Raphael Stevens

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    Home prices hit record high in May as sales stall

    The inventory of homes for sale jumped in May, up 6.7% month to month and 18.5% higher than in May last year.
    The median price of an existing home sold in May was $419,300, a record-high price in the Realtors’ recording, and up 5.8% year over year.

    Sales of previously owned homes are sitting at a 30-year low and didn’t move much in May as prices hit a new record and mortgage rates remain high.
    So-called existing home sales in May were essentially flat, down 0.7% from April to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 4.11 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors, or NAR. Sales fell 2.8% from May of last year.

    This count of closed sales is based on contracts likely signed in March and April. The sluggish sales pace came as rates took a big leap in April.
    The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed loan started the month just below 7% and then rose to just over 7.5% by mid-April, before settling back slightly in May, according to Mortgage News Daily. That rate is now right around 7%.
    “Home sales refuse to recover,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR. “I thought we would see a recovery this spring. We are not seeing it.”

    Homes in the Issaquah Highlands area of Issaquah, Washington, US, on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. 
    David Ryder | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Sales were unchanged month to month in all regions except the South, where they fell 1.6%.
    The biggest change in May is that the inventory of homes for sale jumped, up 6.7% month to month and 18.5% higher than in May last year. At the current sales pace, there is now a 3.7-month supply. While inventory is gaining, it is still very low given demographics and demand.

    “Eventually, more inventory will help boost home sales and tame home price gains in the upcoming months. Increased housing supply spells good news for consumers who want to see more properties before making purchasing decisions,” Yun added.

    Record prices

    That demand continues to push prices higher. The median price of an existing home sold in May was $419,300, a record-high price in the Realtors’ recording and up 5.8% year over year. The gain was the strongest since October 2022. Prices gained in all regions.
    The Realtors noted in a release that the mortgage payment for a typical home today is more than double what it was five years ago. Not only have rates climbed, but home prices are more than 50% higher than they were five years ago. That comes in part because the median is skewing to the higher end.
    Sales of homes priced below $250,000 were lower than a year ago, while sales priced between $250,000 and $500,000 were up just 1%. Sales priced between $750,000 and $1 million were 13% higher, and sales priced over $1 million were up nearly 23%.
    Cash is still king, accounting for 28% of sales. First-time buyers are hanging in at 31% of sales, up from 28% the year before.
    Two-thirds of homes went under contract in less than a month, so competition is still strong despite higher prices. Redfin, a real estate brokerage, is reporting that an increasing number of listings are becoming stale, so if a home comes on the market that is well-priced and doesn’t need much work, it goes fast. Other homes are sitting longer.

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    Experts say Shein’s U.S. IPO is all but dead

    Seven months since it filed for its U.S. IPO, Shein’s public debut may be all but dead, after it faced countless public hurdles and pivoted to the London market, according to experts.
    Shein has faced bipartisan public scrutiny along its road to an IPO due to national security concerns over its relationship to China, alleged links to forced labor and claims of an unfair competitive advantage due to customs law loopholes.
    The e-commerce company is taking market share from big-name retailers like Macy’s and Gap as it expands its U.S. presence.

    The Shein logo can be seen on a smartphone, while the Chinese online retailer’s website is open on a laptop. 
    Monika Skolimowska | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

    China-founded e-commerce company Shein’s hopes of going public in the United States are growing slimmer by the day, according to experts, as rising tensions between Beijing and the U.S. roil business and trade.
    The company, last valued at $66 billion, confidentially filed to go public in the U.S. in November. Since then, it has faced resistance as it tries to join the American retail sphere, including through numerous rejected attempts to become a member of the National Retail Federation, the industry’s largest trade association, CNBC previously reported.

    The e-commerce upstart filed to go public while becoming a household name in the U.S. by offering low prices and a facility to offer new styles quickly. The company is poised to take major market share from U.S. retailers, particularly Gap, TJX Companies and Macy’s, according to UBS data from last year, and continues to challenge Target, Walmart and Amazon.
    But as political resistance to its U.S. IPO mounts, Shein is seemingly shifting gears, as it reportedly prepares to confidentially file for a £50 billion offering in London in the coming weeks. The company likely would have preferred to list in the U.S., because the offering could bring a higher valuation than in the U.K., said Angelo Bochanis, an IPO analyst at Renaissance Capital, which provides pre-IPO research and IPO-focused ETFs. 
    But its path hasn’t been easy, as federal and state officials call on the Securities and Exchange Commission to scrutinize or even block the initial public offering in the U.S.
    “Scrutinizing companies with high-profiles and roots in China is very politically in-vogue right now in the United States,” Bochanis said.
    A London IPO could, in theory, be easier than a U.S. offering, according to Bochanis. With the British parliament dissolved and the London Stock Exchange “desperate for big wins” as it suffers an IPO drought, Shein could circumvent some of the hurdles that it might have otherwise faced, he said.

    If Shein’s London IPO succeeds, it is unlikely to keep pursuing a U.S. offering, said University of Florida finance professor Jay Ritter, who studies IPOs.
    Not all China-linked companies are getting tangled in the webs of rising political tensions. Chinese electric vehicle company Zeekr went public in the U.S. last month. It became one of the first prominent Chinese companies to do so in the U.S. even as the Biden administration has increasingly cracked down on Chinese-made electric vehicles.

    China ties and data privacy

    Shein is “one of the few” China-tied companies that have gained deep brand awareness with U.S. consumers, Bochanis said.
    The size of the potential offering, and the long, high-profile process accompanying it, have helped to make Shein an attractive target for politicians from both parties who want to look tough on Beijing-linked companies.
    Shein was founded in China and has since moved its headquarters to Singapore. But a good chunk of the company’s supply chain is still based in the country.
    In December, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent a letter to Shein seeking information about the company’s user data collection and its relationship to the Chinese government, calling a potential link to Beijing a “serious risk for e-commerce, consumer safety and people’s data privacy and security.”
    The panel sent a similar letter to TikTok, the popular social media platform owned by China-based parent ByteDance.
    The Chinese Communist Party can by law request any Chinese-owned company to share information on its customers, according to George Washington University professor Susan Ariel Aaronson. While Shein is headquartered offshore, its manufacturing ties in China and reports that it sought Beijing’s permission to go public in the U.S. raised concerns among U.S. officials about what data it could share with the Chinese government.
    That relationship helped to spark a proposed U.S. ban on TikTok. Legislation that Congress passed last month aims to force the platform to sell its U.S. assets by Jan. 19 or cease all activity in the country.
    ByteDance and several creators on the platform have filed lawsuits to block the bill.
    While Shein does not have access to the magnitude of data that a social media giant like TikTok has, the proposed ban has raised more doubts about a U.S. IPO for the company.
    “[Congress] just showed us that if a particular Chinese-owned company is perceived to be posing a threat, they can unify and pass a law, and that’s much stronger than an executive order or presidential order,” said Antonia Tzinova, a national security attorney at Holland & Knight.

    Shein shipping concerns

    The political scrutiny beyond data privacy may prove more difficult for Shein to overcome.
    The retailer has long been criticized for its alleged use of forced labor in its supply chain and poor working conditions for its employees.
    In 2021, the United States passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which prohibits companies that manufacture goods in the Xinjiang region of China notorious for its Uyghur detention camps from selling in the U.S. Although U.S. government agencies claim Shein’s supply chain has links to the Xinjiang region, the company doesn’t manufacture its own goods and instead uses China-based micro-manufacturers that make materials tougher to track.
    Shein has repeatedly denied the forced-labor allegations, saying it implements a system to support compliance with the U.S. law within the company.
    The company has also come under fire for its use of U.S. customs law loopholes.
    Because the company doesn’t import its products in bulk to sell from a U.S. warehouse and instead ships on an order-by-order basis, it’s exempt from some of the heaviest U.S. import taxes. Rivals have criticized this practice as giving Shein an unfair competitive advantage.
    — CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge and Reuters contributed to this report.

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    Forever 21 seeks rent concessions as fast fashion brand faces financial woes

    Forever 21 is asking some landlords for rent concessions as high as 50% as it faces financial difficulties, according to people familiar with the matter.
    The legacy fast fashion player, which filed for bankruptcy in 2019, isn’t weighing a second filing, the people said.
    The company is struggling to manage its sprawling store footprint and compete with savvier digital upstarts.

    A fashion retail Forever 21 store is pictured in in London on September 30, 2019. Fashion retailer Forever 21 has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US.
    Alberto Pezzali | NurPhoto | Getty Images

    Forever 21 is asking landlords for a break on rent as the legacy fast fashion player’s sales decline and it struggles to keep up with savvier competitors, CNBC has learned.
    The retailer, which has more than 380 stores in the U.S., has asked some landlords to cut its rent by as much as 50%, people familiar with the matter told CNBC. 

    While the company is facing financial difficulties, it has yet to hire advisors and isn’t considering a second bankruptcy filing, the people said. It’s working to restructure its many leases so it can cut costs, they said. 
    Forever 21 faces a range of issues that have long plagued its business. It operates in the increasingly saturated fast fashion market, and struggles to manage inventory and understand and respond to its consumer, one of the people said.
    The retailer’s struggles come after it filed for bankruptcy in 2019 and was later bought by a consortium including brand management company Authentic Brands Group and landlords Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Partners.
    When the company sought bankruptcy protection, it had more than 800 locations globally.
    Similar to many retailers, Forever 21’s massive store footprint weighed on its balance sheet when it first filed for bankruptcy. The retailer had expanded too quickly during its growth phase, leaving it unable to invest in its supply chain and rapidly respond to changing trends. 

    Closing hundreds of stores after filing for bankruptcy has not resolved its issues.
    Forever 21’s financial position has also hurt the performance of its operator Sparc Group — the joint venture that includes Authentic, Simon and as of last summer, Chinese-linked fast fashion behemoth Shein. Sparc runs Forever 21’s operations, as well as a number of other formerly-bankrupt retailers, including Aeropostale, Brooks Brothers and Lucky Brand. 
    Sparc declined comment to CNBC. Simon didn’t return a request for comment.

    Forever weighs on Sparc 

    Sparc has been scrutinizing its budgets and contending with its own financial struggles, people familiar with the matter said. 
    Many of Sparc’s challenges come from the difficulty of merging numerous legacy brands and attempting to centralize their teams, technology, marketing, e-commerce, sourcing and supply chains, one of the people said. It’s also contended with the issue of running brands that have long operated primarily in malls.
    Expensive leases for stores that perform poorly relative to their size can often weigh down retailers’ balance sheets and drain cash.
    Forever 21 has consistently paid its vendors late over the last year, according to data from Creditsafe, a business intelligence platform that analyzes companies’ financial, legal and compliance risks. The data shows Forever 21’s payment patterns to vendors have fluctuated, with some bills going more than 70 days past due in late 2023, according to Creditsafe.
    Plenty of companies, including many that are healthy, leave bills unpaid for weeks or months, but late payments can also signal larger financial troubles. The industry average hovered between 12 and 13 days past due for the last 12 months, said Creditsafe spokesperson Ragini Bhalla.

    Racing to compete

    In the past, Forever 21’s top rivals included H&M and Zara. These days, its biggest foes are ultra-fast fashion retailers like Shein and Temu. 
    “The speed is almost impossible to compete with. So if you juxtapose any brand that was around 20 years ago to these new, on-demand manufacturing fast fashion companies… it’s like comparing a mobile phone from 2000 to the newest iPhone. The speed, the quality, everything is just different,” one of the people said. “As soon as someone goes viral in a new outfit on TikTok, Shein is immediately making it and no regular brand can keep up with that.” 

    Shoppers walks past advertisements on the opening day of fast-fashion e-commerce giant Shein, which hosted a brick-and-mortar pop up inside Forever 21 at the Ontario Mills Mall in Ontario on Oct. 19, 2023.
    Allen J. Schaben | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

    At the ICR conference in January, Authentic Brands CEO Jamie Salter said acquiring Forever 21 was “probably the biggest mistake” of his career, adding he also erred when he failed to recognize the competitive threat posed by Shein and Temu earlier. 
    He recalled a conversation he had with Simon’s CEO David Simon, who asked Salter why he wanted to partner with Shein. 
    “I said, ‘David, it’s the right decision, we cannot beat them. Their supply chain is too good. They know what’s going on. They’ve figured this out. We need to partner with them,'” Salter recounted. “So I was the brave one that said, ‘Let’s go partner with these guys.'”
    As part of the two retailers’ partnership, Shein will design, manufacture and distribute a line of co-branded Forever 21 apparel and accessories that will be sold primarily on Shein’s website. Forever 21 has also hosted Shein pop-up stores and begun accepting Shein returns, both of which have driven positive foot traffic to Forever 21’s shops, one of the people said. 
    The two originally linked up last August and under the terms of the agreement, Shein acquired about one-third of Sparc while Sparc took a minority stake in Shein. 
    Given the concerns that Forever 21 is having with its leases, and the success of Shein’s pop-up shops, some industry observers questioned whether the digital giant could soon take over Forever 21’s stores. However, one of the people said that’s unlikely because the retailer lacks experience in physical retail and its business model involves small-batch production and an inventory that constantly shifts based on trends. More

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    China has spent at least $230 billion to build its EV industry, new study finds

    China spent $230.8 billion over more than a decade to develop its electric car industry, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
    The scale of government support represents 18.8% of total electric car sales between 2009 and 2023, said Scott Kennedy, trustee chair in Chinese Business and Economics at CSIS.
    “There are some exceptions, but in general Western automakers and governments have dilly dallied and not been aggressive enough,” he said.

    Workers assemble a Wuling Hongguang Mini EV, an all-electric microcar manufactured by SAIC-GM-Wuling, at a plant of the joint automaker in Qingdao in east Chinas Shandong province Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021.
    Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images

    BEIJING — China spent $230.8 billion over more than a decade to develop its electric car industry, according to analysis published Thursday by the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
    The scale of government support represents 18.8% of total electric car sales between 2009 and 2023, said Scott Kennedy, trustee chair in Chinese Business and Economics at CSIS. He noted the ratio of such spending to EV sales has declined from more than 40% in the years prior to 2017, to just above 11% in 2023.

    The findings come as the EU plans to impose tariffs on imports of Chinese electric cars over the use of subsidies in their production.
    Last month, the U.S. announced it was raising duties on imports of Chinese electric vehicles to 100%.

    There are some exceptions, but in general Western automakers and governments have dilly dallied and not been aggressive enough.

    Scott Kennedy
    trustee chair in Chinese business and economics, CSIS

    Kennedy pointed out that Beijing’s support for electric cars has included non-monetary policies that favored domestic automakers over foreign ones. But he also noted that the U.S. has not created conditions that are as attractive as China’s for developing its own electric car industry.
    “There are some exceptions, but in general Western automakers and governments have dilly dallied and not been aggressive enough,” he said. Kennedy had laid out seven policy initiatives in a report four years ago about potential trade tensions from Chinese electric cars.

    Government subsidies did not necessarily go straight into car development. In the early years of China’s EV development, the Ministry of Finance said it found at least five companies cheated the government of over 1 billion yuan ($140 million).

    China-made vehicles have also benefitted from growing penetration of electric cars in the country, cutting into a once-lucrative fuel-powered market for foreign automakers. The competition is so fierce that Bank of America analysts said this week that major U.S. automakers should leave China and focus their resources elsewhere.
    “Independent auto analysts and Western automakers with whom I’ve spoken all agree that Chinese EV makers and battery producers have made tremendous progress and must be taken seriously,” Kennedy said.

    But he pointed out that extensive government support and market growth for Chinese EV companies have yet to boost profits significantly.
    “In a well-functioning market economy,” he said, “firms would more carefully gauge their investment in new capacity, and the emergence of such a sharp gap between supply and demand would likely result in industry consolidation.”
    BYD’s net profit per car has declined over the last 12 months to the equivalent of $739, according to analysis from CLSA as of the first quarter. Tesla’s has dropped to $2,919, the data showed.
    The EV industry in the last year has faced an intense price war, with car companies either slashing prices or launching lower-priced product lines.

    Chinese electric car startup Nio, which is still operating at a loss, said last month it expects about 10 automakers will lose out on the China market, leaving 20 to 30 players.
    The U.S. has been increasing its efforts to support electric cars. The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in August 2022, allocated $370 billion for promoting clean technologies.
    Kennedy pointed out the legislation provides a $7,500 credit for qualifying electric car purchases. That’s in contrast to the average Chinese support per electric car purchase of $4,600 in 2023 — which is down from $13,860 in 2018.
    — CNBC’s Dylan Butts contributed to this report. More

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    China talks up support for IPOs. Investors are watching the speed of approval

    China’s top executive body, the State Council, late on Wednesday published high-level measures for “promoting the high-quality development of venture capital.”
    “Everything is going to depend on the implementing regulations,” said Marcia Ellis, global co-chair of private equity practice at Morrison Foerster.
    “Venture capital investors are not going to make investments unless they can see a reasonably clear path to an exit,” she said, noting that has not been case for the past year or so.

    A man walks a dog in the shade away from the midday sun past the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) building in Manhattan, during hot weather in New York City, New York, U.S., August 11, 2020.
    Mike Segar | Reuters

    BEIJING — Chinese authorities this week announced new policy for supporting venture capital, raising hopes for faster approvals of initial public offerings in the near future.
    A once-burgeoning ecosystem of investment capital and startups in China has slowed drastically in the last three years amid increased regulatory scrutiny.

    In one of the latest efforts to shore up the industry, China’s top executive body, the State Council, late on Wednesday published high-level measures for “promoting the high-quality development of venture capital.”
    “Everything is going to depend on the implementing regulations,” said Marcia Ellis, global co-chair of private equity practice at Morrison Foerster.
    “It’s positive the government at the central level has realized there is a problem,” Ellis said. “At least with respect to investments in technology, venture capital can be a positive force in the market in China that frankly can help China compete with the U.S. in the tech race.”

    In terms of actions to watch, Ellis said that “really what we’re looking for as far as IPOs, is if the approvals start coming out at a quicker pace.”
    “Venture capital investors are not going to make investments unless they can see a reasonably clear path to an exit,” she said, noting that has not been case for the past year or so.

    The new policy included a section on expanding exit channels for venture capital, with an emphasis on supporting companies with technological breakthroughs. The measures also called for implementing a management system for overseas listings and smoothing the exit channels for venture capital funds not denominated in yuan.
    “The real bottleneck for overseas listings is the overseas IPO process and foreign exchange rules,” said Winston Ma, adjunct professor at NYU School of Law.
    The pace of both onshore and overseas public offerings has slowed. Investors, especially those who put U.S. dollars into China-based venture capital funds, have preferred IPOs in the U.S. as the largest and most liquid market.
    Looking ahead, “the market is watching the speed of U.S. IPO approvals,” Ming Liao, founding partner of Prospect Avenue Capital, said in Chinese translated by CNBC.

    Challenges for overseas IPOs

    Chinese authorities tightened their scrutiny and introduced new rules for overseas IPOs after ride-hailing company Didi went ahead with a U.S. listing in 2021 despite reportedly being under government investigation. Separately, the U.S. has increased its scrutiny of U.S. capital going into China, especially military-related entities.

    Previously, lack of regulation also resulted in a number of high-profile cases of fraud involving China-based IPOs in the U.S.
    Morrison Foerster’s Ellis cautioned how the new policy encouraged businesses and research institutions broadly to participate in venture capital.
    “Unfortunately I think if companies that are not professional investors start doing this and are doing this because they are encouraged by the government, it may just be more damaging to the market in the long run because they’re going to lose money and it’s going to stain the venture capital market in China,” Ellis said. “You need professionals doing this.”
    The China Securities Regulatory Commission has increased fines for misleading investors and clarified requirements for overseas IPOs. Last year it announced updated rules, effective March 31, 2023, that said domestic companies need to comply with national security measures and the personal data protection law before going public overseas.
    Since then, 73 companies have listed in the U.S. and 85 in Hong Kong, Fang Xinghai, vice chair of the commission, said during a conference Wednesday, according to state media.
    The IPO processing speed hasn’t been fast enough and will be accelerated, Fang said in the report, adding the commission supports mainland Chinese companies to list overseas, especially in Hong Kong.

    Fast-fashion giant Shein, which has tried to distance itself from its Chinese roots, has reportedly shifted its plans for a U.S. listing to one in London amid regulatory scrutiny.

    VCs in China for China

    China has also sought to develop its domestic stock markets, which are only about 30 years old.
    Morgan Stanley equity analysts noted separate comments Wednesday from Wu Qing, head of China’s securities regulator, that capital markets should increase their targeted support for businesses in line with the country’s efforts to develop new technologies.
    “We think it implies capital markets could welcome more diverse IPO candidates as long as they can demonstrate innovation and drive productivity growth, although IPO volume might remain low near term given higher standards are also in place,” the Morgan Stanley report said.
    Wu took over as CSRC head in February after a volatile downturn in mainland stocks. Markets have since recouped losses for the year so far.
    The new policy also called for supporting international investment institutions to establish yuan-denominated funds.
    “If foreign funds were able to set up RMB funds more easily, then there is money that wants to do that,” Ellis said.
    “There are a lot of China-focused funds that are headquartered in Asia,” she said. “They are USD funds but their management companies also want to manage onshore RMB funds because they feel like they can actually raise money in China for China investments, whereas raising USD from the U.S. and potentially Europe for China-focused funds is now very difficult.” More

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    How investors can stay protected with emerging market opportunities

    Investors may want to consider hedging their emerging market plays, according to one exchange-traded fund expert.
    Ben Slavin, global head of ETFs and managing director at BNY, said that while there have been notable inflows into Indian, European and Japanese ETFs, investors should account for the strength of the U.S. dollar.

    “You have to look at the impact of the dollar on those returns, depending on whether you want to be hedged or unhedged because it’s a very important driver of where things will go looking forward,” Slavin told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” on Monday.
    One area he pointed to is the levels between the U.S. dollar vs. the Japanese yen.
    The iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ) gives investors exposure to Japanese equities but does not account for fluctuations between the Japanese yen and the U.S. dollar. It’s grown less than four percent this year.
    The WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (DXJ), which gives exposure and accounts for fluctuations, has grown more than 20% in that same time frame.
    “It’s very important to make that decision about how to allocate, especially as it comes to your views on the dollar. And ETFs have those different options available for investors to allocate one way or the other,” Slavin said. More

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    SpaceX unveils backpack-sized ‘Starlink Mini’ satellite internet antenna for $599

    SpaceX is rolling out a compact version of its satellite internet antennas called “Starlink Mini.”
    The company is offering a “limited number” of the Starlink Mini antennas for $599 each in an early access release.
    In addition to the upfront hardware cost, service for a Starlink Mini is effectively $150 per month for 50 gigabytes of data.

    Starlink Mini promotional image.
    SpaceX customer email sent June 19, 2024.

    SpaceX is rolling out a compact version of its Starlink antennas, which the company is advertising as a mobile option for its satellite internet customers.
    “Starlink Mini is a compact, portable kit that can easily fit in a backpack, designed to provide high-speed, low-latency internet on the go,” according to a customer email sent by SpaceX on Wednesday and viewed by CNBC.

    The company is offering a “limited number” of the Starlink Mini antennas for $599 each in an early access release. That’s $100 more than the base model “Standard” antenna sold with its Residential service, although the company aspires to reduce the price tag.
    “Our goal is to reduce the price of Starlink, especially for those around the world where connectivity has been unaffordable or completely unavailable,” SpaceX wrote in the email.

    Starlink Mini promotional image.
    SpaceX customer email sent June 19, 2024.

    In addition to the upfront hardware cost, service for a Starlink Mini is effectively $150 per month — as SpaceX is offering the service for a Mini as an additional $30 per month bundle on top of a $120 per month Residential service. The “Mini Roam” service “can be used anywhere in the United States” but has a cap of 50 gigabytes of data per month, with Starlink charging $1 per gigabyte for additional data.

    Sign up here to receive weekly editions of CNBC’s Investing in Space newsletter.

    The Starlink Mini antenna is about the size and weight of a laptop, at just over two pounds and measuring at about 12 inches by 10 inches by 1.5 inches. It’s roughly half the size and one-third the weight of Starlink’s Standard antenna.
    SpaceX’s email said Starlink Mini comes with a built-in WiFi router and “lower power consumption” than its other antennas, yet it still boasts download speeds of over 100 megabits per second.

    The email did not specify when Starlink Mini deliveries would begin. In a post on social media, Vice President of Starlink Engineering Michael Nicolls said the company is “ramping production” on Starlink Mini and that it “will be available in international markets soon.”
    SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote in a post Monday that setting up a Starlink Mini took less than five minutes.
    “This product will change the world,” Musk declared.
    SpaceX has steadily expanded its Starlink network and product offerings since debuting the service in 2020. There are about 6,000 Starlink satellites in orbit that connect more than 3 million customers in 100 countries, according to the company. SpaceX initially targeted consumer customers, but has expanded into other markets — including national security, enterprise, mobility, maritime and aviation — and disrupted the existing satellite communications sector.

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    Fast-food customers are shifting to casual-dining chains, Darden Restaurants CEO says

    Darden Restaurants CEO Rick Cardenas said certain casual-dining chains are stealing some fast-food restaurants’ customers.
    Chili’s, Applebee’s and other casual-dining chains have been trying to win over fast-food diners.
    McDonald’s has faced backlash from its customers, social media users and even House Republicans for its higher prices.

    Customers arrive at an Olive Garden location in San Antonio, Texas.
    Callaghan O’Hare | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Casual-dining chains are gaining customers who have grown frustrated with higher fast-food prices, Darden Restaurants CEO Rick Cardenas said on Thursday.
    While Darden itself hasn’t benefited from the shift, its competitors, like Chili’s owner Brinker International and Applebee’s parent Dine Brands, have been reigniting a rivalry with their fast-food counterparts — and it seems to be working. Chili’s introduced an ad campaign that calls out the Big Mac and other fast-food burgers for their prices. Dine Brands CEO John Peyton told CNBC in May that Applebee’s has been leaning into deals to win over fast-food diners.

    On Darden’s quarterly earnings call Thursday, Cardenas told analysts that industry data is showing “a little bit of a shift from [quick-service restaurants] to some of those competitors” in casual dining.
    As of May, full-service menu prices had risen 3.5% over the last 12 months, compared with a 4.5% increase for those of limited-service eateries, according to Department of Labor data. The overall consumer price index rose 3.3% in that period.
    Consumers have been feeling the pinch of the more than two years of price hikes, even with fast-food chains, which typically benefit from tougher economic environments because consumers trade down to their cheaper meals. But both full-service restaurants and grocers alike have been highlighting their own value compared to fast-food meals, whether it’s the actual price or the overall experience and quality.
    In particular, McDonald’s has faced backlash from customers, social media users and even House Republicans for its higher prices. In an open letter in late May, the company’s U.S. president, Joe Erlinger, hit back at critics claiming its menu prices have doubled, saying its prices are up just 40% since 2019.
    Even so, the company has taken steps to try to appeal to price-conscious diners. On Thursday, McDonald’s announced a new $5 value meal, plus free French fries on Fridays with any purchase of at least $1 for its mobile app customers.

    Darden has been using a different strategy to win over diners. It has leaned on television advertising and kept its overall pricing lower than inflation to attract customers. In its fiscal fourth quarter, the company reported flat same-store sales growth and weaker-than-expected revenue, although its earnings beat Wall Street’s estimates.
    Cardenas said the company has dealt with a “consistently weaker consumer environment,” as well as increased discounting and marketing pressure from its rivals. Still, executives touted that its restaurants are outperforming the broader casual-dining segment.
    Shares of Darden rose more than 1% in morning trading on Thursday. The company’s stock has fallen 6% this year, dragged down by concerns about the consumer environment. More