Raphael Stevens

More stories

  • 213 Shares129 Views

    in Finance

    Consumers starting to buckle for first time in a decade, former Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon warns

    Fast Money Podcast
    Full Episodes

    The draw of bargains may be fading.
    As three of the nation’s biggest retailers kick off a key sales week, former Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon warns consumers are starting to buckle for the first time in a decade.

    He’s blaming a list of headwinds weighing on consumers including inflation, higher interest rates, federal budget wrangling, polarized politics and student loan repayments — and now new global tensions connected to violence in Israel.
    “That sort of pileup wears on the consumer and makes them wary,” the former Walmart U.S. CEO told CNBC’s “Fast Money” on Monday. “For the first time in a long time, there’s a reason for the consumer to pause.”
    The timing comes as Amazon begins its two-day Prime Big Deal Days sale on Tuesday. Walmart and Target are trying to compete with their own sales events to get an early jump on the holiday- shopping season.
    Simon observes the retailers have a glaring thing in common: The bargains are not as deep.

    ‘You’re not real proud of your price point’

    “They usually say 50-inch TV [is] $199 or something like that. And now, they say 50-inch TV [is] 40% off,” said Simon. “You use percentages when you’re not real proud of your price point. I think you’ve got inflation pushing the relative price points up.”

    Shares of Amazon, Walmart and Target are under pressure over the past two months. Target is performing the worst of the three — off 19%.
    Simon, who sits on the Darden Restaurants and HanesBrands boards, believes Walmart does have a big advantage over its competitors right now.
    “It’s solely because of the food business,” Simon said. “They’re going to have both the eyeballs and the food traffic to probably have a better Christmas than maybe their competitors.”
    Disclaimer More

  • 88 Shares129 Views

    in Business

    Hollywood writers ratify new contract with studios

    The Writers Guild of America has officially ratified its new three-year contract with Hollywood studios.
    On Monday, the guild announced that 99% of its membership voted to ratify the new deal.
    The terms of the new agreement go from Sept. 25 through May 1, 2026.

    Writers Guild of America East members walk a picket line at the Paramount+ Summit outside the Paramount Building in Times Square in New York City on May 17, 2023
    Alexi Rosenfeld | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

    The Writers Guild of America has officially ratified its new three-year contract with Hollywood studios.
    The guild on Monday announced that 99% of its membership voted to ratify the new deal, with 8,435 votes for “yes” and only 90 for “no.” The terms of the new agreement go from Sept. 25 through May 1, 2026.

    “Through solidarity and determination, we have ratified a contract with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of our combined membership,” said Meredith Stiehm, president of Writers Guild of America West.
    The WGA secured pay increases in each of the next three years, artificial intelligence restrictions and a new residual system for streaming based on viewership. The guild also negotiated higher contribution rates to health benefits and pensions, as well as a guaranteed number of writers in writers’ rooms for television shows.
    The first productions to return after the strike ended were late-night heavyweights Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert, followed by John Oliver, host of “Last Week Tonight.”
    Now it’s the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists’ turn. The actors guild began negotiations with the likes of Disney, Paramount, Netflix, Universal and Warner Bros. Discovery last week.
    “Until the studios make a deal that addresses the needs of performers, WGA members will be on the picket lines, walking side-by-side with SAG-AFTRA in solidarity,” said Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, president of Writers Guild of America East.

    SAG-AFTRA is looking to improve wages, working conditions and health and pension benefits, as well as establish guardrails for the use of AI in future television and film productions. Additionally, the union is seeking more transparency from streaming services about viewership so that residual payments can be made equitable to linear TV. The guild is also looking to standardize the self-tape process.
    Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is part of the AMPTP. More

  • 100 Shares159 Views

    in Finance

    Claudia Goldin wins the Nobel prize in economics

    On the morning of October 9th the National Bureau of Economic Research circulated a working paper to economists around the world entitled “Why Women Won”. In the paper, Claudia Goldin of Harvard University documents how women achieved equal rights in American workplaces and families. Rather fittingly, a few hours later, Ms Goldin was announced as the winner of this year’s economics Nobel prize for advancing “our understanding of women’s labour-market outcomes”.Having been the first woman to be granted tenure at Harvard’s economics department, Ms Goldin is now the third woman to have won the subject’s Nobel prize. Taken together, her research provides a comprehensive history of gender labour-market inequality over the past 200 years. In telling this history, she has overturned a number of assumptions about both historical gender relations and what is required to achieve greater equality in the present day.Before Ms Goldin’s work, economists had thought that economic growth led to a more level playing field. In fact, Ms Goldin has shown, the Industrial Revolution drove married women out of the labour force, as production moved from home to factory. In research published in 1990 she demonstrated that it was only in the 20th century, when service-sector jobs proliferated and high-school education developed, that the more familiar pattern emerged. The relationship between the size of Western economies and female-labour-force participation is U-shaped—a classic Goldin result.Ms Goldin’s research has busted other myths, too. By employing time-use surveys and industrial data she has painstakingly filled in gaps in the historical record about women’s wages and employment. Straightforward statistics, such as the female employment rate, were mismeasured because women who, say, worked on a family farm were simply recorded as “wife”. For example, Ms Goldin found that the employment rate for white married women was 12.5% in 1890, nearly five times greater than previously thought.Her calculations also showed that the gender wage gap narrowed in bursts. First, a drop from 1820 to 1850, then another from 1890 to 1930 and finally a collapse, from 40% in 1980 to 20% in 2005. What drove these bursts? The initial two came well before the equal-pay movement and were caused by changes in the labour market: first, during the Industrial Revolution; second, during a surge in white-collar employment for occupations like clerical work.For the third and most substantial drop, in the late 20th century, Ms Goldin emphasised the role of expectations. If a young woman has more control over when and whether she will have a child, and more certainty about what types of jobs will be available, she can make more informed choices about the future and change her behaviour accordingly, such as by staying in school for longer. In work published in 2002 Ms Goldin and Lawrence Katz, her colleague and husband, detailed the example of the contraceptive pill, which was approved in 1960, and allowed women to have greater say over when and whether to have children. Between 1967 and 1979 the share of 20- and 21-year-old women who expected to be employed at the age of 35 jumped from 35% to 80%.Expectations also matter for employers. Although the pay gap narrowed in the early 20th century, the portion of the gap that was driven by discrimination, rather than occupation, grew markedly. One important factor, according to Ms Goldin, was a change in how people were paid. Wages used to be based on contracts tied to tangible output—how many clothes were knitted, for instance. But after industrialisation, they were increasingly paid on a periodic basis, in part because measuring an individual’s output became trickier. As a result, other more ambiguous factors grew in importance, such as expectations of how long a worker would stay on the job. This penalised women, who were expected to quit when they had children.Since around 2005 the wage gap has hardly budged. Here Ms Goldin’s work questions popular narratives that continue to blame wage discrimination. Instead, in a book published in 2021, called “Career and Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey Toward Equity”, Ms Goldin blames “greedy” jobs, such as being a lawyer or consultant, which offer increasing returns to long (and uncertain) hours.She explains how such work interacts with the so-called parenthood penalty. Women spend more time raising children, which is why the gender pay gap tends to open up right after the first child arrives. The gap continues to widen even for women and men with the same education and in the same profession. Work by Ms Goldin in 2014 finds that the gender earnings gap within jobs has grown to be twice as important as the gap caused by men and women holding different jobs.Ms Goldin’s research holds lessons for economists and policymakers. For the former group, it shows the importance of history. Her first book was about urban slavery in America’s South during the mid-1800s. In other well-known work, with Mr Katz, she has shown how the relationship between tech and education can explain inequality across the 20th century. Before Ms Goldin, many academics considered questions about historical gender pay gaps unanswerable owing to a paucity of data. She has demonstrated—again and again—that digging through historical archives allows researchers to credibly answer big questions previously thought beyond their reach.For policymakers, her research shows that fixes for gender inequality vary depending on time and place. In early 20th-century America, firms barred married women from obtaining or retaining employment. A policy response came with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned such behaviour. Today, wage gaps persist because of greedy jobs and parental norms, rather than because of employer discrimination. In the past, Ms Goldin has suggested more flexibility in the workplace could be a solution. Perhaps working out how to achieve that will be her next act. ■ More

  • 138 Shares119 Views

    in Business

    Hispanic inclusion in corporate America lagged in 2022, new survey finds

    Hispanic inclusion in corporate America lagged last year, according to the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility’s 2023 Corporate Inclusion Index.
    While Hispanics make up 18% of the U.S. workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they are overrepresented in nonexempt positions.
    Hispanics make up 7% of corporate board representation and Latinas only held 2% of seats.

    Xavierarnau | E+ | Getty Images

    Hispanic inclusion in corporate America lagged last year, particularly in three key areas — C-suite representation, talent development and supplier procurement — according to the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility’s 2023 Corporate Inclusion Index.
    While Hispanics make up 18% of the U.S. workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they are overrepresented in nonexempt positions, which represent 73% of the Hispanic workforce according to HACR’s research.

    Nonexempt positions often offer fewer benefits, limited autonomy and fewer advancement opportunities, which can stifle the ability of Hispanic workers to advance within companies.
    “There’s no precise way to define success in the case of these things,” said Lisette Garcia, HACR chief research officer. “It’s more about ensuring that people feel engaged and committed and valued and that their voice matters, but that’s where benchmarking and doing these surveys matter.”
    The corporate advocacy group’s annual report, which measures Hispanic inclusion in employment, procurement, governance and philanthropy, was provided exclusively to CNBC ahead of its wider release.
    It includes data from 92 companies — many within the Fortune 500 — collected between January and April.
    A key finding from HACR: The lack of representation typically begins right at the start of the pipeline.

    While all companies that participated in the survey reported offering internship programs, only 13% of interns in 2022 identified as Hispanic.
    Garcia clarified that number may in reality be higher since demographic data collection around interns isn’t always conducted.
    While the vast majority of companies say they prioritize “mentorship” and “succession planning initiatives,” at 91% and 97% of respondents, respectively, almost one-third of companies said they do not have clearly defined goals or metrics to evaluate the success of internal talent development and program success.
    “One way of combatting issues related to Hispanic inclusion in corporate America is investments in internship programs as a way of attracting new employees,” HACR noted in its report.
    Hispanic representation on corporate boards was even more troubling, according to the findings. Just 7% of board seats at respondent companies were held by Hispanics according to HACR, and only 2% of seats were held by Latinas.
    Almost half the companies surveyed had no Hispanic board directors.
    As for supplier diversity, HACR found fewer than 1% of companies supplying to survey respondents were Hispanic in 2022, and just slightly more than 1% of total spend was with Hispanic-owned businesses.
    Garcia also noted those results amount to best estimates, not perfect numbers, since companies aren’t required to collect demographic information for their supplier pool. She also shared in her research that the companies collecting this data and sharing their results are often those committed to leading the charge.
    “Companies who really understand the value of this work for their business bottom line are going to be the ones that keep moving forward,” she said. “The sheer numbers of population growth and buying power tell us that companies aren’t going to really have a choice.”
    While Hispanic inclusion lagged, HACR noted survey participation was up 12%, offering hope for future improvement.
    “In spite of everything that’s happening in society at large with attacks on DEI work and attacks on marginalized people in the United States, we’re seeing companies be interested in benchmarking,” said Garcia.
    “There’s this renewed interest in saying, ‘Hey, where am I? What do I need to do to get better,’ and for me, that’s all I need to hear.”
    Disclosure: CNBC’s parent company Comcast is among the companies that participated in HACR’s annual survey. More

  • 150 Shares169 Views

    in Business

    Airlines cancel Israel flights, tour operators scramble to change trips after attacks

    Several airlines suspended service to Israel after surprise attacks by Hamas and Israeli retaliation.
    United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines each scrubbed service to Tel Aviv.
    Israeli airline El Al, Emirates and Turkish Airlines continued to operate.

    People wait in departing section at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s only international airport, after many flights from abroad are cancelled due to the attacks launched by Palestinian factions in Tel Aviv, Israel on October 8, 2023.
    Turgut Alp Boyraz | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

    Several airlines have suspended service to Israel after surprise attacks by Hamas and Israeli retaliation left hundreds dead and thousands injured.
    State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday that nine U.S. citizens were killed. Some U.S. citizens are still unaccounted for “and we are working with our Israeli partners to determine their whereabouts,” he said.

    A National Security Council spokesperson said that the U.S. is not “actively” considering an evacuation of U.S. citizens.
    Meanwhile the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday sent a notice to pilots stating “operators are advised to exercise extreme caution when operating” in the Tel Aviv area because of the attacks.
    United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines each scrubbed service to Tel Aviv.
    Delta said Monday that it would suspend its nonstop flights to and from Tel Aviv through at least the end of October and said it will work with customers to get them out of Israel through partner airlines.
    United Flight 954, which departed San Francisco Friday night for Israel, turned back near Greenland, according to flight-tracker FlightAware.

    “Our Tel Aviv flights will remain suspended until conditions allow them to resume,” United said on Sunday.
    American flights scheduled for early this week were also canceled.
    Germany-based Lufthansa Group said all of its flights, including those on Swiss International Air Lines and Austrian Airlines, were suspended into Tel Aviv.
    Swiss International Air Lines is planning to send an Airbus A321 with seating for 219 passengers to Tel Aviv on Tuesday in coordination with the Swiss government “intended to offer Swiss nationals in Israel the opportunity of a prompt return to their home country.”
    All scheduled commercial service on the airline is canceled through at least Saturday.
    “We regret having to do so,” the airline said in a statement. “We are monitoring developments closely and remain in close contact with the relevant authorities.”
    British Airways also canceled flights this weekend and reduced service early in the week. Air France said its Tel Aviv service was canceled “until further notice,” while European budget airlines Wizz and easyJet canceled flights to Tel Aviv through at least Monday.
    Israeli airline El Al said Sunday that its flights were “operated as scheduled” and said it was expanding its schedule to help offset the cancellations. Emirates Airline also continued to operate flights between Tel Aviv to Dubai, and Turkish Airlines flew between Tel Aviv and Istanbul.
    El Al and other carriers also offered travel waivers for customers to delay or cancel their trips.
    Cruise operator Royal Caribbean said it adjusted several itineraries to bypass the area because of the attacks. “Impacted guests are being notified directly,” the company said in a statement.
    Some tour operators worked to get travelers out of the country quickly.
    Nadav Peretz, founder of OUTstanding Travel, a Tel Aviv-based tour company that caters to the LGBTQ+ community, said he had more than 30 clients in the country at the time of the attacks and that customers quickly found flights out of the country and were refunded for the rest of their trips.
    “Unfortunately, we had to send people back to the airport after two or three days of their trip,” Peretz said by phone.
    Intrepid Travel said it “had a small number” of travelers in the country when the attacks began on Saturday and that all guides and customers are accounted for.
    Zina Bencheikh, managing director of Intrepid Travel’s Middle East and Africa business, said that the company’s customers who were in the middle of a tour in Israel during the attacks had mostly left the country, with the exception of one who was set to leave on Monday.
    The company canceled its tours in Israel through the end of the month. More

  • 125 Shares149 Views

    in Business

    ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ now faces its biggest foe: Taylor Swift

    “The Exorcist: Believer” topped the box office during its opening weekend, but now it faces competition from pop icon Taylor Swift.
    Box office analysts expect the Universal and Blumhouse feature to see a sharper than usual decline in ticket sales for a horror film.
    Still, the film could have a solid theatrical run in the weeks to come, if audience word of mouth is strong.

    Scene from the upcoming film: The Exorcist: Believer.
    Universal Studios

    “The Exorcist: Believer” possessed the box office during its opening weekend, but industry experts wonder if it will continue to turn heads in the weeks to come.
    The Universal and Blumhouse collaboration, the first of three planned films, tallied $26.5 million during its debut, making it the top-grossing film of the weekend. Yet that haul fell just shy of the $30 million prediction set by box office analysts. With international ticket sales, the film has generated $44 million.

    Still, on a production budget of just $30 million, “The Exorcist: Believer” could prove profitable if it continues to lure moviegoers in the coming weeks.
    There’s just one complication: Taylor Swift.
    “The Exorcist: Believer” fled from its original release date (Oct. 13) because Swift announced her Eras Tour concert film would arrive in cinemas that day. The film quickly snared the coveted, higher priced, premium format screens, leaving little room for “The Exorcist: Believer” to eke out a solid opening.
    “Moving from Friday the 13th to the 6th was a good move since the inherently strong marketing hook and advantage of having a horror movie opening on this classic day of superstitious importance would’ve likely been outweighed by the overwhelming dominance of that Swift film,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
    Representatives for Universal declined to comment.

    There was a brief notion that the two films could have partnered to become “Exorswift,” an opposites attract double feature like the summer’s “Barbenheimer” (“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”). The potential same-day opening was almost immediately shut down when “The Exorcist: Believer” moved its release date up a week. Even producer Jason Blum, head of Blumhouse, was open to the idea.
    Dergarabedian threw cold water on how well the combination would have worked, however.
    “The notion that an ‘Exorswift’ mashup could have somehow been comparable to the ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon is patently absurd given the unlikelihood that legions of Swifties would have an interest in a very R-rated horror movie like ‘The Exorcist: Believer,'” he said. “Thus going all in on a head-to-head matchup with Swift might have proved disastrous.”

    Taylor Swift performs onstage during her The Eras Tour at Lumen Field in Seattle, July 22, 2023.
    Mat Hayward/tas23 | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

    After all, Swift’s Eras Tour concert film is already a $100 million blockbuster — and that’s just from presales from AMC Entertainment cinemas which doesn’t include dozens of other theater chains’ sales.
    In moving the week before Swift’s film opening, “The Exorcist: Believer” was able to control a higher number of premium screens and more audience attention. Around 34% of all theatrical foot traffic over the weekend was for the film, according to data from EntTelligence. Competition for that traffic included a new “Paw Patrol” film and a number of R-rated features like “Saw X,” “The Nun II,” “The Equalizer 3” and “Expend4bles.”
    Box office analysts foresee a sharp drop in ticket sales from “The Exorcist: Believer’s” opening weekend to its second week. A decline is typical for horror movies, but Swift’s film will exacerbate it, the predict.
    Word of mouth could also be a factor. Horror movies are usually review-proof, often performing well theatrically despite critical panning. As of Monday, “The Exorcist: Believer” holds a 22% score on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and a 59% audience rating. With several more weeks before Halloween, the film could still pull in moviegoers looking for a fright.

    Scary stakes

    There’s a good reason why Universal couldn’t take the risk on Exorswift. The studio badly needs “The Exorcist: Believer” and its planned sequels to be hits. (The next film, “The Exorcist: Deceiver,” is due April 2025.)
    Universal and its streaming partner, Peacock, paid more than $400 million for the rights to The Exorcist brand. Through that investment, the studio has planned a trilogy of films. The company is also able to place previous Exorcist films on Peacock and integrate the IP in other ways, like Halloween Horror Nights at its domestic theme parks.
    Still, no movie in the franchise, except for the original, has grossed more than $42 million domestically, according to Comscore. In fact, not counting “Believer,” all of the five sequels and prequels since the first movie have grossed under $150 million combined.

    A scary track record

    How “Exorcist” films have fared at the domestic box office:

    “The Exorcist” (1973): $193.2 million
    “The Exorcist: The Beginning” (2004): $41.8 million
    “The Exorcist: The Version You’ve Never Seen” (2000)*: $40.1 million
    “Exorcist II: The Heretic” (1977): $30.7 million
    “The Exorcist III” (1990): $26.1 million
    “Dominion: A Prequel to The Exorcist” (2005): $251,495

    Source: Comscore
    *Special edition re-release of the original

    “The Exorcist is not a brand or series that’s been prevalent in the pop culture consciousness for decades now, and its few sequels beforehand never lived up to the iconic box office run of the 1973 original,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “The industry may have gotten a little carried away in expecting a bigger run just because this Exorcist sequel has the Blumhouse name on it.”
    “The Exorcist,” released on the day after Christmas in 1973, grossed $193 million domestically, and the “Version You’ve Never Seen” re-release, which featured additional scenes, scored $40 million in 2000.
    Otherwise, the franchise is cursed at the box office. “Exorcist II,” which was made in 1977 without creator William Peter Blatty’s involvement, is widely considered one of the worst sequels ever made. Blatty, who died in 2017, wrote and directed 1990’s “The Exorcist III,” but he said the movie’s production company, Morgan Creek, forced him to severely compromise his vision. (The movie has since grown in stature among fans and critics.)
    Then there was an ill-fated attempt to produce a prequel film in the 2000s that resulted in two wildly different movies. A generally well-regarded TV series ran on Fox for two seasons in 2016 and 2017, but it was canceled after a significant decline in ratings.
    “Will the franchise have a higher ceiling in the years to come? That remains to be seen,” Robbins said. “It will largely come down to creative decisions and how the studios make an effort to attract modern horror audiences rather than leaning on a brand that a big portion of today’s moviegoers haven’t been regularly exposed to.”
    Disclosure: NBCUniversal, which distributes “The Exorcist: Believer,” is the parent company of CNBC and Peacock. NBCUniversal owns Rotten Tomatoes. More

  • 138 Shares149 Views

    in Business

    Cruise prices are way up as operators meet surging travel demand

    Ticket prices for cruises are surging as operators say they’re meeting higher demand for post-pandemic vacations.
    Cruise operators such as Carnival and Royal Caribbean said they’re considering raising prices even more to close the gap between the price of cruise vacations and land-based vacation alternatives.
    Some industry watchers say the price surges show no signs of slowing.

    Carnival’s Breeze cruise ship leaves the Port of Miami.
    Christina Mendenhall | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    As vacationers emerge into a post-pandemic travel world, cruises have made a spectacular comeback — and ticket prices are surging.
    Cruise operators such as Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruises are setting some ticket prices higher than pre-pandemic levels and are indicating they may raise them further, even as they post pre-Covid profits.

    According to data from Cruise Critic, a cruise review site owned by Tripadvisor, the average price of a five-night cruise in the Caribbean for December of this year is $736, roughly 37% higher than the average price a year earlier. Compared to 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic decimated the cruising industry, December ticket prices are up 43%.
    Carnival CEO Josh Weinstein said during a call with Wall Street analysts at the end of September that the company’s third-quarter net revenue per passenger per day reached a record high. The company’s booking volumes likewise hit an all-time high, pushing cruise occupancy and revenue beyond 2019 levels, he said.
    Especially as costs of labor, food and fuel continue to rise, Carnival executives noted on the call, the company, which owns multiple major cruise brands, is “well-positioned to drive 2024 pricing higher.”
    A Carnival spokesperson declined to comment on the company’s specific future pricing actions but said in a statement to CNBC that the company has been able to deliver a value of 25% to 50% over “comparable land-based vacation alternatives.”
    Carnival sees “ample headroom” to close that gap, the spokesperson said.

    Royal Caribbean CEO Jason Liberty echoed the sentiment, saying on that company’s post-earnings call in July that his company is also considering increasing prices to meet the surge in demand.

    Are high prices here to stay?

    Aaron Saunders, a senior editor at Cruise Critic, said part of what’s driving the price surge is the comparison to high airfares.
    As inflation surges, airfare tickets have reached sky-high prices, with international airfare up 26% from 2019, according to an August estimate by fare-tracking company Hopper.
    With travelers facing higher costs across the broader sector, and considering cruises typically include additional amenities such as meals and entertainment, consumers are likely to gravitate in that direction, Saunders said.
    That demand is being driven by both seasoned cruisers and first timers, he said, a dynamic the industry hasn’t historically seen much of. Even so, Saunders said he believes the high prices might be here to stay.
    “[The higher prices] are likely subject to fluctuation — but what we’re seeing, generally speaking, is that the higher prices are here today, but those higher prices will ping pong around throughout different sectors,” Saunders said, noting that the Caribbean market is currently one of the most popular sectors. “Cruise lines aren’t being required to drop prices the way they used to … they’re just simply not having to lower fares or to really offer too many incentives because people are just booking.”
    Truist Securities analyst Patrick Scholes said while rising oil prices are important to monitor for context for the cruise industry, there’s not enough of a correlation between that increase and the increase in cruise prices to explain the propped-up tickets.
    “They’re raising prices naturally — fuel or no fuel, the demand is there for them to be raising prices,” Scholes said.
    While in a pre-pandemic world, last-minute bookings meant cheaper deals to secure a cabin, Scholes said, the prices are now so high that they’ll only increase more as the vacation date nears.
    For now, the record-high ticket prices show no signs of slowing, according to Ashley Kosciolek, senior cruise writer at The Points Guy. Kosciolek noted that the industry is also seeing higher prices for beverage packages and add-on amenities that used to be included in fares.
    “Let’s also not forget that the industry’s three largest parent companies — Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings — are still paying off billions in debt incurred during the pandemic,” she said. More

  • 163 Shares199 Views

    in Finance

    Stocks making the biggest moves midday: General Dynamics, United Airlines, Spotify and more

    The USS Truxtun (DDG-103) destroyer sits in dry dock at the General Dynamics Corp. NASSCO shipyard facility on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Virginia, on Jan. 9, 2018.
    Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
    Spotify — Shares of the music streaming service company fell 2.5% after Redburn Atlantic downgraded the streaming giant to neutral from buy. The firm said Spotify’s new audiobook offer doesn’t fit into its original forecast for margin expansion, while simultaneously stoking competition from Amazon.

    Zscaler — Shares of the cloud security company rallied 4.2% following an upgrade to an overweight rating from Barclays. As a catalyst, analyst Saket Kalia cited a new growth opportunity in the secure access service edge, or SASE, cybersecurity segment.
    Mirati Therapeutics — Shares of the cancer drug company fell more than 5% after Bristol Myers Squibb announced a deal to acquire Mirati for $48 per share, plus a contingent value right worth up to $12 per share. Mirati’s stock closed at $60.20 per share Friday.
    Tesla — The automaker’s stock fell 2.3% in Monday trading upon news that the company’s year-over-year sales declined 10.9% in China last month, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association.
    On Holding — The sneaker maker rose more than 1% after Baird upgraded the stock to outperform from neutral. The firm said On’s recent investor day reinforced its confidence in the brand’s health and upcoming three-year pipeline of growth.
    Motorola Solutions — Motorola added 3.3% after Bank of America initiated the stock at a buy rating. The bank cited solid pricing power, strong growth and a sustainable order pipeline.

    Datadog — Datadog dropped 3.6% after Bank of America downgraded the cloud stock to neutral from buy, citing downside revenue risk from demand checks.
    Oil stocks — Energy stocks soared following the escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict over the weekend. Shares of Halliburton, CF Industries and Hess each respectively rose 6.5%, 5.5% and 5%.
    Defense stocks — Similar to the energy sector, defense stocks also rallied on the back of rising conflict between Palestine and Israel. Northrop Grumman, L3Harris Technologies and General Dynamics respectively soared 10.8%, 9.1% and 8.4%.
    Airline stocks — On a broader level, airline names were down after several major airlines suspended service to Israel following this weekend’s attacks. United Airlines slid 5.3%, while Delta Air Lines and American Airlines shed 4.5% and 5.3%, respectively.
    — CNBC’s Yun Li, Tanaya Macheel, Sarah Min and Jesse Pound contributed reporting. More