Evelyn Reynolds

The U.S. Open’s signature cocktail, called the Honey Deuce, costs 50% more than it did in 2015.
CNBC compared the Honey Deuce’s price gain with the broader basket tracked in the consumer price index, also known as CPI.

The Honey Deuce is the U.S. Open’s most famous cocktail.
Nbc | Nbcuniversal | Getty Images

While inflation rates have cooled in recent years, U.S. Open attendees may still be experiencing the aftertaste as they sip on the tennis championship’s iconic beverage.
The so-called Honey Deuce carries an eye-popping price tag of $23. While the drink costs the same as last year, it has had six price hikes since 2012 — and has outpaced inflation over the past decade.

The vodka-based beverage has become synonymous with the New York City-based event. It’s adorned with honeydew melon chunks that resemble tennis balls and is served in a souvenir glass.
Despite the high cost, the U.S. Open sold more than 550,000 of the cocktail last year, bringing in almost $13 million in revenue, according to NBC New York.
As tennis fans descend on New York for the two-week-long event, CNBC calculated how the Honey Deuce’s price change has fared compared with broader inflation.
Honey Deuce enthusiasts are shelling out around 53% more than they did in 2015, when the beverage cost $15, according to Sportico’s price tracker.

That’s higher than broader inflation as tracked in the consumer price index, or CPI. The CPI, which monitors a broad basket of goods and services, has increased about 36% between August 2015 and July 2025, the last month with data available.

In other words, if the Honey Deuce rose in tandem with overall inflation, it would cost approximately $20.33 today. The U.S. Tennis Association, which operates the facilities where the U.S. Open is held, did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The Honey Deuce’s price has also risen at a faster clip than other alcoholic beverages bought outside of homes in U.S. cities. That average cost is up nearly 34% between August 2015 and July 2025, meaning it has seen slightly lower inflation than the overall CPI basket has.

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The personal consumption expenditures price index showed that core inflation ran at a 2.9% seasonally adjusted annual rate in July, meeting estimates but higher than June.
Consumer spending increased 0.5% on the month, in line with forecasts and indicative of strength despite the higher prices. Personal income accelerated 0.4%.

Inflation edged higher in July, according to the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, indicating that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are working their way through the U.S. economy.
The personal consumption expenditures price index showed that core inflation, which excludes food and energy costs, ran at a 2.9% seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to a Commerce Department report Friday. That was up 0.1 percentage point from the June level and the highest annual rate since February, though in line with the Dow Jones consensus forecast.

On a monthly basis, the core PCE index increased 0.3%, also in line with expectations. The all-items index showed the annual rate at 2.6% and the monthly gain at 0.2%, also hitting the consensus outlook.
The Fed uses the PCE price index as its primary forecasting tool. Though it watches both numbers, policymakers consider core inflation to be a better indicator of longer-term trends as it excludes the volatile gas and groceries figures.
Central bankers target inflation at 2%, so Friday’s report shows the economy still a distance from where the Fed feels comfortable.
Nevertheless, markets expect the Fed to resume lowering its benchmark interest rate when policymakers convene next month. Fed Governor Christopher Waller reiterated his support for a cut in a speech Thursday, saying he would entertain a larger move if labor market data continue weakening.
“The Fed opened the door to rate cuts, but the size of that opening is going to depend on whether labor-market weakness continues to look like a bigger risk than rising inflation,” said Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. “Today’s in-line PCE Price Index will keep the focus on the jobs market. For now, the odds still favor a September cut.”

Trump in April imposed a baseline 10% tariff on all imports and since has leveled so-called reciprocal tariffs on multiple trading partners and slapped duties in individual goods as well. In addition, the White House has scrapped exceptions for goods under $800.
Along with the inflation moves, consumer spending increased 0.5% on the month, in line with forecasts and indicative of strength despite the higher prices. Personal income accelerated 0.4%, rounding out a report that saw all figures hit the consensus outlook.
Stock market futures remained negative after the release while Treasury yields held gains.
Inflation numbers were held in check by a 2.7% annual decline in prices for energy goods and services. Food prices rose 1.9% from a year ago. The balance also tilted heavily toward services prices, which jumped 3.6%, compared with just a 0.5% increase in goods.
On a monthly basis, energy was off 1.1% and food was down 0.1%. Services prices rose 0.3%, essentially accounting for all the monthly increase as goods decreased 0.1%.

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German inflation rose by a higher-than-expected 2.1% in August, preliminary data showed Friday.
The data came on the same day that figures showed unemployed jumped in August.
The inflation hike print comes on the same day as an increase in unemployment rates.
ING’s Carsten Brzeski said the inflation reading weakens the case for the European Central Bank to press ahead with an interest rate cut at its September meeting.

A vendor gives a customer change at stall at a farmers market in Hanau, Germany, on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025.
Alex Kraus | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Increases in unemployment and inflation cast a shadow over the outlook for Europe’s largest economy, which joins the wider EU bloc in bracing for the full impact of newly implemented U.S. tariffs.
German inflation rose by a higher-than-expected 2.1% in August, preliminary data showed Friday, exceeding the 2% expectations of analysts polled by Reuters. Inflation, which is harmonized for comparability across the euro zone, had risen by a cooler-than-expected 1.8% in July.

Germany’s core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, was unchanged from the previous month at 2.7% in August, the country’s statistics office Destatis said.
Yields on German government bonds, known as Bunds, were little changed shortly after the data release, which came on the same day that labor office figures showed the number of unemployed people jumped to 3.025 million in August, to a rate of 6.4%.
The broader euro zone inflation reading, due Tuesday, will offer further insight into the economic impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which have hit various European sectors in recent months.
The U.S. and EU struck a trade agreement in July, including a 15% tariff rate on many EU goods exported to the U.S. Fresh details released earlier this month suggested that this blanket rate will also be applied to some hotly contested sectors like pharmaceuticals — but crucial questions still remain unanswered, leaving businesses on edge.
The tariffs are widely expected to drive prices higher in the U.S., but their effect on costs elsewhere is less clear.

Germany’s highly export-driven economy has long been hovering near the flatline. The country’s gross domestic product expanded by 0.3% in the first quarter, before contracting by 0.3% in the following period, according to the latest data from Destatis.
“It remains to be seen how European and US companies will react to US tariffs. While one scenario could see prices falling in the eurozone due to overcapacity and weaker sales in the US, globally operating companies might try to actually increase prices in Europe in order to offset profit-squeezing in the US,” said Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING, in a note.
“A rather domestic theme will be the cooling of the German labour market, which should take away wage pressures and consequently inflationary pressures,” he added, noting that the inflationary hike in Germany now weakens the case for the European Central Bank to press ahead with an interest rate cut at its September meeting.
The ECB most recently opted to hold its key rate unchanged at 2% during its July meeting. More

Denmark slashed its annual growth forecast to 1.4%, citing expectations of weaker pharmaceutical exports along with a revision to past figures.
Higher U.S. tariffs and a slowdown in the rapid growth of its star pharma company, Novo Nordisk, contributed to the revision, the economy ministry said.
However, it hiked its 2026 growth forecast to 2.1% from 1.4% on hopes for a pick-up in consumption.

The logos of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, maker of the blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss treatments Ozempic and Wegovy is seen outside theri building as the company presents the annual report at Novo Nordisk in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, on February 5, 2025.
Mads Claus Rasmussen | Afp | Getty Images

Denmark on Friday slashed its annual growth forecast to 1.4% from 3%, in large part due to weaker expectations for pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk.
Denmark has recorded strong annual growth in recent years, with its economy expanding 3.7% last year after getting a major boost from pharmaceutical exports.

Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk makes blockbuster weight management drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.
The economy ministry noted that Denmark’s U.S. exports fell significantly in early 2025 after a huge spike in late 2024, due to both inventory build-up and increased competition in the weight loss drug market, which has seen Novo lose market share. Generic medicines are also squeezing its sales opportunities in the U.S., the ministry said.
Pharmaceuticals are now expected to contribute just 1.3 percentage points to Denmark’s goods exports growth this year, down from 8.1 percentage points in 2024. Total goods export growth is projected to fall to 2.7% in 2025 from 10.5% the previous year.
Europe’s pharmaceutical sector has been rocked this year by the threat of sky-high U.S. tariffs, though some certainty has now been provided by the EU-U.S. trade deal.
The Danish economy ministry said U.S. tariffs had weighed on its growth forecast, while a statistical revision showed that real GDP expanded less in 2021-2024 than previously calculated.

“Growth in the first quarter of 2025 has also been weaker than previously expected. Together with the American tariff increases and downwardly adjusted expectations for the pharmaceutical industry, this has given rise to a significant downward adjustment of the estimate for GDP growth in 2025,” it said in a statement, according to Google Translate.

It added that despite the Brussels-Washington trade deal, there remained a “significant degree of unpredictability linked to the U.S. administration’s policy,” which was adding to uncertainty around conditions for Danish exporters, potentially weighing on business investments and activity. Households, meanwhile, remain concerned about global events and high food prices, it said.
The ministry stressed, however, that despite the lower 2025 growth forecast, its economy remains strong overall, with high employment and inflation expected to be below 2% on an annual basis.
It revised its growth forecast for 2026 higher, to 2.1% from 1.4%, on expectations for higher private and public consumption.

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Gross domestic product rose at a 3.3% annualized pace in the April-through-June period, the Commerce Department reported.
The reading was better than the initial 3.0% estimate as well as the 3.1% Dow Jones consensus forecast, as consumer spending helped push the number higher.

A shopper holds Macy’s bags outside the company’s flagship store in the Herald Square neighborhood of New York, July 15, 2025.
Alan Chin | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The U.S. economy grew at a pace that was faster than expected in the second quarter as consumers and businesses held up against tariff volatility.
Gross domestic product rose at a 3.3% annualized pace in the April-through-June period, the Commerce Department reported Thursday in its second estimate for the most encompassing measure of economic activity. The reading was better than an initial 3.0% estimate as well as the 3.1% Dow Jones consensus forecast.

Consumer spending, which rose by 1.6% compared with an initial 1.4% estimate, helped push the number higher.
Importantly, a measure called final sales to private domestic purchasers jumped 1.9%, up from the previous figure of 1.2%. Federal Reserve officials watch that metric closely as an indication of demand and sales that focuses on activity within U.S. borders, an especially important measure considering the uncertain impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The GDP number also reflected the unusual impact of the tariffs as they related to trade numbers.
Imports, which subtract from GDP, tumbled 29.8% in the quarter after companies stockpiled ahead of Trump’s April 2 “liberation day” announcement. The figure was a bit less than the previous estimate of 30.3%.
At the same time, exports, which add to GDP, fell by 1.3%, compared with the previous estimate of -1.8%. Taking the figures together, net exports added nearly 5 percentage points to the Q2 total.

For the first half of the year, GDP has grown about 2.1%, or an average of a little more than 1% per quarter. The economy contracted 0.5% in the first quarter, largely due to the impact of the import rush.
“The good news is consumption came in higher than previously thought. Americans are continuing to spend despite the tariffs and uncertainty, albeit at a slower pace than past years,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “Going forward, the economy is likely to stay in this slower speed mode with spending and growth around 1.5% as the tariffs become more visible to American consumers.”
With the first months’ data mostly in the books, the economy is growing at a 2.2% pace in the third quarter, according to the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow measure.
Inflation-related estimates were little changed from the initial reading. Core personal consumption expenditures prices, which exclude the volatile food and energy categories, rose 2.5%, unchanged from the prior figure, while the headline PCE price index edged lower to 2%, in line with the Fed’s inflation goal. More

President Donald Trump announced late Monday he was firing Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook.
Here’s what you need to know.

Lisa Cook, governor of the US Federal Reserve, and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Ting Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images | Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

President Donald Trump sent shockwaves through global markets Monday night by saying he would fire Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook.
Trump’s decision not only put investors and economists on alert, but brought attention to the complicated innerworkings of the U.S. central bank. It also marks the latest escalation of Trump’s monthslong pressure campaign against the Fed, historically politically independent, to lower interest rates.

Here are the key facts to know:
Why do we follow the Federal Reserve?
The Federal Reserve manages monetary policy for the United States. Its dual mandate, set out in a 1977 act of Congress that amended the Federal Reserve Act, is to maximize full employment and ensure stable prices. Because the U.S. is home to the world’s largest economy, the 111-year-old central bank also helps set the economic tone for all other developed as well as emerging markets. The Fed also supervises and regulates banks and their financial activities through a series of examinations, stress testing and corrective actions, and attempts to identify and mitigate systemic risks.
A 12-person group within the Fed called the Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, sets the key overnight borrowing rate, currently set at 4.25% to 4.50%. The fed funds rate is the target interest rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans to meet their reserve requirements, and helps set the cost of home mortgages, car loans and credit card debt. The FOMC holds regularly scheduled meetings at least eight times a year.
Who is Lisa Cook?
Cook, the first African-American woman to sit on the Fed, has served as governor since 2022, according to her bank biography. Reappointed the following year, her 15-year term is due to expire in 2038.
Before joining the Fed, Cook was a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University. A holder of a PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, Cook was previously director of the American Economic Association Summer Training Program, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, on the faculty of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a national fellow at Stanford University.

From 2011 to 2012, Dr. Cook served as senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama.
What is a Fed governor?
The Fed’s Board of Governors consists of seven members who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The governors are considered the core of the institution and are permanent members of the closely-watched FOMC. The other five voting members of the FOMC consist of the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a permanent member, and a rotating cast of four Reserve Bank presidents.
Why is Trump firing her? Has she responded?
In a social media post, Trump cited allegations that Cook made false statements on mortgage applications. Cook responded by saying he did not have the authority to fire her and that she would sue.
The Fed said in an official statement on Tuesday afternoon that it would abide by any court decision governing the legality of Cook’s firing. Although the president can fire a Fed governor “for cause,” the law doesn’t exactly define what that means. The case is expected to wind up before the Supreme Court.
Is there a secondary motive?
While Trump cited the mortgage issue, the move to fire Cook also comes amid his push for the Fed its key borrowing rate. Earlier this summer, Trump floated the idea of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who he has repeatedly blamed for keeping rates unchanged since late last year.
Trump may get his wish: Fed funds futures are pricing in a more than 89% likelihood that the central bank cuts rates at its next policy gathering in September, according to the CME FedWatch tool. That market assessment, however, is based more on a weak July labor report and downward revisions to job growth in May and June, rather than political pressure from the White House.
What has the market reaction been?
Following a trend in place since Trump resumed office in January, investors largely shook off any immediate concern that politics would intrude on monetary policy. Stocks rose on Tuesday.
But signs of concern showed up in other areas. An index tracking the U.S. dollar against a basket of foreign currencies slid on Tuesday as investors looked to international alternatives. Gold — traditionally regarded as a safe store of value in times of rising inflation — rose in reaction to the White House move.
What’s the dispute mean for Main Street?
Everyday Americans won’t feel immediate impacts from Trump’s decision on Cook. But it could have longer-term ramifications for economic policy.
If Trump is able to remove Cook, it would create an opening to appoint an FOMC governor likely to vote in favor of lower interest rates. More

Jobs are disappearing across the German industry, an EY report showed.
The German auto industry has been especially impacted.
U.S. trade policy, Chinese competition and demand, and a sluggish domestic economy have been weighing on Germany’s auto sector.

A general view of production lines at the Mercedes-Benz assembly plant on June 4, 2025 in Rastatt, Germany.
Florian Wiegand | Getty Images News | Getty Images

A perfect storm of industry and economic challenges have weighed on Germany’s autos sector, which has shed tens of thousands of jobs over a one-year stretch to the end of June.
Over that period, Germany’s autos industry, one of the European country’s largest sectors, has seen job cuts of close to 7% of the workforce, or around 51,500 positions, according to new analysis from EY based on data from the German statistics office Destatis.

Overall job losses across the German industry amounted to around 114,000 in the 12 months to June 30 this year, the study noted. The figures suggest almost half the cuts were incurred by the autos sector.
“No other industrial sector has recorded such a strong reduction in employment,” the report said, according to a CNBC translation. The study flagged that 112,000 jobs have been cut in the autos sector, compared to the 2019 period preceding the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jan Brorhilker, managing partner of the assurance division at EY in Germany, said in a press release that the job reductions came in a response to the difficult situation of the German auto industry.
“Massive profit declines, overcapacities, and ailing foreign markets make a marked reduction of jobs impossible to avoid,” he said, according to a CNBC translation.
EY’s report also noted that revenues in the sector pulled back 1.6% in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in the previous year. German auto giant Volkswagen, for one, reported a sharp drop in second-quarter profit and lowered its full-year guidance.

The decline in the auto sector is notably a smaller drop than the 2.1% loss in revenues that the overall German industry is facing.

Mounting struggles

Germany’s auto industry has long battled a multitude of challenges, such as stark Chinese competition on costs and innovation, as well as difficulties to gain ground in the electric vehicle race, which some auto makers and analysts have attributed to federal government bureaucracy and regulation.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policy has added to concerns. Germany, and especially its autos sector, are heavily export oriented and count the U.S. as one of their biggest markets, where the ‘Made in Germany’ label has historically been seen as a sign of quality.

Auto giants forced to confront some hard truths in the age of ‘polycrisis’

Recent data from Destatis showed that auto and auto part exports to the U.S. declined by 8.6% in the first half of 2025, compared to the same period last year. Auto makers have also repeatedly warned of the potential impact of tariffs and surrounding uncertainty.
The industry may enjoy some relief after details of the U.S-EU trade agreement emerged earlier this months. Autos will be subject to 15% duties, but only after the EU makes legislation changes to reduce its industrial levies.
The state of Germany’s overall economy has also been a headwind for the autos sector, with the country’s annual gross domestic product declining in both 2023 and 2024. This year also appears to be off to a slow start: after Europe’s largest economy recorded 0.3% growth in the first quarter, the latest figures for the second quarter indicated a 0.3% decline.
Looking ahead, EY’s Brorhilker says he expects German auto exports to both the U.S. and China to stay under pressure, with the former being impacted by tariffs and the latter by weakening demand, which is also a domestic issue.
As various German industrial giants are currently undergoing restructuring or cost reduction programs, “the number of industry jobs will keep falling,” Brorhilker said. More