Oil prices fell over 3% on Monday on sharp price cuts by top exporter Saudi Arabia and a rise in OPEC output that offset supply concerns generated by escalating geopolitical tension in the Middle East. Brent crude settled down $2.64, or 3.4%, at $76.12 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures lost $3.04, or 4.1%, at $70.77 a barrel. Both contracts climbed more than 2% in the first week of 2024 as geopolitical risk in the Middle East intensified after attacks by Yemen's Houthis on ships in the Red Sea. On Sunday, rising supply and competition from rival…

Nobody wants to look incompetent or unskilled in the workplace. Unfortunately, the words we use every day can make us do just that. There’s one common phrase experts say to avoid if you’re speaking with your boss: “I don’t know.” “The simple acceptance of not knowing” can make it seem like you’re uninterested in going the extra mile to solve problems, Patrice Lindo, CEO of Career Nomad, a career consulting firm, tells CNBC Make It. Moreover, the phrase doesn’t show “initiative and willingness to learn.” People usually say “I don’t know” in a variety of scenarios, from expressing disagreement to…

At age 12, Bella Lin had a problem. Her guinea pigs were disappearing. In those days, Lin let her three guinea pigs roam her parents’ grassy, fenced-in backyard just outside of San Francisco. It was better than the alternative, she thought: The two-pound creatures “looked miserable” in their cramped, “prison-barred” cage, Lin, now 17, tells CNBC Make It. She assumed the first, Snoopy, had escaped and she continued letting her guinea pigs outside — until her dad watched an eagle fly away with another, she recalls. Determined to keep the pets out of traditional cages, she started drawing prototypes. Lin,…

Central Bank of Nigeria has released inaugural guidelines for banks opening cryptocurrency accounts, while retaining its ban on them holding or trading in virtual assets on their own behalf. The rules, published on the CBN website on Tuesday, flesh out the regulator’s decision last month to lift its prohibition on banks operating accounts for crypto service providers. “Current trends globally have shown that there is need to regulate the activities of virtual assets service providers which include cryptocurrencies and cryptoassets,” it said. Nigeria joins other African regulators in extending oversight of cryptocurrencies, spurred by a string of corporate collapses capped…