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The battle between Frontier and JetBlue for discount airline Spirit is the most contentious in recent years.
Spirit and Frontier in February announced they planned to merge, but JetBlue swooped in with a surprise, all-cash bid in April.
Spirit shareholders are scheduled to vote on the Frontier deal on Thursday.

A Frontier Airlines plane near a Spirit Airlines plane at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on May 16, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images

The most heated airline battle in recent years comes to a head on Thursday when Spirit Airlines’ shareholders vote on a proposed tie-up with fellow discount carrier Frontier Airlines while rival suitor JetBlue Airways circles with increasingly sweetened takeover bids.
Spirit has repeatedly rebuffed sweetened, all-cash bids from JetBlue, arguing that such a takeover wouldn’t pass muster with regulators, and has stuck with its plan to combine in an also-sweetened cash-and-stock deal to combine with Frontier, first announced in February.

JetBlue’s surprise all-cash bid in April set off a fight over Spirit that last month turned hostile.
If Spirit shareholders vote in favor of the tie-up with Frontier, it would put the carriers on the path to creating a budget airline behemoth. The two carriers share a similar business model based on low fares and fees for almost everything else from seat selection to carry-on bags.
If shareholders vote against the deal it opens the door for a takeover by JetBlue, which would retrofit Spirit’s yellow planes to look like JetBlue’s, including cabins with seatback screens and more legroom.
“JetBlue does not have many options to achieve a step-change in growth, and that explains why JetBlue has pursued this deal so doggedly,” said Samuel Engel, aviation consultant at ICF.
JetBlue and Frontier have each argued their proposed transactions are key to their future growth, helping them better compete with large U.S. carriers and get fast access to Airbus narrow-body planes and pilots.

Either deal would create the fifth-largest U.S. airline.

Arrows pointing outwards

Late Monday, JetBlue said it would raise the reverse breakup fee if regulators don’t approve a JetBlue takeover of Spirit to $400 million from $350 million. It also raised the amount it would pay up in advance to $2.50 a share, from $1.50 and added a 10 cent-a-share monthly payment to shareholders starting next year until the deal is consummated or terminated.
JetBlue previously offered to divest some assets in crowded markets to calm antitrust fears, but hasn’t said it would give up its alliance with American Airlines in the Northeast U.S., which Spirit has called out as a sticking point in that deal.
JetBlue’s latest offer came after Frontier late Friday raised the cash portion of its offer by $2 per share to $4.13 and increased the reverse breakup fee to $350 million to match JetBlue’s then-offer.
Spirit has stuck with the Frontier deal. CEO Ted Christie on Tuesday called the Frontier offer “very compelling” and told CNBC the airline wants to “focus our efforts on convincing the shareholders it’s the right thing to do.”
Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services on Tuesday said that “the enhancements by JetBlue may be enough to offset the potential upside of the proposed merger with Frontier” but said it didn’t want to change its recommendation in favor of the deal with so little time before the vote.
Spirit postponed the vote from June 10 to continue deal talks with Frontier and JetBlue.

War of words

For weeks, JetBlue has argued that Spirit’s board hasn’t negotiated in good faith or fully considered its offer. It has repeatedly urged the budget airline’s shareholders to vote against the Frontier deal.
“The Spirit Board consistently ignored or refused to engage with JetBlue until faced with certain defeat on the original shareholder meeting date and then, in an attempt to avoid the widespread perception of its poor corporate governance, pretended to engage with JetBlue,” JetBlue said in a letter Wednesday again urging Spirit shareholders to vote against the Frontier deal.
Spirit has repeatedly denied claims that it hasn’t engaged with JetBlue in good faith. The airline didn’t immediately comment Wednesday on JetBlue’s latest letter.
All three carriers have launched heated words as they try to win over Spirit shareholders before the shareholder vote.
JetBlue late Monday wrote a letter to Spirit shareholders detailing its latest sweetened bid and accusing Spirit of making “misleading statements” regarding its antitrust doubts.

Frontier fired back in a lengthy news release Tuesday saying that “a Spirit acquisition by JetBlue would lead to a dead end — a fact that no amount of money, bluster, or misdirection will change.”
The high drama is coming from an already-consolidated industry that hasn’t seen a major airline deal since 2016, when JetBlue lost out to Alaska Airlines for Virgin America.
“This is as much as a potboiler for the summer than any trashy novel,” said Henry Harteveldt, a former airline manager and president of of Atmosphere Research Group.

High regulatory bar

Either combination of airlines would face high regulatory scrutiny from the Justice Department, after President Joe Biden has made ensuring competition a priority.
“Our duty is to litigate, not settle, unless a remedy fully prevents or restrains the violation. It is no secret that many settlements fail to preserve competition,” Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter said in prepared remarks for a speech in Chicago April.
The Justice Department last year sued to undo JetBlue’s partnership with American. A trial date has been set for late September.
Frontier has argued that its Spirit deal has a higher chance of passing muster, especially as concerns build over high inflation. Both Frontier and JetBlue say their proposed deals would mean lower fares for consumers.
“In a world where everybody is worried about inflation and the American family, and the American consumer is getting pinched in everything they buy, giving them the option of lower prices is something that I think consumers are going to want,” Frontier CEO Barry Biffle said in an interview. “Ultimately, we believe regulators will see it the same way at some point.”

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Bed Bath and Beyond said its CEO Mark Tritton has left the company.
The home goods retailer sharply missed Wall Street’s expectations for quarterly revenue and earnings.
Tritton was tapped to lead the company’s turnaround effort, but Bed Bath has struggled with disappointing sales and supply chain woes.

A pedestrian walks by a Bed Bath and Beyond store in San Francisco, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Bed Bath & Beyond said Wednesday that it is replacing CEO Mark Tritton as part of a leadership shakeup as the retailer’s quarterly sales and earnings sharply missed Wall Street expectations.
Shares fell more than 14% in premarket trading.

Sue Gove, an independent director on the board, will step in as interim chief executive, the company said. It said she will focus on reversing recent results, addressing supply chain and inventory issues and strengthening the company’s balance sheet.
“I step into this role keenly aware of the macro-economic environment,” Gove said in a statement, citing steep inflation and shifting buying habits.
Still, she said the company needs to improve its performance and that its first quarter results are “not up to our expectations.” Bed Bath & Beyond said it expects same-store sales to recover in the second half of the fiscal year, but did not provide a specific forecast.
The home goods retailer will also get a new chief merchandising officer. Mara Sirhal, who most recently served as general merchandise manager of health, beauty and consumables, will replace Joe Hartsig, who is leaving the company.
Here’s how the retailer did in the three-month period ended May 28 compared with what analysts were anticipating, based on Refinitiv data:

Loss per share: $2.83 vs. $1.39 expected
Revenue: $1.46 billion vs. $1.51 billion expected

The company’s net loss widened to $358 million, or $4.49 per share, from $51 million, or 48 cents per share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, the company’s net loss was $2.83 per share. That was more than the $1.39 that analysts expected, according to Refinitiv.
Sales fell to $1.46 billion from $1.95 billion a year earlier. Wall Street expected sales of $1.51 billion.
Same-store sales, a key retail metric, declined 24% in the quarter compared with a year ago, worse than the 20.1% drop that analysts expected, according to StreetAccount. Online sales fell by 21% year over year. The figures include a 27% drop for its Bed Bath & Beyond banner and a mid single-digits decline for the Buybuy Baby banner.
To win back sales, Gove told analysts in a conference call that the company will embrace a “back to basics mantra that prioritizes knowing our customer and delivering the experience they deserve whenever they interact with us.” 
Bed Bath has been under pressure from activist investor Ryan Cohen, chairman of GameStop and co-founder of Chewy. Early this year, Cohen’s firm, RC Ventures, revealed a 10% stake in the company. Cohen called for sweeping changes, criticized top executives’ high pay and urged the sale or spinoff of the company’s baby gear chain, Buybuy Baby.
Bed Bath and Cohen came to a truce in late March. The retailer agreed to add new independent directors to its board and look into alternatives for the Buybuy Baby chain. But the challenges for the home goods retailer have not let up.
Shares of the company are down 55% so far this year and hit a fresh 52-week low earlier this month. On Tuesday, shares of the company closed at $6.53, down more than 3%.
Bed Bath on Wednesday said a board committee is looking into ways to maximize the value of its baby chain, including by boosting its registry program and by improving its website and app. Gove did not rule out a potential sale of the business.
“The business is a very attractive business and we’re not alone in appreciating its value. We know there is interest,” she said on the call with analysts.
Inventory in the quarter rose about 15% from a year ago. As the company racked up merchandise, shoppers’ demand for those goods fell, Chief Financial Officer Gustavo Arnal said. He said the company will move quickly to clear excess inventory, a problem other retailers including Target are also working through. The company will reduce full-year capital expenditures by at least $100 million to about $300 million, Arnal said.
Bed Bath & Beyond said it hired retail advisory firm Berkeley Research Group to look at its inventory and balance sheet. It has also hired national search firm, Russell Reynolds, to look for a permanent CEO.
Read the company’s earnings release here.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

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The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances decreased to 5.84% from 5.98% last week, causing mortgage refinance demand to rise slightly.
Homebuyer demand was flat for the week and down 24% from a year ago.

After rising steadily for three weeks, mortgage rates dipped slightly last week, prompting a small increase in refinance activity. Activity from homebuyers, however, pulled back further, leaving total mortgage demand basically flat from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) decreased to 5.84% from 5.98%, with points decreasing to 0.64 from 0.77, including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment.

Applications to refinance a home loan rose 2% for the week but were 80% lower than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 30.3% of total applications from 29.7% the previous week.
Mortgage demand to purchase a home increased 0.1% for the week after rising more solidly the previous week. It was, however, 24% lower year over year.
“Overall purchase activity has weakened in recent months due to the quick jump in mortgage rates, high home prices, and growing economic uncertainty,” said Joel Kan, an MBA economist. “The average purchase loan amount declined to $413,500, which highlights an ongoing downward trend seen since it hit a record $460,000 in March 2022.”
The drop in the loan size is likely the result of moderating price growth due to higher mortgage rates and buyers not being able to borrow as much at those higher rates. 
After that brief drop, mortgage interest rates popped back up at the end of last week and continued this week, according to another read from Mortgage News Daily. The average rate on the 30-year fixed is now approaching 6% again.

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Delta says passengers won’t have to pay a fare difference if they change tickets booked July 1-4.
Delta and other carriers have trimmed their summer schedules to give themselves more wiggle room to recover when things go wrong.
Fourth of July weekend is expected to be the busiest for air travel since before the pandemic.

An Airbus A330-323 aircraft, operated by Delta Air Lines.
Benoit Tessier | Reuters

Delta Air Lines is allowing travelers to change their tickets for free during the busy Fourth of July weekend, allowing fliers to avoid paying a fare difference and skip the airport during a “potentially challenging” few days.
The unusual offer, normally extended for bad weather and limited to certain airports, comes as Delta and other airlines gear up for what could be the busiest travel period since before the Covid pandemic and scramble to keep a lid on elevated rates of flight delays and cancellations.

Delta travelers booked July 1-4 can rebook their trip with no change fee or difference in fare — provided they keep the same origin and destination and take a new trip by July 8.
The offer applies to all ticket classes, including no-frills basic economy.
“Delta people are working around the clock to rebuild Delta’s operation while making it as resilient as possible to minimize the ripple effect of disruptions,” the carrier said late Tuesday. “Even so, some operational challenges are expected this holiday weekend. This unique waiver is being issued to give Delta customers greater flexibility to plan around busy travel times, weather forecasts and other variables without worrying about a potential cost to do so.”
Delta last month said it would cut about 100 flights a day from its schedule in July and part of August. United Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Alaska Airlines have also trimmed their schedules in hopes of improving reliability.
Airlines have blamed the issues on bad weather, such as thunderstorms, and staffing shortfalls of air traffic controllers, though carriers have also been aggressively staffing up.

The Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Transportation have blamed airlines’ planning for some of the delays and cancellations, criticizing the companies for encouraging employees to take early retirement during the pandemic despite $54 billion in taxpayer aid set aside for payrolls.
“A lot of people, including me, are expecting to get to loved ones over this holiday weekend and we need a system that’s resilient enough to get them there, plus good customer service when an issue does come up,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an interview with NBC’s “Nightly News” that aired Tuesday.

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State of Freight

Port of Oakland is reducing its landlord free dwell time for containers from seven to four days before tariffs are applied.
“We think the rates need to be higher to encourage cargo owners to move their cargo faster,” the Port of Oakland executive director tells CNBC.
The CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map shows Port of Oakland has the longest wait time for import container pick up.

In an aerial view, shipping containers sit on the dock at the Port of Oakland on May 20, 2022 in Oakland, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

The Port of Oakland has had enough of the long-dwelling import containers clogging its ports.
On July 1, Oakland is reducing the tariff-free time from seven days to four days to reduce congestion on its marine terminal, and may raise penalties for containers that sit for too long.

“We think the (demurrage) rates need to be higher to encourage cargo owners to move their cargo faster,” said Danny Wan, executive director for the Port of Oakland.
The Port of Oakland is not involved with assigning demurrage rates. The late fees are charged by both the shipping lines and the marine terminals when a container is not moved out of the port within the free days offered.
“Our belief is that the rates are still low because customers are still using the terminals as storage facilities,” Wan said.
If the rate structure is changed, Port of Oakland will join the two terminal operators at the Northwest Seaport Alliance of Seattle and Tacoma that have been charging long-dwell fees since November 2021. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach announced surcharges in October 2021, but have continued to delay the penalty citing progress in the reduction of containers.
Container pick-up is just one of the problems the Port of Oakland is facing. The port’s Central Valley pop-up yards are currently experiencing a shortage of container-handling equipment.

According to the CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map, the port is experiencing the longest dwelling times for import containers.

“The average dwell in Oakland terminal is now 9-12 days,” Wan said. “It used to be 3-4 days. The 9-12 days incorporates rail dwell time because all rail cargo needs to be moved off the terminal to a near-dock rail facility.” 
This rail wait is something many of the West Coast ports are facing. Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka expressed his frustration to CNBC.
“60% of the aging containers are designated as rail cargo,” Seroka said. “This needs improvement. Containers that move out by truck are doing well. Aggregate, long dwell numbers at the POLA are higher than we saw in February, but not close to last fall.”
Both Union Pacific and BNSF service the West Coast ports.
In an email, Union Pacific told CNBC via email that it moves containers from the ports to inland ramps so end receivers can pick them up for further distribution. “We have steadily increased our shipments from the ports but are beginning to see elongated dwells at our inland terminals and increased chassis street time due to a lack of dray and warehouse capacity. It is important that end receivers consume these shipments in a timely manner so inland terminals remain fluid and we can continue to move containers from the ports.”
BNSF, which is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, did not respond to a request for comment.
Wan told CNBC there is no shortage of labor. “Thanks to the ILWU, we actually increased our dockworker workforce by 16 percent last year,” he said. “Our biggest challenge is to reduce the dwell time of containers at the port,” Wan added. ” If we do not move the containers out quicker we may have vessel congestion.” More

Whether you are covered when you travel on U.S. soil may depend on whether you have basic Medicare or an Advantage Plan.
Generally speaking, Medicare does not cover any medical costs outside of the U.S. and its territories.
Some Medigap plans offer coverage for travel outside the U.S., although they come with limitations.
Travel insurance may be appropriate, depending on your situation.

Tom Merton | Getty Images

If you’re a retiree on Medicare and feel the itch to travel, be sure you know whether your insurance plan can go with you.
Whether you want to hit the road for a U.S.-based trip or head overseas, coverage at your destination hinges on the specifics of your Medicare plan. The nature of your care — routine or emergency — also may play a role.

Just over a quarter of Americans (28%) say they’ve fallen ill or been hurt while vacationing, according to a recent study from personal finance website ValuePenguin. Among that group, bacterial or food-borne illnesses were most common (33%), followed by respiratory illnesses (28%) and bodily injuries (24%). Additionally, 12% of them said they contracted Covid while on vacation.
More from Personal Finance:100 million U.S. adults have health care debt, research showsCost to finance a new car hits a record $656 per monthSome medical debt will soon disappear from credit reports
In other words, it’s worth knowing what to expect from your Medicare coverage so there are no surprises if you need to visit a doctor or other health-care provider while away from home.

With basic Medicare, U.S. travel is straightforward

Basic Medicare is Part A (hospital coverage) and Part B (outpatient care). Beneficiaries who choose to stick with that coverage — instead of going with an Advantage Plan — typically pair it with a stand-alone prescription-drug plan (Part D).
If this is your situation, coverage while traveling in the U.S. and its territories is fairly straightforward: You can go to any doctor or hospital that accepts Medicare (most do), whether for routine care or an emergency. It’s when you venture beyond U.S. borders that things get trickier.

Basic Medicare does not cover travel outside the U.S. except in limited circumstances. Those exceptions include when you’re on a ship within the territorial waters adjoining the country — within six hours of a U.S. port — or you’re traveling from state to state but the closest hospital to treat you is in a foreign country (i.e., you’re in Canada while heading to Alaska from the 48 contiguous states).
Also be aware that Part D plans won’t cover medications filled outside the U.S., said Elizabeth Gavino,  founder of Lewin & Gavino and an independent broker and general agent for Medicare plans.
“Be sure to bring enough medication with you,” she said.

A Medigap policy might help abroad

If you have a supplement policy — aka “Medigap” — alongside basic Medicare, it could give you some coverage abroad.
Those policies, which are generally standardized across states, offer some coverage for the cost-sharing that goes with basic Medicare, such as copays and co-insurance. 
Some Medigap policies include some coverage outside the U.S. Plans C, D, F, G, M and N have up to $50,000 lifetime maximum benefits, with the beneficiary paying 20% of costs after a $250 deductible, and you are covered only for the first 60 days of your trip. 

This coverage applies only to medically necessary emergency care and there may be other restrictions, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Some older Medigap policies that beneficiaries still have — E, H, I and J — also come with travel coverage abroad, Gavino said.
Be aware that Medigap plans come with their own rules for enrolling, and policies can be pricey depending on where you live, your age and other factors. For example, for a 65-year-old female, the least expensive Plan G policy in Dallas runs just under $100 monthly compared with about $278 in New York, according to the American Association for Medicare Supplement Insurance.

Check coverage details on Advantage Plans

For beneficiaries who get their Medicare benefits — Parts A, B and typically D — through an Advantage Plan, it’s worth checking to see if your plan is among those that include coverage for emergencies abroad.
And even if you aren’t planning to leave U.S. soil, you should see what your plan would cover. While Advantage Plans are required to cover your emergency care anywhere in the U.S., you may be on the hook for routine care outside of their service area. 
“With a traditional HMO plan, when you travel outside the network, you have emergency coverage only,” said Danielle Roberts, co-founder of insurance firm Boomer Benefits.

“With a PPO, you have both coverage for emergencies and out-of-network coverage for non-emergencies [but] will pay more for these out of network services,” Roberts said.
There also are hybrid plans that may allow limited out-of-network treatment under certain circumstances, she said.
It’s possible that your Advantage Plan will disenroll you if you remain outside of their service area for a certain length of time — typically six months. In that situation, you’d be switched to basic Medicare.

Important tips for traveling overseas

If you do have some coverage overseas, you may need to pay out of pocket and be reimbursed, Gavino said.
“Foreign hospitals will not file a Medicare claim for you,” Gavino said. “Get an itemized bill to submit for reimbursement from your plan.”
Additionally, depending on your overseas coverage and your level of comfortability with it, you may want to purchase a travel medical plan.

Foreign hospitals will not file a Medicare claim for you.

Elizabeth Gavino
Founder of Lewin & Gavino

Such options are priced based on factors including your age, and the length of the coverage. You can get coverage for a single trip of a couple weeks or several months, or get a multi-trip policy, which could cover a longer period.
The plans typically come with a deductible — say, $250 or more — and coverage could range from about $50,000 in maximum benefits to upwards of $1 million or more. Policies average between $40 and $80, although higher coverage limits and longer coverage terms typically increase the cost, according to insurance company Travelers.
“Be sure to find out if the plan covers pre-existing conditions and Covid,” Gavino said.

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“Top Gun: Maverick” rocketed to $1 billion at the global box office over the weekend, signaling some momentum for the domestic box office.
A string of solid theatrical performances coupled with a strong slate of upcoming films has left most box office analysts optimistic.
But inflation threatens to slow the rebound as moviegoers weigh rising prices.

Tom Cruise in “Top Gun: Maverick”
Source: Paramount

“Top Gun: Maverick” rocketed to $1 billion at the global box office over the weekend, setting a new career milestone for star Tom Cruise and signaling some momentum for the domestic box office as it heads into the second half of the year.
The Paramount and Skydance film is the second feature to reach the $1 billion benchmark since March 2020, when the Covid pandemic halted production and shut down theaters. Box office analysts are hanging hopes for a strong second half of 2022 on the domestic ticket sales for “Maverick” — around $520.8 million of its total haul.

As of Sunday, the domestic box office has generated $3.63 billion in ticket sales, up more than 263% compared with last year. While the tally still lags 2019, down about 33%, a string of solid theatrical performances coupled with a strong slate of upcoming films has left most box office analysts optimistic about future ticket sales, despite economic pressures.
“Even with a third-less content, summer 2022 is rolling along as audiences and theaters have found their cinematic groove,” said Jeff Bock, senior analyst at Exhibitor Relations. “With five films in double digits this past weekend, it’s a surefire sign that momentum is on the side of studios again.”
Over the weekend, “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Elvis” each brought in around $30 million domestically, “Jurassic World: Dominion” added $26.4 million, Toy Story spin-off “Lightyear” tallied $17.6 million and “The Black Phone” premiered with $23.7 million, according to data from Comscore.
“The issue this summer, is that after the first couple weeks of July, and especially August, will the movie momentum continue with largely original films?” Bock said. “That’s going to be key for the industry. Look, we know blockbuster IP is back, but that was never really in question since ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home.’ What will be very telling, is how films perform in late-July and August.”
Experts foresee the domestic box office reaching between $7.5 billion and $8 billion this year, about 30% to 35% off the $11.4 billion generated in 2019 — but that’s only if non-franchise films can drive incremental tickets sales between big budget releases and moviegoers don’t get scared away by rising prices.

While the movie theater biz has long been considered “recession proof” because ticket prices are traditionally lower than other forms of entertainment, consumers could cut back on cinema visits as other costs balloon. Inflation is surging at rates not seen in four decades, according to recent government data.
“The effects of rampant inflation on the pocketbook may prove to be the biggest challenge for the industry as audiences who are naturally becoming more selective on what they spend their hard-earned money will be more finicky than ever when it comes to the decision head to the multiplex,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
Audiences will have a lot of content to choose from in the coming months. On the docket is Disney and Marvel’s “Thor: Love and Thunder” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” as well as Warner Bros. and DC’s “Black Adam” and “Shazam: Fury of the Gods.” Universal is set to release “Minions: The Rise of Gru” as well as Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” and Sony has the hotly anticipated “Bullet Train.”
Capping off the year will be Disney’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the first planned sequel to the highest-grossing film of all time.
“There is no greater sign of a return to normalcy for the box office than a movie marketplace replete with a diverse lineup of films all jockeying for position on the weekend chart delivering a combination of hits and misses,” Dergarabedian said.
Already 2022’s slate is outperforming features released in 2021, which saw Disney’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” as the highest-grossing domestic release of the year, with $225 million in ticket sales, until Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” nabbed $573 million in late December.
“This summer is generally meeting, if not exceeding, expectations to that end with a robust release schedule that isn’t depending on just one film,” he said. “There’s something for everyone in theaters right now, and high comfort levels are coinciding to produce the latest progression of moviegoing’s rebound. Theaters are back and thriving.”
“Maverick” is the highest-grossing domestic title for the year, followed by “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which generated $409 million in the U.S. and Canada, then “The Batman” with $369.3 million and “Jurassic World: Dominion” with $303 million.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is the distributor of “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” “Nope,” “Jurassic World: Dominion” and “The Black Phone.”

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CVS is removing its earlier purchase limit on emergency contraceptive pills.
The chain said that “sales have since returned to normal and we’re in the process of removing the purchase limits.”
The removal will take place over the next 24 hours both in stores and online.

CVS is removing the purchase limit it had put on emergency contraceptive pills following last week’s Supreme Court ruling, the chain said Tuesday.
The reversal comes as sales have dipped back to normal levels and will be made both in stores and online over the next 24 hours, CVS said.

The limit on the emergency contraceptives, commonly known as morning after pills and sold under names including Plan B, had gone into effect on Saturday. It prevented customers from buying more than three at a time to “ensure equitable access,” the drug store chain said earlier. The cap was put in place after the chain said it experienced a “sharp increase” in sales of the pills following the Supreme Court’s Friday decision to overturn the landmark ruling that had constitutionally protected the right to abortion for nearly 50 years.
As of late Tuesday, a purchase limit of three was still in place online for both Plan B One Step and Aftera on the chain’s site.
A limit on emergency contraceptives was also in place at Amazon, the company confirmed to CNBC. A Walmart representative said Tuesday that many of the chain’s products have online purchase limits in place that may change “during times of fluctuating demand.” Walgreens does not have a purchase limit in place for emergency contraceptives, a representative said Monday.
Emergency contraceptive pills are different from medication abortion, or abortion pills, which require a prescription and involve taking two different pills within 10 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
–CNBC’s Melissa Repko and Annie Palmer contributed to this report.

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