Raphael Stevens

The Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup after just six seasons in existence.
Vegas’ success in the NHL also underlines the gambling mecca’s rapid development into a major sports city.
The NFL will hold the Super Bowl next year in Sin City, while the MLB’s Oakland Athletics are on track to relocate there.

Mark Stone celebrates with the Stanley Cup after the Vegas Golden Knights won the NHL Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, June 13, 2023.
Jeff Speer | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

The Stanley Cup belongs to Sin City.
The Vegas Golden Knights, in just their sixth season in the NHL, won the league’s championship Tuesday night, completing a 4-1 series victory over the Cinderella Florida Panthers.

Vegas’ meteoric rise to the top of hockey has surprised the sports world, but it’s exactly what owner Bill Foley intended when he plunked down the $500 million expansion fee in 2016.
It’s a remarkable accomplishment for an expansion team in any sport, but especially for an ice hockey team in a desert city that had, until recently, also been a desert for professional team sports.
Now, the who’s who of Las Vegas have become Golden Knights fans.
“I was at Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final and T-Mobile Arena was absolutely electric,” MGM Resorce CEO Bill Hornbuckle told CNBC on Wednesday.
On Golden Knights game days, MGM properties surrounding the team’s home, T-Mobile Arena, are crowded with customers. That’s what former MGM CEO Jim Murren envisioned in 2017, when he described his efforts to turn Sin City into Sports City.

It’s more than just hockey, too. Vegas’ success in the NHL also underlines the city’s rapid development into a major player in sports.
Murren championed the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, which MGM owned at the time and later sold to Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis in 2021.
Clearly, Davis has bought into the concept as Las Vegas as a sports destination. He moved his storied football franchise, long a staple of California, to the city in 2020. The team’s Allegiant Stadium will welcome the Super Bowl to Vegas for the first time next year.

Golden glamor

The Golden Knights have been contenders since their first season. They quickly garnered a fierce fanbase while making it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals in 2018, losing to the Washington Capitals. Between then and its championship this year, the Golden Knights made the conference finals twice and missed the playoffs only once.
The team often sells out its home games, drawing locals and tourists alike. The city dons black and gold during hockey season. MGM Resorts drapes a Golden Knights jersey on its replica Statue of Liberty outside New York New York.
The community spirit surrounding the NHL team is felt throughout the city’s sports scene.
Horbuckle said, ” This is an exciting time for our city as we cement our status as one of the top sports and entertainment destinations in the world. ”
Las Vegas native Sandra Douglass Morgan is now president of the Raiders. She told CNBC in a recent interview that her hometown is poised to capture the imagination of sports fans everywhere, with its entertainment, dining, shopping and, of course, gambling options.
“We’re going to make sure that we continue to provid Las Vegas and the 40 million visitors from across the world these life-changing experiences,” she said.
Vegas’ casinos are also capitalizing on Formula 1’s inaugural race in the city, set for November. Wynn, for example, is offering a five-star weekend package with a price tag of one million dollars.
While Las Vegas lost out this year on a Major League Soccer expansion team, a Major League Baseball team looks like it’s on the way.
The Oakland A’s have signed multiple agreements to relocate the team to a Vegas location. The Nevada Senate this week approved a bill to raise $380 million in public funds toward a professional baseball stadium. The bill now goes to the state Assembly.
Rumors and hopes have persisted for years about the potential for an expansion team from the National Basketball Association, though nothing solid has emerged.
For now, though, Las Vegas is firmly enamored with the Golden Knights, a pride that compels locals to brave the dreaded Strip tourists and traffic to support their team.
And now the Knights are the kings of hockey. More

Lawmakers on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure narrowly voted in favor of a measure to raise the mandatory retirement age for pilots from 65 to 67.
The vote comes as the aviation industry grapples with a shortage of pilots.
The last time Congress raised the pilot retirement age was in 2007 when it was raised from 60 to 65.

A pilot holds the thrust controls of a United Airlines Boeing 787 aircraft at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, March 9, 2023.
Ed Jones | AFP | Getty Images

A House panel voted Wednesday to raise the mandatory retirement age for commercial airline pilots to 67 from 65 as the industry faces a persistent shortage of aviators.
Members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure voted 32-31 to include the measure in proposed legislation to reauthorize Federal Aviation Administration programs for five years.

“It’s a modest increase but that gives us some time for long-term solutions to take shape,” said Faye Malarkey Black, president of the Regional Airline Association, which represents smaller carriers that feed major airlines.
The association had pushed for the bill to stem the loss of pilots as airlines ramp up schedules and pilot hiring after shrinking during the Covid-19 pandemic by urging aviators to take buyouts. Airlines have blamed a shortage of pilots on service reductions, particularly to small cities.
The last time Congress raised the pilot retirement age was in 2007 when it was raised from 60 to 65.
The committee voted 63-0 on the proposed FAA reauthorization bill Wednesday, but it now faces a vote in the full House. It isn’t clear whether the new retirement age provision would be in a final version of the bill or make it through a vote in either chamber.
The Air Line Pilots Association, the country’s biggest pilot labor union, which represents aviators at major carriers such as Delta and United, has opposed the measure.
“The rash decision to move an amendment on changing the statutory pilot retirement age, without consulting agencies responsible for safety, or studying potential impacts of such a change as has been done elsewhere, is a politically driven choice that betrays a fundamental understanding of airline industry operations, the pilot profession, and safety,” the ALPA said in a statement. More

Health insurer stocks dropped after UnitedHealth Group warned of higher medical costs as older Americans start to catch up on surgeries they delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic. 
Shares of UnitedHealth, Humana, Elevance Health and CVS Health all declined.
Insurance companies have benefited in recent years from a delay in nonurgent procedures, but that trend may be reversing.

Health insurer stocks dropped Wednesday after UnitedHealth Group warned of higher medical costs as older Americans start to catch up on surgeries they delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic. 
Shares of UnitedHealth, the largest U.S. health-care provider by market value, closed around 6% lower. Medicare-focused insurer Humana declined 11%. 

Elevance Health closed roughly 7% lower, and CVS Health, which owns insurer Aetna, slid nearly 8%. 
Insurance companies have benefited in recent years from a delay in nonurgent procedures due to hospital staffing shortages and the pandemic, which saw hospitals inundated with Covid patients. Hospitals at that time were widely seen as too risky to enter for elective procedures.
But on Tuesday, UnitedHealth executives indicated that trend may be reversing. 
The company has recorded “strong outpatient care activity” throughout April, May and the early part of June, Chief Financial Officer John Rex said at a Goldman Sachs health-care conference.
Most of the uptick in care has come from Medicare enrollees who are getting heart procedures and hip and knee replacements at outpatient clinics, according to Rex. 

UnitedHealth CEO Timothy Noel said older adults covered under Medicare are getting “more comfortable accessing services for things that they might have pushed off a bit.” 
Rex said the amount of premium revenue spent on care for the second quarter may be at the high end or “moderately above” expectations due to the increase in procedures. 
Shares of medical device manufacturers Medtronic and Stryker jumped 2.5% and 4%, respectively, after UnitedHealth’s remarks.
Shares of hospital operators HCA Healthcare and Tenet Healthcare also edged higher. More

Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain Cava priced its initial public offering at $22 per share.
At that pricing level, the company is valued at roughly $2.45 billion.
Cava opened its first location in 2011 and now operates more than 260 restaurants.

The Cava logo is displayed at a Cava location in Pasadena, California, Feb. 6, 2023.
Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain Cava priced its initial public offering at $22 per share, above a previously stated range, the company said Wednesday.
Cava said it sold 14.4 million shares, which at a price of $22 per share, raises nearly $318 million. The company on Monday raised its pricing expectations to a range of $19 to $20 per share.

related investing news

At $22 per share, the company is valued at roughly $2.45 billion, based on an outstanding share count of more than 111 million shares.
Shares are expected to debut on the public markets Thursday and trade under the stock symbol CAVA.
Cava, founded in 2006, opened its first location in 2011 and now operates more than 260 restaurants. It has drawn frequent comparison to Chipotle Mexican Grill for its build-your-own-entree style of dining.
Last year, Cava reported net sales of $564.1 million, up 12.8% from the year prior. However, its reported net loss was $59 million, wider than a net loss of $37.1 million in 2021.
— CNBC’s Amelia Lucas contributed to this report.
Correction: Cava raised its pricing expectations for its initial public offering Monday. An earlier version of this story misstated the day. More

A survey by CNBC and Morning Consult found 92% of Americans are pulling back spending.
It’s further evidence of what retailers like Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Best Buy called out as cautious consumer-spending shifts during the first quarter.
Among the hardest-hit categories by inflation-fueled spending cuts, clothing came in as the No. 1 nonessential category where consumers have cut back.

Nearly all Americans are cutting back on their spending in some way, according to a new CNBC and Morning Consult survey.
The survey found 92% of Americans are pulling back, further evidence of what retailers like Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Best Buy called out as cautious consumer spending shifts during the first quarter.

Shoppers continue to report inflation squeezing their finances, with concerns particularly heightened among middle-income Americans. Of the survey respondents, 92% of middle-income Americans — or those who make between $50,000 and $100,000 a year — reported being “somewhat” or “very” worried about higher prices.
That’s a higher proportion than those in low- and high-income groups, with 88% of each of those segments reporting feeling concerned about higher prices. One somewhat bright spot: That share of high-income households, represented by those earning $100,000 or more a year, represents an improvement from a year ago when 92% expressed concern around inflation, according to the survey.

A woman looks for products in a department store in New York City, Jan. 26, 2023.
Leonardo Munoz | Corbis News | Getty Images

Over the last six months, higher prices have led nearly 80% of consumers to cut spending on nonessential goods, like entertainment, home decor, clothing, appliances and more, the survey found.
Further, two-thirds of respondents reported spending less on essential items, like groceries, utilities and gas. In the grocery category, more than half of consumers said they’re buying cheaper alternatives, like private label brands, or just generally buying less.
“Customers continue to seek value given the impact of inflation,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said on the retailer’s first-quarter earnings call. “Private-brand penetration is up about 110 basis points versus last year for Walmart U.S.” A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

Spending at value-oriented grocery stores in May outpaced spending in the overall grocery segment, according to Bank of America aggregated credit and debit card spending data.
“We think this reflects trade down from higher incomes, in line with commentary from Grocery Outlet and Walmart,” Bank of America Securities analyst Robert Ohmes said.
What’s more, consumers don’t expect to change spending habits for the remainder of the year.
Two-thirds of respondents to the CNBC and Morning Consult survey said they still plan on cutting spending on essential items over the next six months, and 77% plan to slash spending on non-discretionary goods, a percentage only slightly below those who said they have already cut back in that area.
The CNBC and Morning Consult survey was conducted online earlier this month and polled more than 4,400 adults.

Categories seeing pullbacks

Among the hardest-hit categories by inflation-fueled spending cuts, clothing came in as the No. 1 nonessential category where consumers have cut back, with 63% reporting buying less since the beginning of 2023.
Walmart and Target, the nation’s largest multi-category retailers, each reported seeing weakness in apparel spending in the first quarter.

A woman looks for products in a department store on January 26, 2023 in New York City. US gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 2.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Leonardo Munoz | Corbis News | Getty Images

While experience-based spending — particularly travel — has held up better than goods purchasing this year, the survey found spending at bars and restaurants was the second most likely nonessential category to see cuts, with 62% reporting spending less.
Monthly aggregate restaurant spending slowed in May from April, according to Bank of America’s credit and debit card data. The “fast casual” segment continued its spending slowdown, “casual dining” saw fewer dollars than the month before, and pizza in particular continued to see year-over-year declines.
Spending on entertainment outside of the home, including concerts, has fared slightly better, with 58% of consumers reporting they’ve cut back there, according to the CNBC-Morning Consult survey.
Meanwhile, more than half of Americans say they’ve cut back on major household-related spending like renovations or appliances.
“We are seeing more of a ‘break, fix, replace’ than upgrade [in appliances] and a little sensitivity to these single, larger-priced discretionary items,” Home Depot CEO Ted Decker told CNBC ahead of its investor day Tuesday.
And nearly half of survey respondents said they’re spending less on electronics like computers and phones. That pullback was even more stark among lower-income Americans, with two-thirds of the group cutting back in the category.
Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said following the company’s first-quarter earnings report that customers are making trade-offs.
“Not every industry is seeing the exact same customer behavior because the customer is in control and making trade-off decisions based on how that inflation is affecting them personally,” Barry said.
–CNBC’s Harriet Taylor contributed to this report. More

Petco on Wednesday announced a pet-care collaboration with rapper Snoop Dogg.
The campaign’s first ad showcases Snoop Dogg as the human form of a Doberman pinscher, a nod to the rapper’s 1993.
The collaboration features Petco Picks by Snoop, which include toys, treats and grooming supplies.

Petco teams up with hip-hop icon Snoop Dogg for an innovative pet-care campaign.
Courtesy: Petco

Petco has partnered with hip-hop icon Snoop Dogg for a new pet-care campaign, the company said Wednesday.
The collaboration features Petco Picks by Snoop, which include toys, treats and grooming supplies, and offers social content showcasing behind-the-scenes footage of Snoop Dogg with pets, including his reflections on being a devoted dog owner, Petco said in a press release. 

“My pets gotta look good, feel good, smell good,” Snoop Dogg said.
The campaign’s first ad showcases Snoop Dogg as the human form of a Doberman Pinscher, a nod to the rapper’s 1993 hit “Who Am I? (What’s My Name)?” from his debut album “Doggystyle.”
In 2022, American pet owners spent about $136.8 billion on their furry friends, a 13.2% increase from the previous year, according to an American Pet Products Association survey.
“We recognize that pet parents want to get the most for their dollars and are seeking compelling deals for high-quality products wherever they can,” said Katie Nauman, Petco’s chief marketing officer, in a news release.
Americans continue to spend money on pets, even during periods of financial constraint, Petco CEO Ron Coughlin said last year.

The cost for pet services, including veterinary care, was up 10.6% year over year in May, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Pet food costs were up 13.8% during the same period, the department said.
Shares of Petco are down about 9% year to date, lagging competitor Chewy, whose shares are up about 6% so far this year.
Petco relaunched its Vital Care membership program in March 2022 as part of a push to be more competitive in the pet-care market. The company said in an email that the program provides savings and additional benefits for consumers. More