Companies are hoarding cash as the Delta variant takes over the globe
CNN
Big companies like Apple and Google are continuing to add to their massive piles of cash, a sign that corporations are increasingly nervous about the impact the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 will have on the global economy.
The world's largest nonfinancial companies had a record $6.85 trillion in cash on their balance sheets as of the end of the second quarter, according to data from S&P Global Ratings. (Banks and other financial firms are usually excluded from corporate cash lists because they are required to hold a lot of money in cash due to the nature of their daily business operations.) The second-quarter totals are up slightly from the end of 2020. Gareth Williams, global head of corporate research for S&P Global Ratings, estimates that the cash level could hit $7.1 trillion by year's end.
Perhaps no data point better encapsulates the American economy right now than this nugget from Delta’s quarterly earnings:
China recorded the world’s biggest ever trade surplus in 2025, as well as a 20% jump from 2024, capping off a year in which the world’s largest manufacturer defied US trade pressure by ramping up exports to other global markets.
Saks Global, the parent company of luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue, filed for bankruptcy protection late Tuesday, according to court documents filed in US Bankruptcy Court in Houston, Texas.
China on Wednesday reported a strong export run in 2025 with a record surplus of nearly $1.2 trillion, as producers braced for three more years of a Trump administration set on slowing the production powerhouse by shifting US orders to other markets.
Microsoft says it will ask to pay higher electricity bills in areas where it’s building data centers, in an effort to prevent electricity prices for local residents from rising in those areas. The move is part of a broader plan to address rising prices and other concerns sparked by the tech industry’s massive buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure across the United States.
US consumer prices rose 2.7% annually in December, closing out a year that saw slight progress on inflation but continued affordability concerns for many Americans.
The BBC is taking steps to have Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against it dismissed, a court document showed.
Amazon executives laid out their vision for Alexa’s future in an interview with CNN at the CES tech convention, where the company launched a new Alexa website and updates to other Amazon products.
After cutting interest rates three times in a row last year, the Federal Reserve indicated last month it probably won’t lower interest rates again for a while. A months-long pause, cemented by key economic data released Friday, may indeed be the best-case scenario for the world’s largest economy.
What is Corporate America so afraid of?
President Donald Trump wants to juice the economy with dramatically lower interest rates, to take credit for a booming stock market and, perhaps most of all, for his handpicked Fed chair to get off the stage.
Apple plans to use Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence model to power its updated version of Siri, which is set to launch later this year, the two companies announced Monday.
Investors took one look at the Trump administration’s criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and decided to resuscitate the “Sell America” trade, selling off US stocks, bonds and the dollar.