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Across the U.S. and Canada, the pool of tech workers with AI skills grew by more than 50% from mid-2024 to mid-2025 to 517,000 workers, according to a CBRE analysis of LinkedIn data.
That talent is concentrated most in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Seattle, Toronto and Washington, D.C.
The in-migration of talent to these tech markets has a sizable impact on residential real estate, according to the CBRE report, which shows that apartment rents have increased in all of the top AI tech markets. 

Pete Lomchid | Moment | Getty Images

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AI is impacting everything, so it should come as no surprise that demand for AI-specific tech talent in certain cities is fueling real estate demand in office, residential and even retail. 

Across the U.S. and Canada, the pool of tech workers with AI skills grew by more than 50% from mid-2024 to mid-2025 to 517,000 workers, according to a CBRE analysis of LinkedIn data. That talent is concentrated most in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Seattle, Toronto and Washington, D.C. The top three account for 35% of the national total. 
Looking just at growth, the New York metropolitan area added the most AI tech talent over the past year by absolute numbers (with 20,000 new AI-skilled workers). Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Toronto and Washington, D.C., each saw 75% year-over-year gains in these workers — or more. 
Not all of this growth is new jobs but some is new skills, as tech workers upskilled their capabilities to perform AI-related tasks and systems development. Some, though, entered the workforce with those skills. 

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“With this AI revolution, it’s been a fundamental game changer for the city of San Francisco, because that’s really ground zero for the AI revolution and where most of these major high-profile firms like OpenAI are located,” said Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBRE’s Tech Insights Center.
Silicon Valley was, of course, the initial heart of the tech sector, but AI appears to have longer limbs, reaching into cities and sectors where basic tech is now retreating. Part of that is because AI tech talent is now in high demand by the so-called FIRE group – financial services, insurance and real estate. That’s why Manhattan is seeing so much more office and apartment rental demand.

Financial services companies are having to up their game because fintech companies are becoming far more competitive in the market, thanks to AI. While the overall tech industry has cut back, financial services have been some of the top hirers of AI talent. 
Unlike some other types of tech, which has gone more remote, AI is still in its early innovation stages. That has a direct impact on how tech talent operates. In the first half of 2025, tech companies accounted for 17% of total U.S. office leasing activity, up from 10% in late 2022. 
Just in the city of San Francisco alone, over the last 2½ years, 1 out of every 4 square feet of office space was leased by an AI company, according to CBRE.
“AI is predominantly in-office work, and they’re sort of back to the earlier days of tech innovation, where they’re in the office five, six days a week and for long hours,” said Yasukochi. “That’s certainly boosted office space demand.”
The in-migration of talent to these tech markets also has a sizable impact on residential real estate, according to the CBRE report, which shows that apartment rents have increased in all of the top AI tech markets. 
The apartment rent growth from 2021 to 2024 in Manhattan was more than14%, in D.C. more than12%, in Seattle above 7% and in San Francisco nearly 6%.
Part of that is because tech salaries in AI can cover the cost of rents in most of the highest cost markets, which CBRE bases on the affordability standard of 30% of income to housing.
In Manhattan, where apartment rents are highest, tech worker salaries are such that workers are paying just 29% of their wages on rent. In the San Francisco Bay Area and in D.C. it’s as low as 19%.
“This idea that AI is obviously the future of technology, that it’s just kind of getting started, it’s still relatively early days – it’s another potential tech boom, and that’s driving people to come to cities where this is happening, and that’s affecting the real estate markets,” said Yasukochi.  More

Starbucks named Brian Niccol as its new CEO one year ago.
While the coffee chain’s same-store sales are still shrinking, Niccol has said the turnaround is ahead of schedule.
However, the comeback is taking longer than many investors anticipated.

After two decades going to Starbucks every day at 4:30 a.m., longtime customer Tony Dennis abandoned the company last year.
“I was frustrated,” he told CNBC.

The customer experience he used to love had disappeared. Baristas didn’t engage with him, despite his daily visits. At the same time, the cost of his double-shot tall nonfat lattes and double-shot tall nonfat cappuccinos kept climbing.
The 65-year-old Las Vegas real estate developer wasn’t the only Starbucks customer who no longer felt the same loyalty. Following a drift of customers away from the chain and two disastrous earnings reports, Starbucks’ board ousted then-CEO Laxman Narasimhan and poached Brian Niccol from Chipotle, where he led a turnaround after the burrito chain’s foodborne illness scandal.
Tuesday marks Niccol’s one-year anniversary at the coffee giant, and reviews of his push to revamp the chain are mixed. Same-store sales and traffic are still shrinking as customers choose to caffeinate at home or switch to newer competitors, like Dutch Bros. or 7 Brew.
Some of Niccol’s changes have rankled customers and baristas. And investors are realizing that a comeback might take longer than they initially predicted. The stock has fallen 7% since Niccol took the reins.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of excitement when he comes in, he’s going to make a lot of immediate changes. But I think the reality is that this doesn’t happen overnight,” said Logan Reich, RBC Capital Markets analyst.

Brian Niccol, CEO of Starbucks, speaking with CNBC on Oct. 31st, 2024. 

From his first week at the helm of the company, Niccol pledged to bring the coffee giant “back to Starbucks,” returning to its roots as a so-called third place to reverse the chain’s troubling sales declines. Wall Street liked his plans and his resume, which included leading Yum Brands’ Taco Bell and presiding over a successful turnaround at Chipotle. Former CEO Howard Schultz, who turned Starbucks into a global coffee giant, gave his blessing for the hiring and has supported his turnaround strategy.
While the effort has not gone as smoothly as Niccol’s champions would have expected, there are still promising signs. The company posted its best-ever U.S. sales week for company-owned locations when the pumpkin spice latte and other fall drinks returned to menus last month. Starbucks is accelerating its rollout of its “Green Apron Service” program designed to improve hospitality, citing improved sales at test locations.
Niccol himself has said the turnaround is ahead of schedule.
“What we’re really excited about is we’re seeing both non-Rewards customers come back in a big way, as well as Rewards customers. That is, to me, the sign that we’re doing the right things, both in the store and outside of the store,” Niccol told CNBC’s Kate Rogers in an interview that aired on Tuesday.

Back to Starbucks?

Signage at a Starbucks coffee shop in New York, US, on Monday, July 28, 2025.
Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images

For Starbucks’ new era, Niccol turned back to the coffee chain’s early days.
Under Niccol’s leadership, the early stages of the turnaround plan came together quickly. He said he spent several weeks talking with customers and employees before stepping into the role, which shaped his early ideas about how to fix the company and bring it back to its former glory.
He named reviving the U.S. business as his initial priority. To draw customers back, its marketing would focus on coffee. Orders would be ready in four minutes or less. The drink pickup stations would no longer be chaotic.
Its stores — now internally called “coffeehouses” — are becoming cozier and more welcoming to customers who wanted to linger. Familiar touches, like the condiment bar, have reappeared. Unpopular menu items, like the Royal English Breakfast Latte and the White Hot Chocolate, have disappeared.
Some customers are already coming back.
Dennis saw the changes at his local Starbucks taking hold in real time over the last six-to-nine months. A temporary defection to Dunkin’ didn’t stick. He prefers to drink his coffee inside a cafe, lingering for an hour or two to get started on his workday and chat with other regulars.
“What drove me back is that the alternatives are no better, and I’ve seen the changes — there’s an engagement, there’s a commitment to the customer experience again, to create a place for people to hang and have fun and be social,” Dennis said.
But not all of Niccol’s changes have been well received.
Take his mandate that baristas would start writing messages with Sharpies on drink cups again. The practice dates to the analog days, when baristas needed to write customers’ names manually to differentiate orders. But by 2016, stickers replaced handwriting as mobile ordering grew more popular, and the practice completely disappeared in 2020 with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s going to give [baristas] the opportunity to put that additional human touch on every coffee experience as well,” Niccol said on the company’s earnings conference call in late October, announcing the change.
But the Sharpie messages can make baristas’ jobs a little bit more difficult, particularly if their location is understaffed.
“If we’re in a rush, and we only have two people working, we are still expected to write on every single cup,” said Sabina Aguirre, a Starbucks barista in Columbus, Ohio, who helped her store unionize in May. “And if my manager notices a single cup that doesn’t have writing on it, that will immediately become a ‘coaching moment.'”
As a customer, Dennis said that he appreciates the personal touch, even if it is a “goofy thing.”
“I thought it was kind of affected and not authentic … but I’ve lived with it for a few months, and it may take them another 30 seconds to deliver my coffee, but I like the tone that it sets that ‘we’re a customer-obsessed organization,'” he said.

New executives and union talks

A barista pours frothed milk into a drink inside a Starbucks Corp. coffee shop in New York.
Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Niccol’s new strategy also brought changes to the company’s workforce.
It started with the top ranks, as Michael Conway, CEO of the company’s North American business, left after being in the job for under a year. So did Sara Trilling, president of the North American business, and Arthur Valdez, the company’s chief supply officer. Mellody Hobson, who had served as chair of the board before handing off the title to Niccol, stepped down from her seat after nearly two decades with the company.
Niccol filled the C-suite with many past colleagues from Taco Bell, like Meredith Sandland, who serves as Starbucks’ chief store development officer, and Mike Grams, who now is the company’s chief operating officer. Tressie Lieberman, a Chipotle and Yum alum, was an early hire as Starbucks’ global chief brand officer.
Nordstrom alum Cathy Smith joined as chief financial officer, replacing Rachel Ruggeri.
But that wasn’t the only reorganization happening at the company.
In February, Starbucks laid off about 1,100 corporate workers. At the time, Niccol said that the job cuts were meant to increase efficiency and accountability and reduce complexity.
And in July, Starbucks announced that corporate employees will have to return to the office four days a week starting in October — or take a buyout.
The announcement drew controversy because Niccol, a longtime Southern California resident, wasn’t required to relocate to Starbucks’ headquarters in Seattle when the company hired him. In his offer letter outlining his employment terms, the company pledged to establish a small remote office in Newport Beach, California. These days, he defaults to in-person work in Seattle when he isn’t traveling, according to the company.
But the vast majority of Starbucks employees who have been affected by Niccol’s policy changes work in the chain’s roughly 9,000 company-owned locations.
For years, baristas have complained about understaffing and inconsistent hours, sparking a broad union push across the U.S. The company has said that it increased staffing this summer and gave managers more input on how many baristas they need. Next year, most North American locations will add an assistant manager to their rosters.
But the biggest change comes from the chain’s “Green Apron Service” program, which is backed by additional labor hours to ensure proper staffing and “smart queue” technology to improve service times. It also includes operating standards that emphasize connecting with customers.
“It’s already helping us deliver better throughput in the morning and through the balance of day, while creating more time for customer connection and service,” Niccol wrote in a letter to employees on Monday, celebrating the one-month anniversary of the nationwide rollout.
Aguirre criticized the new strategy for dedicating a position to a “host” who hands off drinks and chats with customers, saying that it does little to help with understaffing. However, other baristas have noted that the role is more flexible and can rotate to making drinks when needed.
More broadly, Starbucks Workers United, which represents more than 600 company-owned locations in the U.S., has criticized management for not returning to the bargaining table. Weeks into the job, Niccol committed to working with the union.
Starbucks Workers United spokesperson Michelle Eisen said that talks fell apart several months after Niccol joined the company and that the company hasn’t responded to requests from the union to restart negotiations.
Starbucks said that the union represents only about 5% of its workforce and doesn’t represent the thousands of workers who are excited about Niccol’s strategy.
“The facts show Back to Starbucks is making the experience better for both customers and partners,” a Starbucks spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC. “Retail partner turnover is at record lows and about half the industry average. More partners are getting the shifts they want. And more partners than ever recommend Starbucks as a great place to work.”

Bears vs. bulls

Niccol’s appointment initially thrilled investors.
On the day that Starbucks announced his hiring, shares of the company soared 24%, the best day ever for the stock. Chipotle, Niccol’s then-employer, saw its own stock close down 7% that day, in another demonstration of Wall Street’s appreciation for his leadership.
But 12 months later, some investors seem to be losing their faith in Niccol. Shares have fallen 7% over the last year, dragging the company’s market cap down to $95.6 billion.

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Investors expected the turnaround to bear fruit sooner. Store traffic and profit margins are still far from pre-Covid levels. Wall Street expected same-store sales to grow again by its fiscal second quarter ended in March this year; now, most analysts aren’t projecting quarterly same-store sales growth until the end of the calendar year.
And then there is skepticism about Niccol’s broader strategy.
“There’s still sort of question marks from investors on whether or not all this is going to work,” Reich said. “I think there’s some questions around whether or not leaning into the ‘third place’ is going to work, just because you have to balance being a $100 billion company and also wanting to be the local coffeehouse vibe — and managing all that with mobile ordering, which is super high velocity.”
Zacks Investment Management sold off its Starbucks holdings about two years ago, shortly before its same-store sales began falling, according to Brian Mulberry, senior portfolio manager at the investment firm. But he keeps an eye on the coffee chain, waiting for Starbucks to once again drive quarterly earnings growth consistently.
“Our commitment is to keep Starbucks on our watch list for probably the next 12 months, to give them another year to see if there’s progress coming back,” Mulberry said.
While no longer a Starbucks shareholder, Mulberry is a loyal customer. Through his travels, he experiences a range of Starbucks experiences, whether he’s in midtown Manhattan or Indianapolis.
“The consistency of the product is good, but the consistency of the service is still something that’s lacking,” he said.
Plus, with few exceptions, Starbucks has given Wall Street very little visibility into its financial targets and the costs of the turnaround. In October, the company suspended its annual forecast through fiscal 2025, citing the recent CEO transition and the “current sate of the business.”
“It’s been hard to gauge where they are on their strategic path,” William Blair analyst Sharon Zackfia said.
Starbucks has shared some numbers. In late July, the company said it would invest $500 million in labor over the next year tied to its “Green Apron Service” model.
“Clearly, there has been a lot, and there will continue to be a lot of incremental investments in labor,” Zackfia said. “So our idea that the margin reset would be potentially deeper than investors had expected, I think that’s coming to fruition, maybe even more than we had expected honestly.”
But investors will likely have to wait until Starbucks hosts its planned investor day in early 2026 before they receive answers to most of their questions about the company’s financial targets.

The road ahead

A Starbucks store is shown in Encinitas, California, on Feb. 24, 2025.
Mike Blake | Reuters

Niccol still has plenty of work to do.
He has teased innovation coming next year, like improved pastries. By the end of 2026, the company plans to give makeovers to roughly 1,000 of its U.S. locations, adding back more seating and other small tweaks, like more welcoming lighting.
And then there are changes coming for Starbucks’ loyalty program. Niccol said in July that Starbucks Rewards had become too focused on discounts, so he wants to tailor the program to encourage more engagement from customers.
“I think many of us have thought for years and years and years that Starbucks had the gold standard of rewards programs,” Zackfia said. “That is something that’s still very nascent, and many of us are still trying to figure out what that really means.”
The fate of Starbucks’ business in China is still up in the air, too. In October, the company said that it was exploring strategic partnerships for its second-largest market, which has struggled ever since the pandemic. After lockdowns abated, local rivals who can undercut the chain on pricing have stolen market share from the U.S. company.
More recently, Starbucks has said that it has received “significant interest” from more than 20 parties. Reuters reported on Friday that bidders are valuing the company’s China unit at about $5 billion. Given the size and growth potential of the business, many expect that Starbucks will just sell a stake in the division.
“Today we have 8,000 stores, and I think in the future, we have 20, maybe even 30,000 stores, in China,” Niccol told CNBC in the interview that aired Tuesday. “Obviously, we’re working through what is the right partnership so that we can grow and capture that 20, 30,000 store opportunity.”
That kind of long-term perspective also applies to Niccol’s broader strategy for the company.
And investors may have to be patient.
“It may be some time before Starbucks gets truly back to Starbucks,” RBC Capital Markets’ Reich said. More

WHEN TECH folk talk about the lacklustre progress of large language models (LLMs), they often draw an analogy with smartphones. The early days of OpenAI’s ChatGPT were as revolutionary as the launch of Apple’s iPhone in 2007. But advances on the frontier of artificial intelligence (AI) have started to look akin to ho-hum phone upgrades rather than genuine breakthroughs. GPT-5, OpenAI’s latest model, is a case in point. It has generated even less buzz than is expected from the iPhone 17, Apple’s newest release, which is due to be unveiled on September 9th. More

Federal and immigration agents conducted a massive raid on a Hyundai facility in Ellabell, Georgia, last week, arresting 475 people.
The raid marked the Department of Homeland Security’s largest single-site enforcement operation in its history, according to a DHS agent.
A presidential spokesperson told NBC News that more than 300 of the arrests were South Korean nationals, and the South Korean government said this week that it’s working to return those detainees.

This image from video provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via DVIDS shows manufacturing plant employees being escorted outside the Hyundai Motor Group’s electric vehicle plant, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in Ellabell, Ga
Corey Bullard/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP

The South Korean government said it is working to return its nationals who were detained in an immigration raid on a Hyundai facility in Georgia last week.
Federal and immigration agents conducted a massive sweep on the plant in Ellabell, Georgia, arresting 475 people as part of an investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices. A South Korean spokesperson told NBC News that more than 300 of the arrests were South Korean nationals.

U.S. authorities, who had a search warrant, said the arrested workers were working or living in the country illegally.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s office said Sunday that detainees will be returned to South Korea on a chartered flight. When asked for comment on Monday, Hyundai directed CNBC to its Friday statement that said it is “committed to full compliance with all laws and regulations in every market.”
Thursday’s raid, the latest in President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, marked the Department of Homeland Security’s largest single-site enforcement operation in its history, according to Steven Schrank, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Georgia.
White House border czar Tom Homan told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that the Trump administration would continue focusing on workplaces for immigration raids.
“We’re going to do more worksite enforcement operations,” he said. “These companies that hire illegal aliens, they undercut their competition that’s paying U.S. citizen salaries.”

The Georgia plant is home to South Korean companies Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, which are building a battery manufacturing plant together. The $7.6 billion Hyundai plant employs more than 1,200 people. The company began building its manufacturing plant in 2022 and started making electric vehicles less than two years later, making the plant one of the largest economic developments in the state.
LG Energy Solution said on Saturday that 47 of its employees were detained, along with an additional 250 people from “equipment partner companies.”
Schrank said the arrested workers were employed by contractors and subcontractors.
In a Friday statement, U.S. Attorney Margaret Heap said more than 400 agents took part in the raid.
“The goal of this operation is to reduce illegal employment and prevent employers from gaining an unfair advantage by hiring unauthorized workers,” Heap said in the statement. “Another goal is to protect unauthorized workers from exploitation.”
In a statement to NBC News on Friday, Hyundai said it was monitoring the situation and that none of the detainees were direct employees of the auto company.
The South Korean government said on Friday that it conveyed its “concern and regret” to the U.S. Embassy and urged them to ensure the South Korean employees’ rights were not violated.
“In the course of U.S. law enforcement, the economic activities of our investment firms and the rights and interests of our nationals must not be unjustly infringed upon,” said Lee Jae-woong, a spokesperson for South Korea’s foreign ministry.
In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that he is calling on all foreign companies investing in the U.S. to “please respect our Nation’s Immigration Laws.”
“Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent, to build World Class products, and we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so. What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers,” he wrote.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump also said the raid had no connection to the economic ties between the two countries, saying that the U.S. has “a great relationship” with South Korea.
Hyundai told NBC News Monday morning that business travel to the U.S. remains in place, with some trips subject to internal review. More

Women’s basketball league Unrivaled is now valued at $340 million after a new funding round.
The Series B funding round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners and joined by Serena Williams’ firm Serena Ventures, Warner Bros. Discovery and Alex Morgan’s Trybe Ventures.
The new funding for the 3-on-3 league will be used to add more resources to the league’s facilities, for developmental efforts and to create additional awareness of the league as it heads into its second season.

Serena Williams introduces Maria Sharapova during the 2025 Induction Celebration weekend at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, on Aug. 23, 2025.
Joe Buglewicz | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

Women’s 3-on-3 basketball league Unrivaled is now valued at $340 million after a new funding round that included tennis legend Serena Williams, the league announced Monday.
Williams’ Serena Ventures was part of a Series B funding round that was led by Bessemer Venture Partners and also included Warner Bros. Discovery and Alex Morgan’s Trybe Ventures. Unrivaled did not disclose the size of the individual contributions.

Unrivaled’s latest cash infusion means a dramatic rise in its valuation from just one year ago when the league was valued at $95 million, according to a person familiar with the league who spoke on the condition of anonymity about internal matters.
The investment comes as women’s sports have soared in both popularity and valuations in recent years.
“To add arguably the most iconic female athlete to play sports, I think it exemplifies who Unrivaled is not just with our players on the court, but the number of investors on our cap table who had been icons in their own lanes,” said Alex Bazzell, co-founder and president of Unrivaled.

Angel Reese, #5 of Rose, goes up for a shot against Napheesa Collier, #24 of the Lunar Owls, during the second half at Wayfair Arena in Medley, Florida, on Feb. 21, 2025.
Rich Storry | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

Other Unrivaled investors include high-profile names such as tennis legend Billie Jean King, NBA superstar Stephen Curry, tennis champion Coco Gauff and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.
Bessemer has previously invested in ticketing resale site StubHub, as well as streaming services BallerTV and Twitch. The venture firm sees Unrivaled as a blueprint for the next generation of sports leagues, according to Caty Rea, a vice president at Bessemer.

“We always look for category-defining businesses with generational tail winds and really audacious founders who kind of have that product hard to fit,” Rea said. “We felt like we found that with Unrivaled.”
Unrivaled was founded in 2023 and offers women’s professional basketball players a league that runs in the offseason of the WNBA. Previously, many players went abroad in the offseason for extra compensation.

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The league says it offers women the highest average salary in professional women’s sports history and provides equity to players.
For comparison, the WNBA does not offer its players equity, and players are currently negotiating their collective bargaining agreement, which expires Oct. 31. One of the key issues being debated is an increase in player compensation. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told CNBC in July that the average WNBA team valuation has increased to about $260 million.
Bazzell said the new funding will be used to add more resources to the league’s facilities, for developmental efforts and to create additional awareness of the league as it heads into its second season.
“We’ve built a sustainable and sticky audience, both on television and certainly on social. So now we have to grow that footprint,” he said.

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Shares of Kenvue fell more than 10% on Friday after a report that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will likely link autism to the use of the company’s pain medication Tylenol in pregnant women. 
HHS will release the report that could draw that link this month, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Kenvue said it has “continuously evaluated the science and [continues] to believe there is no causal link” between the use of acetaminophen, the generic name for Tylenol, during pregnancy and autism.

Kenvue Inc. Tylenol brand pain reliever for sale at a pharmacy in New York, US, on Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of Kenvue fell more than 10% on Friday after a report that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will likely link autism to the use of the company’s pain medication Tylenol in pregnant women. 
HHS will release the report that could draw that link this month, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

That report will also suggest a medicine derived from folate – a water-soluble vitamin – can be used to treat symptoms of the developmental disorder in some people, according to the Journal.
In a statement, an HHS spokesperson said “We are using gold-standard science to get to the bottom of America’s unprecedented rise in autism rates.” 
“Until we release the final report, any claims about its contents are nothing more than speculation,” they added. 
Tylenol could be the latest widely used and accepted treatment that Kennedy has undermined at the helm of HHS, which oversees federal health agencies that regulate drugs and other therapies. Kennedy has also taken steps to change vaccine policy in the U.S., and has amplified false claims about safe and effective shots that use mRNA technology.
Kennedy has made the disorder a key focus of HHS, pledging in April that the agency will “know what has caused the autism epidemic” by September and eliminate exposures. He also said that month that the agency has launched a “massive testing and research effort” involving hundreds of scientists worldwide that will determine the cause.

In a statement, Kenvue said it has “continuously evaluated the science and [continues] to believe there is no causal link” between the use of acetaminophen, the generic name for Tylenol, during pregnancy and autism.
The company added that the Food and Drug Administration and leading medical organizations “agree on the safety” of the drug, its use during pregnancy and the information provided on the Tylenol label.
The FDA website says the agency has not found “clear evidence” that appropriate use of acetaminophen during pregnancy causes “adverse pregnancy, birth, neurobehavioral, or developmental outcomes.” But the FDA said it advises pregnant women to speak with their health-care providers before using over-the-counter drugs.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists maintains that acetaminophen is safe during pregnancy when taken as directed and after consulting a health-care provider. 
Some previous studies have suggested the drug poses risks to fetal development, and some parents have brought lawsuits claiming that they gave birth to children with autism after using it.
But a federal judge in Manhattan ruled in 2023 that some of those lawsuits lacked scientific evidence and later ended the litigation in 2024. Some research has also found no association between acetaminophen use and autism.
In a note on Friday, BNP Paribas analyst Navann Ty said the firm believes the “hurdle to proving causation [between the drug and autism] is high, particularly given that the litigation previously concluded in Kenvue’s favor.”
— CNBC’s Angelica Peebles contributed to this report. More

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage dropped 16 basis points to 6.29% on Friday.
This is a major change from May, when the rate on the 30-year fixed peaked at 7.08%.
Homebuilder stocks Lennar, DR Horton and Pulte gained ground.

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage dropped 16 basis points to 6.29% on Friday, according to Mortgage News Daily, following the release of a weaker-than-expected August employment report.
It marks the lowest rate since Oct. 3 and the biggest one-day drop since August 2024. Rates are finally breaking out of the high 6% range, where they’ve been stuck for months.

“This was a pretty straightforward reaction to a hotly anticipated jobs report,” said Mortgage News Daily Chief Operating Officer Matt Graham. “It’s a good reminder that the market gets to decide what matters in terms of economic data, and the bond market has a clear voting record that suggests the jobs report is always the biggest potential source of volatility for rates.”
Graham said in a post on X that many lenders are “priced better” than Oct. 3 and would be quoting in the high 5% range.
The drop is a major change from May, when the rate on the 30-year fixed peaked at 7.08%. It’s big for buyers out shopping for a home today, especially given high home prices.
Take, for example, someone purchasing a $450,000 home, which is just above August’s national median price, using a 30-year fixed mortgage with a 20% down payment. Not including taxes or insurance, the monthly payment at 7% would be $2,395. At 6.29%, that payment would be $2,226, a difference of $169 per month.

A sign is posted in front of a home for sale on Aug.27, 2025 in San Francisco, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

That might not sound like a lot to some, but it can mean the difference in not just affording a home, but qualifying for a mortgage.

Homebuilder stocks reacted favorably Friday, with names like Lennar, DR Horton and Pulte all up roughly 3% midday. Homebuilding ETF ITB has been running hot for the last month as rates slowly moved lower. It’s up close to 13% in the past month.

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The big question is whether the drop in rates will be enough to get homebuyers back in the market.
Mortgage demand from homebuyers, an early indicator, has yet to respond to gradually improving rates. Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home last week were 6.6% lower from four weeks before, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
“Homebuyers grapple with a lack of affordability, sellers contend with more competition, and builders deal with lower buyer demand,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, in a statement Friday after the release of the August employment report. “These conditions haven’t spelled catastrophe, but have created a cruel summer for the housing market.”
Some analysts have argued that buyers need to see mortgage rates in the 5% range before it really makes a difference. Home prices remain stubbornly high, and while the gains have definitely cooled, they are not yet coming down on a national level. In addition, uncertainty about the state of the economy and the job market has left many would-be buyers on the sidelines.

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NFL MVP Josh Allen is leaving Nike to sign with New Balance.
As part of the deal, New Balance will support youth sports in Allen’s hometown of Firebaugh, California.
The deal marks a major win for New Balance, which also represents tennis player Coco Gauff, MLB’s Shohei Ohtani and the WNBA’s Cameron Brink.

NFL MVP Josh Allen signs with New Balance.
Courtesy of New Balance

NFL MVP Josh Allen has left Nike to sign an endorsement deal with New Balance.
The Buffalo Bills quarterback announced the news on Friday in a letter to his hometown of Firebaugh, California. The deal is a major win for Massachusetts-based New Balance.

Allen has been a Nike athlete since he joined the league in 2018. The swoosh has faced headwinds in recent years as innovation slowed and sales declined.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but New Balance has committed to funding the Firebaugh community youth sports program as part of the agreement.
“I’m proud to share I’m joining the New Balance family, a brand that, like Firebaugh, is built on family, community and authenticity,” Allen said in the letter.

Josh Allen, #17 of the Buffalo Bills, scrambles out of the pocket during an NFL game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Sept. 12, 2024.
Perry Knotts | Getty Images

Firebaugh is not only where Allen grew up, but also where he first trained and developed his passion for football, he said.
“Firebaugh didn’t have quarterback camps or private trainers. We had heart. We had community. And I wouldn’t trade that for anything,” Allen said in the letter.

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Allen is one of the league’s biggest stars and has led the Bills to the playoffs for six straight years. He was also featured in HBO’s “Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the Buffalo Bills,” which aired its finale on Tuesday.
New Balance, which has rapidly expanded its athlete roster, also represents other big-name stars such as tennis player Coco Gauff, MLB’s Shohei Ohtani and the WNBA’s Cameron Brink.
“As New Balance continues to grow its football family, we’re honored to welcome Josh Allen on the field and in the community, helping lead the next chapter,” the company said in a statement.
Earlier this week, Allen also announced he was joining Therabody as the fitness recovery brand’s first-ever Performance Advisor.

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