For decades America’s soft power put the wind in the sails of its companies as they ventured abroad. When the Berlin Wall fell, Coca-Cola sent lorries emblazoned with its logo into East Berlin, handing out free drinks to the amassing crowds. Sales soon soared, as consumers in the former communist state chugged enthusiastically on the sugary icon of American capitalism. More
For decades America’s soft power put the wind in the sails of its companies as they ventured abroad. When the Berlin Wall fell, Coca-Cola sent lorries emblazoned with its logo into East Berlin to hand out free drinks. Sales soared as consumers in the former communist state chugged enthusiastically on the sugary icon of American capitalism. More
Climate-driven foreclosures could result in $1.21 billion in bank losses this year, or 6.7% of all foreclosure credit losses, according to a new report.
If lenders start factoring climate into their underwriting, then a consumer’s credit score could fall or even rise depending on the risk to their property.
The annual costs of climate-related disasters have jumped 1,580% over the last four decades.
A real estate sign stands in front of a burnt property, following the Palisades Fire at the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, U.S. Jan. 13, 2025.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Anyone shopping for a mortgage knows how far into your finances lenders like to dive in order to determine your credit-worthiness. But here’s a new factor: climate change.
Given how quickly climate disasters are increasing, both in frequency and in resulting costs, lenders are paying far more attention now to how those costs could hit them. Insurers are also struggling to keep up and more often pulling out of the most risk-prone areas, making the losses even steeper. Add to that, FEMA is in a state of flux under the Trump administration, with both cuts to staff and potential disaster funding.
Climate has therefore become an increasingly important consideration in assessing credit score risk, right along with a consumer’s debt, income and collateral in the home, according to a new report from First Street, a climate risk assessment firm. The risks includes flood, wildfire and wind.
In a severe-weather year, projected annualized climate-driven foreclosures could result in $1.21 billion in bank losses this year, or 6.7% of all foreclosure credit losses, according to the report. Just 10 years from now, as weather events grow more frequent and more destructive, those credit losses could increase to $5.36 billion, representing nearly 30% of foreclosure losses.
If lenders start factoring climate into their underwriting, then a consumer’s credit score could fall or even rise depending on the risk to their property. The former would result in higher borrowing costs. The study notes that lender losses today are primarily in just three states: California, Florida and Louisiana.
“Mortgage markets are now on the front lines of climate risk,” said Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications at First Street. “Our modeling demonstrates that physical hazards are already eroding foundational assumptions of loan underwriting, property valuation, and credit servicing—introducing systemic financial risk.”
An aerial view of a flooded residential neighborhood street after localized heavy rain on December 18, 2024 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
When a property is flooded in an extreme weather event, it has a higher foreclosure rate than its unflooded neighbors. That historically translates to an average 40% surge in post-flood foreclosures among damaged homes, according to the report.
Consumers in high-risk areas, like the Florida coasts, are already seeing huge jumps in insurance premiums due to recent storms. The First Street report was able to link those increases to a rise in foreclosures. Some homeowners simply can’t afford the increases and are walking away, again, leaving lenders on the hook.
Some lenders may require flood insurance on homes that are in government-designated flood plains, but overall lenders do not factor the effects of future climate change into their underwriting models. Fannie Mae, which is not a lender but funds much of the mortgage market, was looking at doing this two years ago, but has yet to announce any changes.
The annual costs of climate-related disasters have jumped 1,580% over the last four decades, according to the First Street report, which looked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s billion-dollar weather and climate disaster database. That resource will no longer be updated, due to staffing cuts by the Trump administration.
The increase in cost is due not only to greater storm severity, but also to inflation, as well as higher populations and more real estate development in riskier areas. Americans love the coasts and, in most areas, are increasingly paying a premium to live there.
But the jump in those climate-related costs, and the consequent risk, is affecting households, financial institutions and investment portfolios alike.
“There is a significant amount of credit loss risk related to climate that is currently hidden from traditional credit loss models. This reports the systemic effect weather disasters are having in the mortgage market from both direct damages, but also indirect impacts like increasing insurance costs,” Porter added. More
People who enjoy public speaking are luckier than they realise. A much-publicised survey from the 1970s claimed that Americans feared it more than death. In 2012, Karen Dwyer and Marlina Davidson of the University of Nebraska Omaha published a paper that tried to replicate the result. They found that things were less dramatic than that—but not by much. More
Bath & Body Works has named Daniel Heaf as its new CEO, effectively immediately, replacing Gina Boswell.
Heaf was most recently Nike’s chief transformation and strategy officer until his role was eliminated by the sneaker giant’s new CEO Elliott Hill.
Bath & Body Works wants to resonate more with tweens and capture even more men. The company also wants to expand its international reach.
Customers shop at a Bath & Body Works store in Hayward, California, on June 12, 2024.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Bath & Body Works has a new chief executive officer, its second in less than 3 years.
The personal care, home and beauty retailer has named Daniel Heaf as its new CEO, effectively immediately, replacing Gina Boswell. Heaf was most recently Nike’s chief strategy and transformation officer until his role was eliminated by the sneaker giant’s new CEO Elliott Hill.
Boswell joined Bath & Body Works as CEO in December 2022 from consumer products giant Unilever. In March, Bath & Body Works disclosed Boswell would undergo surgery and take a leave of absence lasting a period of “several weeks.”
Heaf will be introduced to the company at headquarters Monday and met with top executives Sunday, fresh off the plane. Heaf moved to Columbus, Ohio — near the company’s headquarters — just this weekend, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss non-public details.
Boswell led Bath & Body Works in the post-pandemic era, returning the company known for its scented soaps and lotions to profitable revenue growth. The retailer is uniquely positioned in today’s trading environment as the vast majority of its supply chain is in North America, reducing its exposure to President Donald Trump’s broad tariffs.
Still, the retailer is looking for “acceleration,” according to the person familiar, specifically aiming to resonate more with tweens and capture even more men. The company also wants to expand its international reach.
Prior to his role as chief transformation and strategy officer at Nike, Heaf was the former head of Nike Direct where he oversaw 45,000 employees and 9,000 stores in 41 countries. He also previously led Burberry’s digital transformation.
In connection with the new CEO announcement, Bath & Body Works on Monday preannounced first-quarter results. Both revenue and profit surpassed the company’s estimates.
Revenue grew 3% year over year to $1.42 billion. Earnings per share of 49 cents topped the year-ago 38 cents and exceeded Bath and Body Works’ guidance. The retailer is reaffirming its previous full-year guidance assuming a 10% tariff on goods from China but excluding any other tariff changes.
Chinese imports are currently subject to 30% tariffs. More
The Justice Department and Boeing could strike a deal that would avoid the company entering a guilty plea or prosecution.
Boeing previously agreed to plead guilty to criminal fraud last year after the Biden Justice Department found the aerospace giant violated a 2021 agreement.
A judge rejected that deal, opening the possibility that the plane maker could face trial.
A grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft at Los Angeles International Airport.
Eric Thayer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Justice Department and Boeing are close to a deal that would allow the aerospace giant to avoid pleading guilty or a trial in a criminal case related to two deadly crashes of its 737 Max passenger jet, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.
Boeing agreed to plead guilty in the case last summer in a deal with the Justice Department after the Biden administration found earlier that year that the company violated a 2021 agreement tied to the crashes. A judge rejected that plea deal last year, citing concerns about diversity, equity and inclusion, and opened the possibility that Boeing could face trial.
The fraud charge stems from Boeing’s development of the 737 Max. The U.S. had accused Boeing of misleading regulators about its inclusion of a flight-control system on the Max that was later implicated in the two crashes.
Boeing Co. 737 Max fuselages at the company’s manufacturing facility in Renton, Washington, US, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A final, nonprosecution agreement hasn’t been reached yet, said the person, who was speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations.
The Justice Department didn’t immediately comment, and Boeing declined to comment on the matter.
Under the new agreement, Boeing could pay family members of victims of the two Max crashes. In total, the two crashes of the bestselling Boeing jet killed all 346 people on board the planes.
Read more CNBC airline news
The new tentative agreement, which was reported earlier Friday by Reuters, would mean Boeing wouldn’t be labeled a felon. That label could have come with restrictions on defense contractor work.
Boeing is the country’s biggest exporter and, in addition to making commercial jetliners, it’s a major defense contractor. The Trump administration recently awarded the company a multibillion-dollar contract to build a next-generation fighter jet.
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President Donald Trump wants automakers to build more vehicles in the U.S. with American parts, but it’s not as easy as it might seem.
Even cars and trucks that are assembled from frame to completion in the U.S. rely on foreign parts and materials.
The closer an automaker gets to a 100% “Made in the USA” vehicle, the more costs rise, industry experts say.
A 2025 Ford Expedition with bronze trim on April 30, 2025 at the automaker’s Kentucky Truck Plant.
Michael Wayland | CNBC
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A white 2025 Ford Expedition SUV with bronze exterior trim rolls off the assembly line at Ford Motor’s Kentucky Truck Plant. It was assembled — from its frame to completion — by American workers at the factory. But it’s far from being completely “Made in the USA.”
A majority of its main parts — at least 58% as stated on a window sticker — were made outside of the country, including 22% from Mexico. That includes its Ford-engineered, 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 Ecoboost engine, the heart of the vehicle.
The popular large SUV is a prime example of how complicated the global automotive supply chain is, and underscores the reality that even vehicles rolling off U.S. assembly lines from quintessentially American companies such as Ford can rely heavily on non-domestic content.
The massive Kentucky assembly plant that has more than 9,000 people building the Expedition, F-Series pickup trucks and Lincoln Navigator SUV is exactly the kind of facility President Donald Trump is pressuring automakers to build in the U.S. through his use of aggressive tariffs.
After Trump put 25% tariffs on imported vehicles and many automotive parts, automakers started scrambling to tout U.S. investments and localize supply chains as much as possible. But while the country would benefit from jobs and economic output if all auto parts were sourced and manufactured in the U.S., experts say it’s just not feasible.
“Some parts that have been offshored will still be cheaper to manufacture in those locations rather than the USA at scale even with some of the imposed tariffs,” said Martin French, a longtime supplier executive and partner at Berylls Strategy Advisors USA.
Processing and production plants for things such as steel, aluminum and semiconductor chips, especially older ones used for autos, as well as raw materials like platinum and palladium, aren’t prevalent enough in the U.S. without establishing new plants or mines. Those are processes experts say would take a decade or more to create in scale.
On top of that, the increased costs of a 100% U.S.-made vehicle could price many consumers out of the new vehicle market. That could in turn lead to less demand and likely lower production.
“We can move everything to the U.S., but if every Ford is $50,000, we’re not going to win as a company,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said last week on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “That’s a balancing act that every [automaker] will have to do, even the most American company.”
Farley said 15% to 20% of commoditized vehicle parts are difficult, if not impossible, to currently source in the U.S. That includes things such as small fasteners, labor-intensive wiring harnesses and almost $5,000 in semiconductors per vehicle, which are currently sourced largely from Asia.
S&P Global Mobility reports there are on average 20,000 parts in a vehicle when it’s torn down to its nuts and bolts. Parts may originate in anywhere from 50 to 120 countries.
For example, the Ford F-150, which shares a platform and some parts with the Expedition, is exclusively assembled in the U.S. but has roughly 2,700 main billable parts, which exclude many small pieces, according to Caresoft, an engineering benchmarking and consulting firm.
The Trump administration could ease higher prices for an American-made vehicle by offering tax breaks or consumer incentives, much like the up to $7,500 electric vehicle credit Trump previously promised to eliminate.
But the costs of a 100% American-made vehicle are far greater and more complex than they might seem at first blush. It’s even hard to track what comes from the U.S., as automakers are required to report a combined percentage of Canadian and U.S. content in a vehicle, not just U.S. content.
The material costs alone, excluding manufacturing investments, would add thousands of dollars to a vehicle’s price point, which would wipe out profits for automakers and force price increases for consumers, a handful of automotive analysts and executives told CNBC.
The people, who were given anonymity to speak freely, estimated it would add thousands of dollars with each step you took to get closer to 100% U.S. and Canadian parts.
100% U.S.-made vehicle
Mark Wakefield, a partner and global automotive market lead at consulting firm AlixPartners, said nothing’s necessarily impossible with time, but the investment needed for U.S. and Canadian sourcing and added costs would increase exponentially the closer a company came to a 100% “Made in the USA” vehicle.
“The cost gets quantumly more the higher the closer you get to 100%,” Wakefield said. “Getting above 90% gets expensive, and getting about 95% would get really expensive, and you just start getting into things that you’d have to a take a long time [to do].”
A worker at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant on April 30, 2025.
Michael Wayland | CNBC
To get that last 5% to 10%, if, or when, you could, Wakefield said, it would start “getting really expensive” and likely take a decade or more to set up raw material sourcing and reshore production of some parts.
“I don’t think you could do it more than about 95% on average, at any cost at the moment, just because you need to build a lot of stuff that’s going to take a long time,” he said. “The processing and the raw material stuff, it takes a really long time, because those are multibillion dollar facilities that process it.”
Two executives with auto suppliers told CNBC it would be “unrealistic,” if not impossible, for a company to profitably build a 100% U.S.-made vehicle at this time. Another executive at an automaker estimated the average cost increase for an American-assembled U.S. full-size pickup would jump at least $7,000 to source as many components as currently possible from the U.S. and Canada.
One expert, generalizing the costs, said it could cost $5,000 more to get a vehicle that’s under 70% U.S./Canadian parts to 75% or 80%; another $5,000 to $10,000 to hit 90%; and thousands more to a higher percentage than that.
Using that as a basis, the average transaction price of a new vehicle in the U.S. is currently around $48,000, according to Cox Automotive. Say that vehicle is made up of $30,000 in materials and parts. Adding the above costs would come out to roughly $10,000 to $20,000 more for companies.
Cars.com reports the U.S. is by far the most expensive country to manufacture a vehicle in. The average new-car price of a U.S.-assembled vehicle is more than $53,200, according to its data. That compares with roughly $40,700 in Mexico, $46,148 in Canada and roughly $51,000 in China.
Excluding raw materials, someone could theoretically start a new car company — let’s call it U.S. Motors — from scratch. U.S. Motors could spend billions of dollars to build new factories and establish an exclusively American supply chain, but the vehicle it would produce would likely be low-volume and excessively expensive, experts say.
Think of Ferrari: Every car from the iconic automaker comes from Italy, with as many components as possible sourced from the company’s homeland.
But even Ferrari’s multimillion-dollar sports cars have parts or raw materials for things such as airbags, brakes, tires, batteries and more that come from non-Italian suppliers and facilities.
“If you did it at really low volume and you’re extremely innovative and different with the vehicle, you could make $300,000-$400,000 vehicles that are all-American,” Wakefield said. “To do it at scale, it would be 10-15 [years] and $100 billion to do that.”
What’s more realistic?
Getting vehicles to 75% U.S. and Canadian parts and final assembly in the America is a far more achievable target that “doesn’t really force you to do uneconomic things,” Wakefield said, noting that a few vehicles meet that standard today.
But even reaching that threshold on a larger scale would likely take billions of dollars in new investments from automakers and suppliers to localize production. Some automakers could make the move more easily, while others would require massive shifts in sourcing and production.
Vehicles that meet the 75% U.S./Canada parts standard for the 2025 model year include the Kia EV6, two versions of the Tesla Model 3 and the Honda Ridgeline AWD Trail Sport, according to the latest vehicle content data required by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nearly 20 others are at 70% or higher, while some vehicles still need to be added to the data.
That compares to 2007 model-year NHTSA data, where the top 16 vehicles — all from GM and Ford — had 90% or more U.S. and Canadian content. Ford’s Expedition at that time was among the highest at 95%, but that was before the expanded globalization of the auto industry supply chain after the Great Recession — and before several major technological advances in cars made new parts and materials more important.
For decades, there has been a trend for less U.S./Canadian content because of the globalization of supply chains and the increase in the use of Mexico as a source of parts and components, according to American University’s Kogod School of Business.
Imported vehicles from many luxury brands, specifically German manufacturers as well as Toyota’s Lexus, feature little U.S.-sourced content. Many have none or 1%, according to the federal data.
The U.S./Canada percentages, under the American Automobile Labeling Act of 1992, are calculated on a “carline” basis rather than for each individual vehicle and may be rounded to the nearest 5%. They are calculated by automakers and reported to the government.
However, a high threshold of North American parts also doesn’t mean the vehicles are produced in the U.S. The 2024 Toyota RAV4, for example, was reported to have 70% U.S./Canadian parts and is built in Canada.
“You could have a vehicle, theoretically, that is made in the U.S., but only has 1% parts, content,” said Patrick Masterson, a lead researcher for Cars.com’s “American-Made Index.”
Read more CNBC auto news
Cars.com’s annual index of the top U.S. vehicles takes vehicle assembly, parts and other factors into account. No vehicles from Ford or General Motors made the top 10, while two Teslas, two Hondas and a Volkswagen took the top five spots.
The study ranks 100 vehicles judged through the same five criteria it’s used since the 2020 edition: assembly location, parts content, engine origin, transmission origin and U.S. manufacturing workforce. More than 400 vehicles of model-year 2024 vintage were analyzed to qualify the 100 vehicles on the list.
The white 2025 Ford Expedition that recently rolled off the assembly line in Kentucky is expected to score higher than the prior model year, which ranked 78th, because of an increase in domestic content.
Masterson said there’s been increased interest and popularity for the “American-Made Index” this year amid Trump’s tariff policies and nationalism.
“Traffic on the ‘American-Made Index’ this year is way, way up. … People are concerned about this, perhaps more than ever,” Masterson said, later adding “it would be extremely difficult to make a 100% U.S.-made [vehicle].” More
Charter Communications and Cox Communications, two of the largest cable companies in the U.S., have entered into an agreement to merge.
The deal values Cox at $34.5 billion on an enterprise basis, in line with Charter’s recent enterprise value, according to a news release.
Charter’s Spectrum, the brand on its cable, broadband, mobile and other services, will become the consumer-facing brand across all customers.
Charter Communications and Cox Communications, two of the largest cable companies in the U.S., have agreed to merge.
The deal would be one of the largest in the industry – and across corporate America – in the last year.
The agreement values Cox at $34.5 billion on an enterprise basis – comprised of $21.9 billion of equity and $12.6 billion of net debt and other obligations – in line with Charter’s recent enterprise value based on 2025 estimated adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization multiple, according to a Friday news release.
Charter, the second-largest publicly traded cable company behind Comcast, was up roughly 8% in premarket trading from its previous close of $419.57. Still privately run by the Cox family, Cox is among the biggest cable providers, too.
The broadband industry has been contending with heated competition from wireless competitors in recent years as there’s been a rise in alternate home internet options like 5G, or so-called fixed wireless. This follows the continued loss of customers from the traditional cable TV bundle.
Charter had 30 million broadband customers at the end of the first quarter, a decline of 60,000 from the prior period. It had about 12.7 million cable TV customers, with 181,000 losses during the quarter.
Cable companies have begun to lean on their mobile businesses to retain customers, and Charter has been aggressive in its pricing and bundling of mobile lines. Charter said it had 10.5 million mobile lines as of the first quarter after reporting another quarter of growth.
The company provides its services in 41 states, and is available to more than 57 million homes and businesses. As of March 31, Charter said it had a total of 31.4 million customer relationships.
Christopher L. Winfrey, CEO of Charter Communications.
Courtesy: Charter Communications
Cox Communications — a division of Cox Enterprises — counts itself as the largest privately held broadband company in the U.S., and has approximately 6.5 million total residential and commercial customers, per its website.
The company’s services are available to 7 million homes across 18 states, and it said it had $12.6 billion in total revenue as of 2020. Cox began offering mobile in 2023.
Upon closing of the merger, Cox Enterprises will own roughly 23% of the combined company’s fully diluted shares outstanding, according to the release.
The transaction will see the combined company change its name to Cox Communications within a year after the deal closes. Charter’s Spectrum, the brand on its cable, broadband, mobile and other services, will become the consumer-facing brand across all customers.
The combined company will take on Charter’s current headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, although it will keep a significant presence in Cox’s home base in Atlanta after the closing.
Charter CEO Chris Winfrey will remain at the helm as president and CEO following the close of the deal. Meanwhile Alex Taylor, chairman and CEO of Cox Enterprises, will become chairman of the combined company’s board. Another Cox executive will join the board, and the Cox family will have the right to retain two board members.
The merger with Cox comes months after Charter announced it would acquire Liberty Broadband in an all-stock deal that simplifies cable pioneer John Malone’s portfolio. In February, Charter and Liberty Broadband stockholders approved the proposed deal.
Charter expects there to be about $500 million in annualized cost synergies within three years of closing, according to the release.
The merger agreement with Cox is expected to close at the same time as the Liberty Broadband merger, the companies said Friday.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of CNBC.
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