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Americans views of the economy improved in May after five straight months of declines sent consumer confidence to its lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, largely driven by anxiety over the impact of President Donald Trumps tariffs. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose 12.3 points in May to 98, up from Aprils 85.7, its lowest reading since May 2020. A measure of Americans short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market jumped 17.4 points to 72.8, but remained below 80, which can signal a recession ahead. The proportion of consumers surveyed saying they think a U.S. recession is coming in the next 12 months also declined from April. Trumps aggressive and unpredictable policies including massive import taxes have clouded the outlook for the economy and the job market, raising fears that the American economy is headed toward a recession. However, Trump’s tariff pullbacks, pauses and negotiations with some trading partners may have calmed nerves for the time being. “The rebound was already visible before the May 12 US-China trade deal but gained momentum afterwards, said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist at The Conference Board. Trump had initially imposed a stunning 145% tariff on most goods from China, but agreed to a 90-day pause for negotiations. The U.S. also came to an agreement with the U.K. earlier in May. Over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, Trump and European Union leaders announced that the president’s 50% tariff on imports from the E.U., which he announced Friday, are on hold until July 9. That announcement would not have impacted the Board’s survey, which closed on May 19. The Conference Board said the rebound in confidence this month was broad-based across all ages and income groups. Consumers assessments of the present economic situation also improved, with the exception of their view on job availability, which weakened for the fifth straight month despite another strong U.S. jobs report. However, less than 25% of respondents said they were worried about losing their jobs, compared with the 50% of respondents who said they were concerned about not being able to buy the things they need or want. The Labor Department earlier this month reported that U.S. employers added a surprising 177,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate remained at a low 4.2%. Write-in responses to the survey showed that tariffs are still consumers biggest concern. Inflation is also still weighing on their minds, though some noted that inflation seemed to be easing, along with gas prices. Earlier in May, the Commerce Department reported that consumer prices rose just 2.3% in March from a year earlier, down from 2.7% in February. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.6% compared with a year ago, below Februarys 3%. Economists track core prices because they typically provide a better read on where inflation is headed. Gas prices have hovered around $3.17 per gallon this month, down from $3.59 a year ago, but up a few pennies from April. The slowdown in inflation could be a temporary respite until the widespread duties imposed by Trump begin to push up prices in many categories. Most economists expect inflation to start ticking up in the coming months. Robert Frick, an economist with Navy Federal Credit Union, said that while the tariff rollbacks may have boosted Americans’ confidence this month, that optimism may be fleeting. When prices start rising from existing tariffs in a month or two, it will be a sobering reminder that a new inflation fight has just begun, Frick said. The Board’s survey Tuesday also showed that Americans’ plans to spend on homes, cars and vacations also increased from April, with significant gains coming after the May 12 China tariff pause. Matt Ott, AP business writer
Category:
E-Commerce
One of the most popular smartphone apps in the world has finally come to the iPad. Today, Meta has officially released WhatsApp for iPad. The release comes nearly sixteen years after WhatsApp debuted on the iPhone, and went on to become the de facto messaging app for most of the world. WhatsApp comes to the iPad WhatsApp debuted on the iPhone in 2009, and within just five years, that messaging app had become so popular that Facebook (now Meta) announced in 2014 that it was acquiring it for a staggering $19 billion. But the extraordinary sum Meta paid for WhatsApp seems to have been worth it. On Metas financial conference call on April 30, Mark Zuckerberg announced that WhatsApp now has 3 billion monthly active users worldwide. Thats a billion more than the app had just five years earlier in 2020, notes TechCrunch. Outside of the United States and China, where Apples iMessage and Tencents WeChat respectively dominate the messaging app market, WhatsApp is the preferred communication app for the rest of the world. Its no wonder, then, that fans of the app have hoped it would come to Apples iPad since the tablet was introduced in 2010. Today, those hopes have finally been realized. Meta has now released an updated WhatsApp app on Apples App Store that runs natively on both the iPhone and iPad. Based on the App Store listing images, WhatsApp for iPad supports many of the features of WhatsApp for iPhone, including messaging, calls, and app lock. How to get WhatsApp for iPad To get WhatsApp for iPad, go to the App Store on your iPad and search for WhatsApp. Youll now see the app show up in your search results. Simply click on the Get button to download the app (or the cloud download button if you previously downloaded the app to your iPhone). WhatsApp will then install on your iPad, and youll be ready to chat on Apples tablet. You can check out the App Store listing for WhatsApp for iPad here. What has Meta said about WhatsApp for iPad? Surprisingly, Meta has launched WhatsApp for iPad with little fanfare. As of the time of this writing, Meta has not published any announcement that WhatsApp is now available on the iPad. Even the release notes for the latest build of WhatsApp for iPhone dont mention that the app now natively supports the iPad (Meta uses a single binary for the iPhone and iPad versions of the app). The only public comment Meta has given about WhatsApp for iPad was in a post on X yesterday. The official WhatsApp account on X replied with an eye emoji to a comment suggesting that the app should be released on the iPad. https://t.co/RWs0L40cBm— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) May 26, 2025 Regardless of the lack of fanfare from Meta, WhatsApp and iPad fans will be happy that 15 years after Apples tablet debuted, and 16 years after the app debuted, its now usable on the iPad.
Category:
E-Commerce
After six years in the game, Nuuly, the clothing rental service from Urban Outfitters, has done what few thought possible: turned a profit. In an industry full of flashy failures and billion-dollar burns, Nuuly is quietly winning with a strategy that’s shaking up fashion and business.
Category:
E-Commerce
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