Business News for English Learners

The Fed is the main bank in the US. On Wednesday, it raised interest rates. An interest rate is the cost of borrowing money. This is the first time in over three years. The rate is now 3.75% to 4%.

Apple has a new phone. It is called the iPhone Duo. The phone folds shut like a passport. It is Apple's first folding phone. The price starts at $1,999. John Ternus is the new boss of Apple.

The US government is taking Amazon to court. It says Amazon made companies pay too much. They paid for adverts on the Amazon website. The case started on Monday. Companies pay Amazon to show their adverts.

Donald Trump is the president of the United States. He put a new tax on things from Canada. The tax is 50 percent. It is on cars, trucks and steel. It starts in January 2027.

The US government took extra money from companies. This money was a tax on goods from other countries. This tax is called a tariff. Then a court said the tax was wrong. Now the government gives the money back.

The United States lost 23,000 jobs in July. Experts are surprised. They thought the country would add jobs. May and June were also worse than first reported. Many people also stopped looking for work.

Apple says it needs more computer chips. The chips cost a lot of money now. This is bad for Apple. Its share price went down about 7 percent. Tim Cook is the head of Apple. He says many people want new Apple products.

The European Union is called the EU. The EU fined Google. The fine is about 1 billion dollars. The EU said Google broke its rules. Google put its own services first. The EU wants big companies to be fair.

Warren Buffett is 95 years old. He is very rich. For 20 years, he gave money to the Gates Foundation. This year, he stopped. He gave $6 billion to his family instead. Buffett and Bill Gates were once good friends.

Microsoft will cut about 4,800 jobs. Many of the jobs are at Xbox. Xbox makes video games. About 1,600 Xbox jobs are gone now. More jobs will go by 2027. The head of Xbox says the business is weak.

Apple will raise its computer prices. Some prices go up by 20%. The reason is the cost of computer chips. Xbox will also raise its prices. Its cheapest game machine will cost $499.

Gas prices in the US fell on June 18. The price went to $3.99 per gallon. This is the first time in three months. The US and Iran made a deal. After the deal, eleven oil ships left Iran. The ships carried a lot of oil.

SpaceX is Elon Musk's rocket company. It sold its shares to the public. People paid $135 for each share. The company got $75 billion. This is the biggest sale ever. SpaceX makes rockets. It also runs Starlink.

Amazon is now America's biggest company. Walmart was first for 13 years. Now Amazon sells more. Amazon made $716.9 billion in 2025. Walmart made $713.2 billion. Amazon and Walmart are very different.

Oil prices fell on Friday. The US and Iran may end the war. Brent oil could drop 20% this month. That is a big drop. Gas in the US is cheaper now too. The war started on 28 February. The US and Israel attacked Iran.

SpaceX is a rocket company. Elon Musk owns it. On Wednesday, the company filed papers. It wants to sell shares to the public. The papers show Musk wants a city on Mars. SpaceX wants to put people on the Moon and Mars.

The US Senate picked Kevin Warsh. He is the new head of the US Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve sets interest rates. Powell will leave on Friday. Warsh takes his job. President Donald Trump chose Warsh for the job.

Shell is a big oil company. Shell made $6.9 billion in three months. This is more than last year. Oil prices went up. The Iran war made prices high. Oil cost $73 a barrel before the war. Now it is about $101.

The United Arab Emirates is called UAE. The UAE sells oil. It is part of an oil group called OPEC. The UAE will leave OPEC on 1 May 2026. The UAE was in OPEC for 60 years. The UAE was not happy in OPEC.

Gas is very expensive in America now. A war makes oil cost more. The average price is more than $4 per gallon. In California, gas costs almost $6. Some places charge $8 for one gallon. This is a very big oil problem.