2023 featured its fair share of big business stories impacting the U.S. economy. From the Fed’s inflation fight to the controversy over Bud Light, it was a wild year on Wall Street and Main Street.
Here are the 10 biggest business news stories of 2023:
* The Federal Reserve’s crackdown on inflation had far-reaching implications for the U.S. economy. The FMOC raised interest rates to their highest level in 22 years, impacting everything from mortgage rates to investments. The drastic measures appear to have worked to the point that there is talk among central bankers of rate cuts in 2024.
* 2023 was the year of ChatGTP as the generative artificial intelligence program took the tech world by storm. Of course, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery as several tech giants aimed at replicating the chatbot. OpenAI also fired and rehired CEO Sam Altman, and ChatGPT became the target of a New York Times lawsuit.
* Bank failures sent shock waves through a U.S. economy still on the rebound from a near-recession. Within a matter of weeks, Silicon Valley Bank, First Republican Bank, and Signature Bank experienced breakdowns that required intervention by the FDIC. Crypto also played a role in some bank failures such as Silvergate Bank.
* Elon Musk has had a major impact on electric vehicles, space travel and several cutting-edge technologies, but his acquisition of Twitter (which he rebranded as “X”) probably made the most headlines. Musk came under fire for his many reforms of the social media outlet as Meta challenged X’s dominance with its own version, Threads.
* Despite some ups and downs, 2023 was a banner year on Wall Street. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite increased by 45% for the year; the S&P 500 is up 25% after dropping 20% in 2022; and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has set several record highs in December, up nearly 15% for the year.
* A strike at Detroit’s “Big Three ” automakers proved historic in more ways than one as the UAW’s staged work stoppages resulted in record contracts for laborers. Workers from Ford, General Motors and Stellantis ratified new contracts with hefty wage hikes after only six weeks.
* Nowhere did the cost of living see a bigger increase than owning a place to live. With housing prices already at an all-time high, the rise of mortgage rates to their highest level in two decades was a 1-2 punch for potential homebuyers. Mortgage rates topped 8% before finally falling to 6.61% at the end of the year.
* Once hailed as the king of crypto, FTX founder and CEO saw his multibillion-dollar empire crumble after he was convicted on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy that could see the 31-year-old spend the rest of his life in jail. Meanwhile, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes is in the women’s wing of the prison for fraud.
* In the largest reported media settlement for defamation in U.S. history, Fox News Corp. agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million for falsely accusing the company of rigging the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The fallout saw founder Rupert Murdock and popular host Tucker Carlson leave the network.
* In a marketing campaign that could rank right down there with New Coke and Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi ad, Bud Light made a major marketing miscalculation by releasing cans with images of transgender influencers. A backlash saw sales of the popular beer brand plunge as InBev eventually gave into the pressure.
