going too far and worried about a recession that wipes out millions of jobs. they don't have a magic wand. what they do have are rate hikes, raising the cost of borrowing and trying to cool off demand to give supply a chance to catch up. so in less than an hour we are expecting the fed to raise interest rates by 75 basis points. this would be the fourth massive interest rate hike in a row. we haven't seen anything like that since at least the 1980s and this is, of course, raising concerns about a recession because history shows that the fed tends to underreact to inflation and then overreact because we'

so here with us to explain it all, is cnn's matt egan.out these numbers that we're seeing from retailers at the same time factoring in how consumers are feeling? >> well, i think it is important to distinguish what consumers say they feel and what they're actually doing. so the new numbers out just a few minutes ago, from the conference board shows that consumer confidence in november dropped to the lower level since july. and the conference board that said consumers have marked down their expectations for what is going to happen next in the economy. they say the short-term outlook remains gloomy and remains at a low level that suggests that the risks of a recession are high. the reason why this is concerning of course is because consumer spending is the main driver of this economy. people stop spending, and all bets are off. but, we also have new numbers out suggesting that people are still spending. adobe analytics said that on cyber monday, americans spent a record $11.3 billion doing online shopping. that is up by a healthy 5.8% year-

cnn's matt egan is on it for us. matt, in terms of numbers, we have seen some signs this month that inflation is easing, but in terms of how people are feeling, are americans feeling that progress yet? >> ana, i think the good news is that inflation is cooling off, i think the bad news is it's still pretty hot so that means that people may not really be feeling this in their wallets. consumer prices jumped by 7.7% year over year in october. that set off a thunderous celebration on wall street raising hopes that maybe the worst for inflation is over but there is no celebration on main street because the cost of living remains way too high. we have seen some categories having price drops, apparel, airfare, used cars, month over month price declines, that is good news, but food remains a sore spot and people will be feeling that this thanksgiving. the average cost of a thanksgiving feast for ten people, $64 this year, that is up 20% from a year ago. 38% higher than two years ago. we have seen a little bit more progress w

matt egan joins me now. the stock was way up yesterday, welcoming the news of his return.ges is he talking about making now. >> well bob iger does not wait any time. even though yesterday was just his first full day back at the helm of disney, he didn't waste any time to try to unwind some of the restructuring done by his predecessor, ousted ceo bob chapek. last night, iger sent out a memo announcing the departure of the head of disney media and entertainment distribution. now that was a unit created by chap eck. iger announced a broader shake-up at the company. he's trying to put the decision making power in the hands of creative scenes and unwind the approach to the company and there is also some questions about whether or not iger wants to roll back bob chapek's aggressive approach to pricing. because disney plus launched under iger at $6.99 a month but the plan is to pump that price up to $10.99 a month starting december. some questions about whether or not iger will go forward with that. we also got new details about how much money disney's board is paying iger to lur

cnn's matt egan is here with more on this.ch more or are people actually shopping more? >> that's a great question because these numbers are typically not adjusted for inflation, but adobe analytics track online prices and they say online prices have actually been falling so that means if you do adjust for inflation this does appear to be real growth, and that is good news because consumer spending is the main driver of this economy. on black friday alone as you can see online sales topped a record $9.1 billion that was up about 2% from a year ago, there's also early signs that in store sales on black friday were surprisingly strong. today on cyber monday adobe expects americans to spend up to another $11.6 billion that would be up by a healthy 8% from last year. now, one of the reasons why people are willing to spend more and more money is not just those annoying emails and text messages we're getting from every store we have ever shopped at its that they are offering deep discounts. adobe expects record discounts this holida

let's get to cnn's matt egan live with more details. >> john, the holiday shopping season appears toid start and in some ways that's kind of surprising, i mean, it would be easy to bet against consumers right now, confidence is low, inflation is high and people are worried about a potential recession, but history shows it's never a good idea to bet against the willingness of americans to spend money, especially around the holidays. so adobe analytics is projecting that today alone on cyber monday americans are going to spend another $11.6 billion online, that would be up by a healthy 8% from last year. this would be on top of black friday when online sales topped $9.1 billion, that was up 2% from a year ago. now, it's worth noting that these figures are not adjusted for inflation, but adobe says online prices have been coming down, in other words, even if you adjust for inflation, this does appear to be real growth. this is good news because consumer spending is the main driver of this economy. once people stop spending, that's when all bets are off. i think the bad news, though, is

cnn's matt egan is here now. ion just rejected another stab at a deal here. what happens if they don't reach an agreement soon? >> reporter: well, ana, it would be a mess, a mess that would impact virtually everyone. america's economy relies on rail. nearly a third of all freight moves by rail. and in a prolonged strike we'd be looking at shortages. online shopping delays. spoiled food and price spikes on everything from gasoline and food to autos. now, i just talked to the head of a leading retail trade group who told me that if there's a national strike it would, quote, uterly upend the supply chain and it would be virtually impossible to fully avoid the impact from that. now, the clock is ticking. if no deal is reached in two weeks we've heard from rail workers who say they plan it to strike if any one of the union strike all 12 of them plan to. and don't forget, this would come at a very delicate time for the economy. inflation is still high. supply chains are still recovering from covid. and recession fears a

let's start with matt egan, live outside the federal reserve. what are we expecting this afternoon? >> reporter: kate, today seems to be another pivotal moment, in just under three hours, they'll take another dramatic step designed to get inflation uncontrol. the fed is likely to raise interest rates by 0.75 of a point. that is actually big. we haven't seen anything like that in modern fed history. you have to go back to the early 1980s under paul volcker. now this is, of course, raising borrowing costs. the fed is trying to cool off demand, giving supply a chance to catch up. virtually all americans are feeling the impact here. these fed rate hikes have caused the worst year for the stock market since 2008. credit card rates are near record highs. for the first time in 20 years, we have seven percentage points for mortgage rates. this is all, of course, raising concerns about a recession. history shows that the fed tends to react too late to inflation and then overreact. we have seen in the past that recessions often follow these inflation-fighting campaigns. that's what happened i

cnn's matt egan has more on that. >> reporter: bianca, if there's a recession coming, american shoppers did not get the memo. they spent $11.6 billion on cyber monday. that's a healthy increase from 8% over last year. now it's worth noting these figures are not adjusted for inflation. a deb says online prices have been falling. even if you adjust for inflation, this does appear to be real growth. in some ways that is surprising. it would be easy to bet against consume merits. it's the main engine of this economy. the moment people stop spending, that's when all bets are off. the bad news here though is how people are paying for all this shopping. industry experts expect inflation wearing consumers to dip into savings and tap holiday cards. credit card rates have surged and they dramatically raise borrowing costs. they now carry aprs of more than 30%. there's never a good time to carry a credit card balance but right now might just be the worst time to do that. bianca? >> thanks, matt. >>> irish regulators fined meta approximately $275 million. they say the social media giant violated th

matt egan is with us now. what do you know about this? bringing back legendary ceo bob iger, one of the most respected ceos of its time. this caught everyone off guard. "the wall street journal" when bob iger announced this to staff, some employees weren't sure if it was a hoax or if it was real. wall street caught off guard. disney share prices up around 10% this morning. markets are happy with the fact that bob iger is back. iger himself dismissed this possibility earlier this year. listen to what he said in january. >> cnbc polled ten ceos about their predictions. one was that you would return to disney. >> as what? >> mickey mouse character. there are rumors you could become disney's ceo again. >> that's ridiculous. i was ceo. you can't go home again. i gave my name tag up, my i.d., my office, my email address. it's all gone. if i wanted to run a company, i would still be running disney. i did that. >> now he's doing that again. what changed? >> disney was having its worst year since 1974 in the stock market. disney reported disappoin

cnn's matt egan explains what this all means for you. >> reporter: wholesale prices rising 8% year overnterest 8.4%. month over month rising half as much as expected. 8% wholesale inflation is not healthy or normal. this is the fourth straight month of cooling year over year. we had wholesale inflation at nearly 12% back in march. this is obviously much better than that. the this is the lowest level in 15 months. not surprisingly, food and energy prices, they do remain high. anyone who's been to a grocery store or gas station knows that. in some other areas, prices are actually declining. remember, these are wholesale prices. these are prices that we don't see ourselves at the store but the hope, of course, is that businesses do pass this easing price in pressure to consumers. >>> the rate of premature birth is rising. the rates of babies born in the u.s. before their due date have risen over 10%. jaclyn howard has more. >> reporter: max and bianca, the pre-term birth rate here in the united states increased to 10.5% last year. and i asked the chief medical officer for march of dimes, d

. >> matt egan. the last thing consumers want certainly. >>> thanksgiving week.y traveled, you might be traveling today, you might be traveling tomorrow. if you are thinking about traveling, people coming to you, that is especially true because there were these massive meltdowns in the summer. there is a lot of concern there is going to be another wave of meltdowns as more people take to the air to fly. so airlines are trying to avoid this. they are in the midst of a huge hiring spree. cnn's pete muntean has more on that. >> reporter: airlines have been preparing for the rush at airports with a rush all of their own, hiring thousands of new workers from the front desk to the flight deck. 24-year-old ellie dahl is about to follow in who are father's footsteps as a commercial pilot. >> this is probably one of the best times in history to become a pilot. >> reporter: ellie is joining piedmont. at the charlotte center 400 new pilots have been trained. >> they're doubling the size of the airline. >> reporter: piedmont announced a $100,000 signing bonus for new captain

matt egan is with us. , what changes if republicans take control, do they have a plan for bringing down inflation? >> well, we heard kevin mccarthy tell our colleague that they are going to talk about spending cuts. now in theory, cutting spending could help with inflation, but i think it would depend on what they're cutting and also when they're cutting spending. because if it's cuts to social safety net programs like medicare, social security, at a time of high inflation, that would obviously just make the pain worse for families, should mention that the deficit is not just a problem for the biden administration, this has been a problem really for every president in recent memory, including former president trump. as you can see on the chart, the deficit has gone up. there's actually been a deficit every single year since fiscal 2001 back during the clinton administration every year. republicans also embracing energy dominance as a way to get out of high gas prices. we know that is one of the biggest sore

cnn's matt egan explains the impact. >> reporter: america faces the growing risk of a crippling rail strike. just two weeks from now. the nation's largest rail union announced monday its rank and file members have rejected a tentative labor deal that was reached in september with freight railroads. all 12 rail unions have now completed their ratification process but only eight unions backed the deal. four are against them. and even if just one of the dozen rail unions go on strike, the other 11, they would honor the picket lines shutting down the railroads. a prolonged freight strike could cause mayhem for the economy. leading retailers warned on monday that a strike would result in a self-inflicted economic disaster. that would spoil food, online shopping delivery delays and worsening inflation. the national retail federation called on congress to immediately intervene to avoid catastrophe. for now the four unions that have voted no, they will remain on the job until at least early next month while talks are held to avoid a strike, but if new deals are not reached in time, congress

matt egan is here to break it all down., the part that might come as a surprise the oil companies are also making big profits. what's behind it? >> huge profits, making mountains of money right now, bp and shell, more than doubling their profits from a year ago. exxon almost tripled its profit. exxon made nearly $19 billion last quarter along. that amounts to $2300 per second. it takes about two minutes to fill up a full size suv. so that means during that time exxon made almost $300,000 and big oil -- >> that's astonishing. >> and rewarding shareholders with buybacks and dividends. this is a boom to bust industry. they lost billions in 2020 when oil prices went negative and some companies didn't even survive. now they're minting money and the president is arguing that they're not investing enough in new supply to try to bring down prices and to some extent he's got a point because even though profits and prices are -- have fully recovered from covid, as you can see on that chart u.s. oil production has not. they are produc

let's bring in cnn's matt egan. what was your biggest takeaway from the consumer price index?oes look like inflation is finally chilling out. month over month, prices were supposed to heat up. they didn't. that was encouraging. year over year, 7% gain for consumer prices. normally that's very high. we're not in normal highs. this is actually a nine-month low for annual inflation and a big improvement from the 9% inflation we saw over the summer. of course, this doesn't mean inflation is gone. people are still feeling the sticker shock at the gas station t grocery store. but we have seen some prices start to drop. we saw month over month-declines for apparel, airfare, used cars. that was a big one. one of the big reasons it was cooler than expected, i was told today's inflation report does suggest that it's moderating and it's thought it will be significantly lower a year from now as long as oil prices don't go crazy and as long as china's covid policies don't ramp up. you see the dow up by more than 1,000 points, over 3%. we're actually seeing bigger gains for the s&p 500. the

. >>> go to cnn business reporter matt egan. two things. first, what the unions want and, second, the impact that a strike could have on the economy. >> reporter: we thought disaster was averted back in september when a deal, a tentative deal was reached between union leaders and management. that tentative deal called for pay hikes, bonuses and a promise not to increase health care co-pays. president biden, he held that deal as a way for thousands of union workers. union workers, rank and file members, four unions voted this down. there are still sticking points. including lack of paid sick time and scheduling issues here. so if no agreement is reached we could have a strike next week, and this would be devastating for the economy. cost of $1 billion in just the first week alone. that's according to andersen economic group. lost wages, lost production and we see big impact to inflation. the problem is that rail is essential to supply chains in this economy. without it, you'd see a wide-ranging impact including gas prices. we would see food

now, as far as the layoffs, and i heard matt egan's rundown, i think one of the things to consider there, there are millions of job vacancies in this economy. there will always be churn in a labor market and i suspect that churn may be elevated as we go forward. and we are in a hiking cycle. but the question is are there gainful opportunities for people in other sectors. one thing i really liked about the i don't be majob market tod is that every sevctor created jobs. and that is what i want to see. is that every sector created jobs. and that is what i want to see. >> one sector that is still struggling is education. i believe a little over 13,000 employees were added. but k through 12 schools are still down nearly 300,000 jobs. the nation's report card shows that students in virtually every state are declining now in math and in reading. this is a president who ran as a teacher's husband and promised to invest more in education in this country. has he failed on that point? >> reporter: first of all, i think that the president has really come through when it comes to particularly higher

cnn's matt egan following this closely. tough to keep track on an election week. takeaway there? >> this is a big relief, but it's cooling off. month-over-month prices up by .4%. that's flat. it was supposed to get worse. that's a good thing. year over year, 7% increase in prices. at any other point in the last four decades, this would be an alarming, terrible number. this is actually a nine-month low and a big improvement from the 9% inflation that we saw over the summer. within the realm of what was possible, this is probably about as good as we could have hoped for. none of this means sticker shock is gone. people are still feeling these price hikes. we still see big year over year price increases in gasoline, food, represent. there also has been some improvement. month-over-month we saw prices decline for apparel, used cars, medical care. that is encouraging. wall street, as you mentioned, is loving this news. within seconds of this number coming out, dow futures spiked 600 points, 2.4% right now. the nasdaq is up more than 4%, an even bigger move over there.

we have cnn's matt egan standing by, first to phil mattingly at the white house. phil, this is tricky for president biden because he is the pro-union president and enforcing this deal appears to undermine the union's negotiating power. >> reporter: yeah, not just a pro-union president but the president himself calls himself the most pro-union president in the history of the country and it's something that white house officials tried to really point to as they reach that tentative agreement really driven by labor secretary mar think walsh himself a former union member but the reality remains that a tentative agreement is not a final agreement. they needed the rank and file of the unions to support that, all 12 of them to do so. 4 of those 12 rejected that. in part, it's because of the contours of that agreement. the agreement, white house officials make very clear, has some clear positives, immediate 14% pay increase, up to 24% by the year 2024 as well. a thousand dollar bonus but the primary sticking points remain, those related rarely to the structure of how the

. >> cnn business and economy reporter matt egan joining us now with the details.k they're going to find here. >> this bankruptcy is just such a train wreck, i think it is a legal term. and now we see congress getting involved. the financial services committee launched a bipartisan hearing next month and now top senate democrats are demanding answers and democracies and they're calling for a series of business records to be turned over, copies of all balance sheets and its subsidiaries and bailouts to other crypto firms and a complete list of transfers through a sister hedge fund. that part is critical because ftx propped up that sister hedge fund by using customer funds without their knowledge or consent. now let me read you a key part of this letter. they wrote, new revelations continue to shed light on what now appears to be an appalling case of greed and deception. now sam bankman-fried, the former ceo, 30-year-old founder of ftx, he has apologized for this collapse and he has conceded that the company may have been a bit reckless at times. he tweeted yesterday

matt egan with here with more on this.do you see here. >> we're seeing more evidence that inflation is finally cooling off. wholesale prices rising by 8% year-over-year in october, that is down from 8.4% in september. month over month prices rising half as much as expected. now, 8% wholesale inflation is not healthy or normal. at almost any other point in the last 20 years this would be a terrib terrible number. but everything is relative and this is another step in the right direction. this is the fourth straight month of cooling inflation year-over-year as you could see on that chart, we had wholesale inflation at nearly 12% back there march. this is obviously much better than that. this is the lowest level in 15 months. now not surprisingly, food and energy do remain high. anyone who has been to a grocery store or a gas station knows that. but in some other areas prices are declining. we saw a month over month price decline for passenger vehicles. it is the biggest drop that we've seen in more than five years. that is i

thank you, matt egan. >>> so although inflation is to 7.7% in october, americans are still facing risingrices up over the past year. rent up nearly 7% and, of course, food prices have climbed nearly to 11%. so when will the federal reserve decide to cut back on interest rate increases? i don't know that i would hold my breath for that but we'll talk to gina smilelake on that report are for the "new york times." good to see you. we're seeing that inflation is slowing just a bit. are we turning a corner soon? >> hopefully. you know, i think this is the first report for the underlying details of the data actually giving you reasons to believe this might last. even potentially get better with time. there are a lot of hopeful signs in this report. seeing a lot of cooling, some indexes that really matter. finally things in supply chain showing up, so it does seem like good prices have quite a way to fall here. >> speaking of those positive signs does that include the, the used cars prices going down as well? >> exactly. so it's taking quite a while for us to see supply chain healing but we kno

matt egan joins with much more on that. what is happening?the disney board ran out of patience with bob chapek. his tenure was turbulent. the stock underperformed, there were some p.r. blunders and two weeks ago disney revealed mounting losses at the streaming business when investors doent have patient so the board will go to a trusted hand and it doesn't get any more trusted than bob iger. he's one of the most successful ceo's of the time. he built disney into a media empire. he acquiredp lucas film and marvel and pixar and launched disney plus. wall street is loving the fact that he's back and disney shares down ots year but up 7% on the news. but the fact that he's coming back it a surprise. listen to what he told kara swisher back in january about this. >> but one ever things that cnbc poll ten media executives about their 2022 predictions and one was that you'll return to disney. >> as what? >> i don't know. a mickey mouse character. there are rumors that you could be are the disney ceo again. >> that is ridiculous. i was ceo for a long

matt egan is here to break it down for us.good inflation news. now, it's kind of crazy. you wouldn't normally say that about 7.7% year over year for inflation because if you look back over 40 years that's still one of the highest readings we've seen but everything is relative and this is a big improvement from the 9%% inflation we've seen. it's the coolest reading in nine months. if you look under the hood there's positive developments and saw core inflation which strips out food and energy unexpectedly slowed and some items are actually going down in price. we saw price declines month over month for apparel, for airfare, used cars, fresh fruit, moody's mark zandi told me today's report while inflation is still painfully high it's definitively moderating and unless oil prices go crazy or something happens in china with lockdowns he thinks inflation will be much lower a year from now which would be good news sitting well with investors on wall street. >> fingers crossed. that does sound like good news. unfortunately, however, w

cnn's matt egan is live in washington outside the federal reserve. so there is a lot of concern about not just what the announcement could do for some people, but also the political implications. >> reporter: that's right, erica. i am standing outside the -- one of the most powerful institutions on the planet, the federal reserve, and in just a few hours the fed is going to once again try to chip away at this historic inflation that is crushing families and businesses. now, the fed's main tool to fight inflation are these interest rate hikes. the fed has basically been taking a sledgehammer to inflation with these jumbo-sized interest rate hikes. we are expecting another 75 basis points today. that is big and that would be the fourth in a row. that's something that we never saw under janet yellen or ben bernanke or allen greenspan. you have to go back to the early '80s under paul volker since the fed has had to do figure like this. i think that shows how high inflation is right now but also how stubborn it's been. it's basically been stuck at these 4

matt egan is here with must. questions you're seeing these record-breaking numbers but also hearing inflation was the key concern for everyone about the economy. everyone is concerned about the direction of the economy. that was the key reason people were turning out to vote in the midterm elections. and so what is going on in the economy? >> well it is a confusing time. and i think we're learning that despite high inflation and relatively low consumer confidence, americans keep spending. adobe analytics said that cyber monday sales jumped by about 6% year-over-year to $11.3 billion. that is not the biggest online shopping day of the year, it is the biggest online shopping day ever. and this is a big deal. right. because consumer spending is the main epg of this economy and there is nothing about today's numbers on cyber monday cothat could speak to a recession. and what consumers say and what they do is not always the same thing. consumer confidence fell in november because of highin place -- high inflation. but

matt egan joins me now with more. how much money are we talking about here?n dollars on the five most expensive senate races alone. this is spending by the campaigns and by outside groups from both parties, those five states, we're looking at pennsylvania, arizona, nevada among them. the most expensive the battle to control senator pat toomey's seat, $264 million on that race alone, most of that went to mehmet oz who has conceded to democrat john fetterman flipping that seat from red to blue, let's talk about some of the spending on some of the races that have not yet been called starting with arizona. repu republican blake masters trying to beat kelly. nevada, most of the money going to catherine cortez masto, who narrowly trails the republican there and then in georgia, that was another big one, number two on this list, $252 million spent there, that was before the runoff, more than $100 million to each candidate. it was exactly 48 hours ago that cnn projected this race is going to a runoff in early december and the money is already pouring in for that runo