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An Electron rocket launches from New Zealand on Aug. 4, 2022.
Rocket Lab

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Overview: Rockets are only the beginning

Five U.S. rocket builders have successfully reached orbit in the past two decades. But the CEOs of these companies will tell you that tapping into the global launch market isn’t enough.

“Launch is the keys to space … but once you have the keys to space, then you need to drive the car,” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck told CNBC. “The big space companies of the future are not just a launch company on its own or a spacecraft manufacturer on its own. It’s a combined entity where you provide an end-to-end service.”
Breaking into the launch market may seem hard (and expensive) enough on its own. Yet all five companies are moving up and down the value chain into everything from building spacecraft and components, to satellite services, delivery vehicles, lunar landers and more.
Rocket Lab, for its part, has expanded beyond its Electron rockets into making satellite buses, space-quality solar panels, and other spacecraft components. Beck emphasized that Rocket Lab’s investments focus on “all the pain points of how you build infrastructure in orbit.” 
Citing industry studies, Beck also said it’s “pretty obvious” where the total addressable market is most appealing between launch, satellites and space-based services: While the former two reach roughly $15 billion and $30 billion, respectively, the market for space applications is estimated to be upwards of $300 billion.
SpaceX has its satellites manufacturing and internet business, Starlink. Elon Musk has said the company’s launch business likely peaks at about $3 billion a year, but its capital-intensive pursuit to build Starlink is seen as tapping a market that would be 10 times that, or more.

Virgin Orbit is similarly developing a satellite business, which CEO Dan Hart told CNBC he hopes can “unlock” space-based services. 
For Astra, which put its launch business on hold to develop a bigger vehicle, a side business in propulsion offers “one of those rare products where we can scale production to meet the needs of a vast number of customers,” according to CEO Chris Kemp. 
And Firefly, the newest entrant to the launch business, has begun building lunar landers and space utility vehicles, also known as “tugs,” as a sort of last-mile delivery service for satellites. Firefly CEO Bill Weber said his strategy centers around the idea that whichever company “controls propulsion and supply chain is going to win this battle in launch.”

What’s up

Boeing takes $195 million charge on delayed Starliner program: The hit was part of a $2.8 billion loss in Boeing’s space and defense unit for Q3, and means the company has accrued $883 million in Starliner-related charges over more than two years as it works to complete development on the capsule and fly astronauts for NASA. – CNBC / Boeing
OneWeb resumes satellite campaign with successful Indian launch: After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shut down OneWeb’s launches with Soyuz rockets, the company returned from a hiatus and deployed 36 satellites through ISRO, one of its new launch providers. – OneWeb
AST SpaceMobile slashes quarterly cash burn, prepares to unfold BlueWalker 3 test satellite. The satellite-to-smartphone company reported preliminary Q3 results that saw its cash reserves decrease by just $3 million, versus an average of $60 million in recent quarters, due to proceeds from selling an investment and tapping an equity program. AST expects to begin the critical phase of unfolding its satellite’s antennas as soon as next week. – AST SpaceMobile
Aerojet Rocketdyne sale still on the table, as the defense and space manufacturer is reportedly soliciting offers after its $4.4 billion sale to Lockheed Martin was effectively blocked on anti-trust grounds earlier this year. – Reuters
White House opens talks with Musk over using Starlink in Iran: Officials of the Biden administration reportedly spoke to SpaceX’s CEO about how the satellite service could support Iranian protestors. – CNN
Northrop Grumman’s space business had $3.2 billion in sales for Q3, up 18% compared with the same quarter a year ago. But higher costs to complete contracts, as well as spending on early-stage development programs, lowered the unit’s operating margin for the quarter. – Read more
SpaceX adds $2,500 “flat high-performance” antenna to Starlink mobile offering. The company is now offering an antenna “for in-motion use,” especially on vehicles, with service priced the same as the standard offering at $135 a month and deliveries expected to begin in December. – SpaceX
Relativity unveils 4th generation metal 3D-printer, to manufacture its coming reusable Terran R rocket. – Relativity

Industry maneuvers

NASA orders $2 billion contract from Lockheed Martin for more Orion capsules. The agency expanded its previous deal with the contractor, asking for three more spacecraft for future Artemis lunar missions. – Lockheed Martin
Andreessen Horowitz-backed Apex Space raises $7.75 million to take on manufacturing satellite buses at scale. – CNBC
Array Labs raises $5 million to build radar satellites that gather 3D imagery. – SpaceNews
Former NASA chief Jim Bridenstine added to Firefly Aerospace advisory board, the latest company he’s joined in the private sector. – Firefly
BlackSky appoints former investment advisor Jon Kirchner as chief product officer. – BlackSky

Market movers

Boeing stock fell nearly 9% on Wednesday after reporting its Q3 results. The stock is down 30% year to date. 

On the horizon

Oct. 31 – SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy scheduled to launch the USSF-44 mission from Florida for the U.S. Space Force, in what will be the rocket’s first launch in about three years. 

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Restaurants have trimmed their weekly operating hours by 7.5%, or 6.4 hours, compared with pre-pandemic schedules, according to a new report from Datassential.
Operators chalk up the scaled-back hours to staffing shortages, which have improved but are still putting pressure on eateries.
Independent restaurants have been hit harder, losing 7.5 weekly hours on average.

Veselka is serves from its original location, which opened in 1954 in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood.
CNBC Make It

It’s not just your imagination. Restaurants aren’t open as long as they used to be.
Eateries have trimmed their weekly operating hours by 7.5%, or 6.4 hours, compared with pre-pandemic schedules, according to a new report from Datassential.

The food analytics firm found that 59% of the more than 763,000 U.S. restaurants are operating on shorter schedules in October than they were in 2019. Every state except Alaska saw a decrease in restaurants’ average weekly operating hours.
Datassential co-founder and CEO Jack Li attributed the scheduling changes to a few factors. Restaurants are still struggling to find enough workers to staff their locations, and cutting hours is one way they’re addressing that challenge. The slow return to the office means weaker demand in business centers. And areas that closed down aggressively during the pandemic are still bouncing back. States with Democratic governors saw steeper reductions to restaurants’ hours than those led by Republicans, according to the report.

Independent restaurants have been hit even harder, losing 7.5 weekly hours on average. Chains with more than 501 locations, by contrast, have cut their schedules by an average of four hours per week, the report said.
“Chains have things like robotics, automation and technology upgrades that can largely enable them to make do without as many people,” Li said.
But some chains have seen more dramatic changes to their schedules. Denny’s weekly hours have fallen by nearly a third, while Texas Roadhouse, IHOP and Subway have all seen their averages shrink by double digits.

A representative for Texas Roadhouse said that a number of its restaurants located near office buildings opened for lunch on weekdays prior to the pandemic. Since lockdowns, most of those locations cut their lunch hours to focus on dinner.
Sandwich chain Subway said its shorter hours were due to staffing issues.
“While many restaurants have increased their hours to 2019 levels, for some franchisees, the biggest challenge to extending their hours continues to be labor,” a Subway spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC.
IHOP and Denny’s did not respond to requests for comment from CNBC, but their significant drops in operating hours are likely due to the reduction of diners and other eateries that are open for 24 hours. The reduced hours are also hitting the New York metropolitan area’s restaurants, which on average have slashed their weekly schedules by more than nine hours, Datassential found.
In one ZIP code of Manhattan’s East Village, three-quarters of eateries reduced their hours compared with 2019, Datassential found.
Among those is Veselka, a neighborhood staple, which was open 24 hours a day, seven hours a week since 1991 until the Covid pandemic hit. Now, the restaurant still shutters every night by midnight and reopens at 8 a.m. even though New York City has lifted its dining restrictions.
Co-owner Jason Birchard told CNBC that the main issue has been finding and retaining workers, although some of the decision also came from a reluctance to serve late-night customers.
“Early on, the crowd that was late out at night was just a crowd that I didn’t want to market to. It was just an obnoxious drunk crowd, I hate to say,” he said.
The addition of outdoor dining tables has helped Veselka offset the lost sales from closing before midnight. The restaurant has also seen a surge in traffic since Russia invaded Ukraine as customers sought to show their support for the invaded country. (Veselka raised $250,000 for relief efforts by donating a portion of its borscht sales.)
After it closes temporarily for renovations in early 2023, Veselka will resume its 24/7 service, Birchard said.
In Seattle, restaurants have shaved an average of 7.7 hours from their weekly hours. Daisley Gordon, owner of Cafe Campagne, also said labor was the reason for going from operating seven days a week before the pandemic, to 4½ days.
“I feel like if we were open seven days a week, we’d be happy with the revenue,” Gordon said.
The restaurant has been searching for enough cooks to staff its kitchen, he said, and is slowing adding to its staff. Gordon predicts that Cafe Campagne will be open seven days a week by the spring, when it’s had enough time to train new workers.
Datassential’s Li said he believes a few factors will dictate if restaurants expand their operating hours: the labor market and broader economic environment, as well as the shift in consumer behavior.
“My guess is the reduction in the restaurant hours is going to be with us for at least a little while,” he said.

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The office is where colleagues meet, work and bond. But it is also a time capsule, a place where the imprint of historic patterns of working are visible everywhere. The pandemic has heightened this sense of the office as a dig site for corporate archaeologists. It isn’t just that covid-19 has left its own trace in the fossil record, from hand sanitisers to social-distancing stickers. It is also that items which were useful in the pre-covid world make less sense now; and that things which were already looking quaint seem positively antiquated. Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

The corporate jets descended on Riyadh this week, ferrying chief executives to the Future Investment Initiative, a talkfest nicknamed “Davos in the Desert”. A feud between the American and Saudi governments over an oil-production cut by the opec+ cartel, a move which benefits fellow member Russia, was not enough to keep away the bosses of giant American banks like JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. Nor was the kingdom’s record of human-rights abuses. Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

Sustainable Energy

Sustainable Energy
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The newest edition of the IEA’s World Energy Outlook comes at a time of significant uncertainty and volatility in global energy markets.
According to Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, the changes taking place appear to be seismic ones.
“Energy markets and policies have changed as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, not just for the time being, but for decades to come,” he says.

Wind turbines photographed off the coast of Wales. Clean energy investment could be on course to exceed $2 trillion per year by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.
Ben Birchall | PA Images | Getty Images

International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol told CNBC Thursday that the main driver of clean energy investment was energy security rather than climate change.
Namechecking the Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S. and other packages in Europe, Japan and China, Birol said a “major increase in clean energy investment, about [a] 50% increase,” was being seen.

“Today it’s about 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars and it will go up to about 2 trillion U.S. dollars,” Birol told CNBC’s Julianna Tatelbaum.
“And as a result, we are going to see clean energy, electric cars, solar, hydrogen, nuclear power, slowly but surely, replacing fossil fuels.”
“And why do governments do that? Because of climate change, because of the greenness of the issues? Not at all. The main reason here is energy security.”
Birol went on to describe energy security as being “the biggest driver of renewable energies.” He also acknowledged the importance of other factors, including those related to the climate.  
“Energy security concerns, climate commitments … industrial policies — the three of them coming together is a very powerful combination,” he said.  

More from CNBC Climate:

Birol was speaking after a new report from the International Energy Agency said clean energy investment could be on course to exceed $2 trillion per year by 2030, an increase of over 50% compared to today.
The projection is found within the Paris-based organization’s World Energy Outlook 2022, which was published on Thursday morning.
It’s based on the IEA’s Stated Policies Scenario, which factors in what it calls “the latest policy settings worldwide.”
Despite this increase, the IEA repeated its assertion that clean energy investment would still need to hit over $4 trillion by 2030 in its Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario.
This, the IEA’s report said, highlighted “the need to attract new investors to the energy sector.”
The shadow of 2015’s Paris Agreement looms large over the IEA’s report.
The landmark accord aims to “limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.”
Cutting human-made carbon dioxide emissions to net-zero by 2050 is seen as crucial when it comes to meeting the 1.5 degrees Celsius target.
The newest edition of the World Energy Outlook comes at a time of significant uncertainty and volatility in global energy markets.

Read more about energy from CNBC Pro

According to remarks from Birol published Thursday, the changes taking place appear to be seismic ones.
“Energy markets and policies have changed as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, not just for the time being, but for decades to come,” he said. “Even with today’s policy settings, the energy world is shifting dramatically before our eyes.”
Birol added, “Government responses around the world promise to make this a historic and definitive turning point towards a cleaner, more affordable and more secure energy system.”

Peak demand for coal, gas and oil?

In a statement accompanying the report’s release, the IEA said its Stated Policies Scenario had “global demand for every fossil fuel exhibiting a peak or plateau.”
Under this outlook, “coal use falls back within the next few years, natural gas demand reaches a plateau by the end of the decade, and rising sales of electric vehicles … mean that oil demand levels off in the mid-2030s before ebbing slightly to mid-century.”
The IEA’s statement also noted, however, that there was a huge amount of work to be done in order to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Under its Stated Policies Scenario, fossil fuels’ share in the planet’s energy mix would be a little over 60% by the middle of this century.
“Global CO2 emissions fall back slowly from a high point of 37 billion tonnes per year to 32 billion tonnes by 2050,” it added.
“This would be associated with a rise of around 2.5 °C in global average temperatures by 2100, far from enough to avoid severe climate change impacts.”
The above echoes a separate report published by U.N. Climate Change this week.
In an announcement Wednesday, the U.N. said that “the combined climate pledges of 193 Parties under the Paris Agreement could put the world on track for around 2.5 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century.” 
U.N. Climate Change said its new report also showed that countries’ pledges, as they stand now, would see emissions jump by 10.6% by the year 2030, compared to levels in 2010.
The U.N.’s analysis comes ahead of next month’s COP27 climate change summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. More

Comcast third-quarter revenue slipped 1.5% to $29.85 billion, compared with the prior-year quarter that included the Tokyo Olympics, beating analyst expectations.
The company added 14,000 new broadband customers, a continued demonstration of the slowing broadband business growth among U.S. cable companies.
Comcast reported its Xfinity Mobile business now has 5 million customer lines.

The Comcast building in New York.
Scott Mlyn | CNBC

Comcast on Thursday reported third-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates, despite seeing revenue slightly decline and continued softness in broadband customer growth.
The company’s shares jumped more than 5% in premarket trading.

Here’s how Comcast did in the third quarter of 2022 compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: 96 cents, adjusted vs. 90 cents expected
Revenue: $29.85 billion vs. $29.65 billion expected

The company said it added 14,000 broadband customers during the quarter – an improvement from the second quarter, when Comcast didn’t add any new customers for the first time ever. Still, it’s a sign that cable broadband providers are facing increased competition from telecom and wireless internet companies.  
The slowdown in new customers is hitting the cornerstone of Comcast’s business, similar to peers like Charter Communications and Altice USA. AT&T said last week building out its fiber-optic network remains a priority for the company, and it added 338,000 new customers during the quarter. 
“It’s still a challenging environment,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said on Thursday’s call with investors, noting how fewer people are moving to new homes in the United States, as well as increased competition from new entrants in the market.
Comcast’s revenue declined 1.5% to $29.85 billion compared with the same quarter last year, when the company’s NBCUniversal unit reaped more advertising dollars from airing the Tokyo Olympics on its TV networks. The company also took a writedown of $8.6 billion on its Sky business in the U.K. due to the macroeconomic challenges affecting Europe as the war in Ukraine rages.

Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 5.9% to $9.5 billion compared with the same period last year. 
Meanwhile, Comcast’s cable unit, which includes pay-TV, mobile and traditional phone services in addition to broadband, saw revenue increase 2.6% to $16.5 billion. The company said broadband revenue jumped 5.7% due to an increase in average rates and the number of its residential broadband customers. 
Its Xfinity Mobile business, which was launched five years ago and relies on Verizon’s wireless network, now has 5 million customer lines. 
Comcast lost 561,000 pay-TV customers, a continued quarterly decline that the company and its peers have been experiencing in recent years due to the rise of streaming services. 
Peacock, the company’s fledgling streaming service, surpassed 15 million paying customers, an increase of 70% year to date, the company said Thursday. 
Revenue for the NBCUniversal unit dropped about 4% to $9.6 billion when compared with the same quarter last year, when the Tokyo Olympics took place and added $1.8 billion in revenue to the media segment. NBCUniversal’s media segment is comprised of its broadcast and cable TV networks and streaming. 
On Thursday, Comcast financial chief Mike Cavanagh said the company expects its media business, excluding Peacock, to be affected by cord-cutting and some deterioration in the advertising market due to economic uncertainty.
Due to the absence of the Olympics, the media segment’s revenue declined roughly 23% to $5.23 billion. It would have been up 4.4% excluding the Olympics. Advertising revenue for the segment was down 35% for the same reason, although the company said that was partially offset by an increase in ad revenue from Peacock. 
NBCUniversal’s movie studios revenue was up 31.4% to $3.2 billion due to higher theater and content licensing revenue. The company said theater revenue in particular nearly doubled to $673 million mainly due to the releases of “Jurassic World: Dominion” and “Minions: The Rise of Gru.”
NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell recently said on CNBC that he believed that the company’s movie business has been performing well on the hybrid model of releasing some films simultaneously in theaters and on streaming service Peacock – such as its latest installment of the Halloween franchise – while still waiting to make others available to viewers at home, such as Minions. 
Peacock had a loss of $614 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and Comcast said Thursday the company still expects Peacock to record losses of $2.5 billion this year.
The company’s theme park business kept up its strong rebound since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when theme parks were shuttered. Revenue rose more than 40% to $2.1 billion as more people swarmed theme parks during the quarter. 
In the U.K., Comcast’s Sky saw revenue fall 14.7% to $4.3 billion, but said that excluding the impact of currency change, its revenue was consistent with the same quarter last year. Sky’s total customer count increased by 320,000 to 23 million, boosted by streaming customer additions.
The $8.6 billion writedown on Sky’s business came as the strengthening dollar affected the business on a currency basis, and the Ukraine war and inflation further affected Europe.
Comcast’s stock hit a 52-week low of $28.39 on Oct. 13. As of Wednesday’s close, shares are down about 37% so far this year.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC.

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McDonald’s topped Wall Street’s estimates for its third-quarter earnings and revenue.
Worldwide, the company’s same-store sales climbed 9.5%, beating StreetAccount estimates of 5.8% growth.
In the U.S., McDonald’s said customer traffic is growing, bucking a trend seen by other chains that have also raised their prices.

McDonald’s on Thursday said traffic to its U.S. restaurants is growing, helping the fast-food giant top analysts’ expectations for its quarterly earnings and revenue.
The company is bucking a trend seen by other chains, which have reported shrinking traffic after raising menu prices. Many restaurants, including McDonald’s and its franchisees, have turned to price hikes to mitigate higher food and labor costs, but inflation-weary customers have been cutting back on eating out to save money.

McDonald’s executives spoke openly about the challenges its restaurants are facing during the company’s earnings call. CEO Chris Kempczinski said there’s increasing uncertainty and unease about the economic environment. CFO Ian Borden told analysts that inflationary pressures and interest rate hikes are putting “significant pressure” on consumers and the restaurant industry.
Shares of the company rose about 2% in premarket trading.
Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: $2.68 vs. $2.58 expected
Revenue: $5.87 billion vs. $5.69 billion expected

The company reported third-quarter net income of $1.98 billion, or $2.68 per share, down from $2.15 billion, or $2.86 per share, a year earlier.
Net sales fell 5% to $5.87 billion. Excluding the impact of foreign currency, McDonald’s revenue rose 2% in the quarter.

Worldwide, the company’s same-store sales climbed 9.5%, beating StreetAccount estimates of 5.8% growth. All three of McDonald’s divisions topped Wall Street’s expectations for same-store sales growth.
In McDonald’s home market, same-store sales increased 6.1%. The company credited price hikes and an increase in customer visits, fueled by marketing promotions.
McDonald’s price hikes have scared away some of its lower-income customers, who aren’t visiting as frequently or are trading down to cheaper menu items as inflation puts pressure on their budgets. But McDonald’s is also pulling in more higher-income customers, who are opting for fast food over dining at a full-service restaurant.
Outside the U.S., McDonald’s reported even stronger same-store sales growth. In markets where the company owns its restaurants, same-store sales rose 8.5% in the quarter. That division includes Germany, France, Australia and the United Kingdom.
“Even as U.K. customers grapple with cost of living and energy impacts, our customers are coming back to McDonald’s because of the value we offer,” Kempczinski said.
Executives said the chain may offer financial support to European franchisees who are struggling with inflation, similar to aid it offered during Covid lockdowns.
In countries where licensees operate McDonald’s locations, same-store sales climbed 16.7%, fueled by strong growth in Brazil and Japan. China, however, continued to report same-store sales declines as regional lockdowns hampered its recovery.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

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Southwest says travel demand remains strong, despite higher fares.
But aircraft shortages are limiting growth.
Boeing reduced its delivery outlook for 737 Max planes this year as labor and parts shortages continue.

A Southwest Airlines Co. Boeing 737 passenger jet pushes back from a gate at Midway International Airport (MDW) in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on Monday, Oct. 11, 2021.
Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Southwest Airlines on Thursday joined other airlines in forecasting that strong travel demand will continue but warned that delays in new aircraft deliveries from Boeing could persist into 2024.
The airline reported a $277 million profit for the third quarter on record revenue of $6.22 billion, up nearly 33% from last year, despite an $18 million impact from Hurricane Ian. Southwest’s shares were up 4% in premarket trading after releasing results.

Here’s how Southwest performed in the third quarter, compared with Wall Street expectations according to Refinitiv consensus estimates:

Adjusted earnings per share: 50 cents vs. an expected 42 cents.
Total revenue: $6.22 billion vs. an expected $6.21 billion.

Airlines this month have forecast further strength in bookings through at least the end of the year. Record revenues have helped carriers cover higher costs, a reversal for one of the hardest-hit sectors in the Covid-19 pandemic.
Southwest forecast a jump in revenue for the last three months of the year of between 13% and 17%, compared with 2019 levels. It expects capacity to be down about 2% from three years earlier.
The Dallas-based airline said it expects unit costs excluding oil to be down next year compared with full-year 2022, but said that pilot shortages are limiting flying, which keeps costs up.
For the fourth quarter, it said unit costs would be up 14% to 18% from 2019.

Supply chain problems, labor shortages and training backlogs have hindered airplane manufacturers from ramping up production to meet the travel boom, capping airlines’ growth, a factor that could keep airfares elevated.
Boeing’s CFO, Brian West, said on an earnings call Wednesday that the company expects to deliver about 375 of its bestselling 737 Max planes this year, down from its January prediction of about 500 planes.
Southwest said it will likely increase capacity 10% from 2022 during the first quarter of 2023 and 14% in the second quarter.
The airline said “uncertainty around the timing of aircraft deliveries” is prompting it to remain cautious on its “2023 capacity plan with a goal to have sufficient aircraft to operate our 2023 flight schedules, as originally published, in an effort to enhance operational reliability.”

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