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It was a bold bowl move. Orlando-based Ripley Entertainment has purchased a 18-karat gold toilet at auction for $12.1 million. It’s the most money that the company has ever spent to add to its vast collection of oddities.

Ripley nabbed the fully functional toilet via auction by Sotheby’s New York this month.

“We were the only bidder, which was quite surprising because we thought it was going to fetch a lot more, because the artist himself is quite famous,” said Suzanne Smagala-Potts, senior manager with Ripley.

The piece was one of three identical golden toilets produced by satirical visual artist Maurizio Cattelan, who was born in Italy. In 2016, one version was installed in New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, where more than 100,000 visitors lined up to use it as if it were any other public facility. (Folks were allotted five minutes in the Guggenheim restroom.)

That toilet, which became a shiny selfie sensation, was loaned to Blenheim Palace, a British attraction with contemporary art exhibitions, in 2019. Within months it was stolen. read more

By MATT BROWN, Associated Press

In a packed room at library in a downtown Boston, Rep. Ayanna Pressley posed a blunt question: Why are Black women, who have some of the highest labor force participation rates in the country, now seeing their unemployment rise faster than most other groups?

The replies Monday from policymakers, academics, business owners and community organizers laid out how economic headwinds facing Black women may indicate a troubling shift for the economy at large.

The unemployment rate for Black women increased from 6.7% to 7.5% between August and September this year, the most recent month for available data because of the federal government shutdown.

That compares with a 3.2% to 3.4% increase for white women over the same period. And it extended a year-long trend of the Black women’s unemployment rate increasing at a time of broad economic uncertainty.

Many roundtable attendees view those numbers as both an affront and a warning about the uneven pressures on Black women. read more

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers were much less confident in the economy in November in the aftermath of the government shutdown, weak hiring and stubborn inflation.

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The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index dropped to 88.7 in November from an upwardly revised October reading of 95.5, the lowest reading since April, when President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs that caused the stock market to plunge.

The figures suggest that Americans are increasingly wary of high costs and sluggish job gains, with perceptions of the labor market worsening, the survey found. Declining confidence could pose political problems for Trump and Republicans in Congress, as the dimmer views of the economy were seen among all political affiliations and were particularly sharp among independents, the Conference Board said. read more

By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are rising Tuesday following updates on the economy that kept alive hopes for a coming cut to interest rates.

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The S&P 500 rose 0.7% in afternoon trading, as 4 out of every 5 stocks within the index climbed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 540 points, or 1.2%, as of 12:56 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% higher.

The gains for indexes masked some swings underneath the surface, particularly among stocks linked to the artificial-intelligence industry. read more

By Libby Wells, Bankrate.com

Mobile banking is how a majority of Americans manage their money. But it’s also a growing target for fraud. The good news: when done right, it can actually be safer than swiping your debit card at a store.

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Here’s what experts say about how to keep your money — and your data — safe, plus how to choose banks that prioritize your security.

Is mobile banking safe?

In short, yes — if you’re smart about it.

“If you download the mobile app from a secure store, that is just as safe as visiting a bank branch,” says Paul Benda, senior vice president for operational risk and cybersecurity at American Bankers Association. read more