Finance

Hurricane Helene brought high winds and mass flooding to parts of the Southeast U.S., including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.
Airlines don’t generally owe a financial duty to customers because of weather related events, experts said.
Some carriers are offering concessions in certain areas like Asheville, North Carolina, and Valdosta, Georgia.

Men inspect the damage from flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina.
Sean Rayford | Getty Images News | Getty Images

As the Southeast U.S. recovers in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene’s destruction, consumers looking to change their air travel plans to or from affected areas without taking a financial hit may be out of luck, experts said.
“The big-picture issue that happens in U.S. air travel: When there is a significant disruption, air passengers have very, very limited rights” when it comes to compensation, said Eric Napoli, chief legal officer at AirHelp, an online service that assists airline passengers.

‘Catastrophic damage’

The North Carolina Department of Transportation urged people to avoid unnecessary travel in the western part of the state due to hundreds of road closures from downed trees, landslides and “catastrophic damage.”

What airlines owe passengers

Amid that destruction, travelers hoping to change flights for free or cancel their plans for a refund may find airlines unwilling to grant that financially flexibility.
Airlines do generally owe “prompt” refunds to passengers if they cancel or make a “significant change” to a flight, regardless of the reason, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. That’s true even for consumers with non-refundable tickets.

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However, weather-related events like Hurricane Helene are generally considered to be outside an airline’s control, meaning passengers have relatively few rights to compensation, experts said.
The airline’s duty in such cases generally depends on a passenger’s specific fare, such as economy or business class, Napoli said.
“There’s nothing [airlines] will do for you” if your conference was canceled and you don’t have a ticket that grants free cancellation or comes without fees for changes, he said.

Airlines make concessions in some cases

Damage to a store in Valdosta, Georgia, from Hurricane Helene.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Some airlines are making concessions tied to Hurricane Helene, though they vary by carrier and geography.
“All the rules are different,” said Sally French, a travel expert at NerdWallet.
Many major U.S. carriers have dedicated webpages for travel alerts outlining their policies around specific events, she said.
For example, American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines have alerts about flooding in the Southeast. Many focus on areas around Asheville, North Carolina, and some parts of Georgia like the city of Valdosta.
United is waiving change fees and fare differences for passengers whose flight was affected by flooding and who choose to reschedule their flight, for example.
United’s policy comes with parameters: Passengers must have purchased their ticket before Sept. 26, for travel between Sept. 30 and Oct. 31, 2024; the new flight must be a United flight leaving by the end of 2024 and between the same cities as originally booked. Those who cancel can get a full refund.

American Airlines is also giving leeway to passengers scheduled to travel through Augusta, Georgia, between Sept. 29 and Oct. 4. They must book changes by Oct. 4.
Delta passengers scheduled to fly through Asheville or Valdosta must travel on rebooked flights by Oct. 18 to avoid paying a fare difference. Change fees would still be waived past that date, however.

Read the specifics of insurance policies

Travel insurance isn’t always a fail-safe in the event consumers can’t get reimbursed from the travel provider for a flight, hotel or other travel expenses, experts said.
If you didn’t purchase a cancel-for-any-reason policy, your trip problems typically have to fall under specific, covered reasons. Plus, policies bought after Helene became a named storm generally won’t cover claims related to it.
“Make sure you read the fine print and what the insurance is actually covering,” Napoli said.
Consumers who purchased their trip with a credit card may get certain travel reimbursement benefits from their card issuer, sometimes even in the case of severe weather, French said. Credit-card companies generally require a “quick turnaround” on a claim, often within 21 days, she said. More

After THE financial crisis of 2007-09, global house prices fell by 6% in real terms. But, before long, they picked up again, and sailed past their pre-crisis peak. When covid-19 struck, economists reckoned a property crash was on the way. In fact there was a boom, with mask-wearing house-hunters fighting over desirable nests. And then from 2021 onwards, as central banks raised interest rates to defeat inflation, fears mounted of a house-price horror show. In fact, real prices fell by just 5.6%—and now they are rising fast again. Housing seems to have a remarkable ability to keep appreciating, whatever the weather. It will probably defy gravity even more insolently in the coming years. More

Bettinger will be replaced on Jan. 1, 2025, by Charles Schwab President Rick Wurster.
Bettinger will remain as the co-chair of Schwab’s board.
Schwab’s stock has gone up roughly 150% during Bettinger’s tenure, but it has underperformed the broader market over the past two years.

Walter “Walt” Bettinger, president and chief executive officer of Charles Schwab Corp., speaks during the 2015 Fortune Global Forum in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Charles Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger is retiring from his role at the end of December after 16 years leading the brokerage firm, the company announced Tuesday.
Bettinger will be replaced on Jan. 1, 2025, by Charles Schwab President Rick Wurster. Bettinger will remain as the co-chair of Schwab’s board.

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Charles Schwab, 5 years

In a statement, Bettinger cited his 65th birthday next year as a reason to step aside and praised the choice of Wurster.
“The Schwab Board’s thoughtful and disciplined approach to succession planning helps make this transition smooth. Rick Wurster and I have worked together on a daily basis for more than eight years. I have complete confidence in his leadership, and I am thrilled that the Schwab Board of Directors has selected him as my successor,” the statement said.
In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Wurster indicated that there would not be any immediate change in strategy with the CEO handoff.
“I don’t think there will be a transition in the sense that we’re going to continue what we’ve been doing, which is deliver for our clients and delight them,” Wurster said.
Since Bettinger took over in 2008, the company’s client assets have grown to $9.74 trillion from $1.14 trillion, and client brokerage accounts have grown to more than 43 million from fewer than 10 million. This growth is due in part to Schwab’s acquisition of TD Ameritrade, which closed in 2020.

Bettinger said on “Squawk Box” that the integration of Ameritrade was completed earlier this year and was another reason that he thought this was a good time to step aside from the CEO role.
Schwab’s stock has gone up roughly 150% during Bettinger’s tenure, which began in the middle of the financial crisis, but it has underperformed the broader market over the past two years.
“I often say that not many CEOs halve their company’s stock price in the first 90 days, but that was pretty much what I walked into in the financial crisis,” Bettinger said on “Squawk Box.”
Shares of Schwab were up less than 1% in premarket trading Tuesday. More

Mastercard on Tuesday said it’s agreed to acquire Minna Technologies, a subscription management software startup.
The payments giant touted the deal as a way to help consumers with a key pain point — managing the myriad subscription services that exist today, from Netflix to Amazon Prime.
According to Juniper Research data, there are 6.8 billion subscriptions globally, a number that’s expected to jump to 9.3 billion by 2028.

BARCELONA, SPAIN – MARCH 01: A view of the MasterCard company logo on their stand during the Mobile World Congress on March 1, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Joan Cros Garcia/Corbis via Getty Images)
Joan Cros Garcia – Corbis | Corbis News | Getty Images

Mastercard said Tuesday that it’s agreed to acquire Minna Technologies, a software firm that makes it easier for consumers to manage their subscriptions.
The move comes as Mastercard and its primary payment network rival Visa are rapidly attempting to expand beyond their core credit and debit card businesses into technology services, such as cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and pay-by-bank payments.

Mastercard declined to disclose financial details of the transaction which is currently subject to a regulatory review.
The payments giant said that the deal, along with other initiatives it’s committed to around subscriptions, will allow it to give consumers a way to access all their subscriptions in a single view — whether inside your banking app or a central “hub.”
Minna Technologies, which is based in Gothenburg, Sweden, develops technology that helps consumers manage subscriptions within their banking apps and websites, regardless of which payment method they used for their subscriptions.
The company said it works with some of the world’s largest financial institutions in the world today. It already counts Mastercard as a key partner as well as its rival Visa.
“These teams and technologies will add to the broader set of tools that help manage the merchant-consumer relationship and minimize any disruption in their experience,” Mastercard said in a blog post Tuesday.

Consumers today often have tons of subscriptions to manage across multiple services such as Netflix, Amazon and Disney Plus. Owning multiple subscriptions can make it difficult to cancel them as consumers can end up losing track of which subscriptions they’re paying for and when.
Mastercard noted that this can have a negative impact on merchants because consumers who aren’t able to easily cancel their subscriptions end up calling on their banks to request a block on payments being taken.

According to Juniper Research data, there are 6.8 billion subscriptions globally, a number that’s expected to jump to 9.3 billion by 2028.
Financial services incumbents such as Mastercard have been rapidly growing their product suite to remain competitive with emerging fintech players that are offering more convenient, digitally native ways to manage consumers’ money management needs.
In 2020, Mastercard acquired Finicity, a U.S. fintech firm that enables third parties — such as fintechs or other banks — to gain access to consumers’ banking information and make payments on their behalf.
Earlier this year, the company announced that by 2030, it would tokenize all cards issued on its network in Europe — in other words, as a consumer, you wouldn’t need to enter your card details manually anymore and would only have to use your thumbprint to authenticate your identity when you pay.
Visa, meanwhile, is also trying to remain competitive with fintech challengers. Last month, the company launched a new service called Visa A2A, which makes it easier for consumers to set up and manage direct debits — payments which are taken directly from your bank account rather than by card. More

British retail investing app Freetrade has entered into an agreement with Australian rival Stake to take on all of the company’s U.K. clients and their assets, Freetrade told CNBC Tuesday.
Sydney-based Stake launched its services in the U.K. in 2020, however the firm has decided to focus primarily on its Australia and New Zealand operations after a recent business review.
The move is expected to bolster Freetrade’s domestic operations, and comes as British retail investment platforms as a whole are facing heated competition from Robinhood.

People walk along London Bridge past the City of London skyline.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

London-based online trading platform Freetrade told CNBC Tuesday that it’s agreed to buy the U.K. customer book of Stake, an Australian investing app.
The move is part of a broader bid from Freetrade to bolster its domestic business and comes as British digital investment platforms face rising competition from new entrants — not least U.S. heavyweight Robinhood.

The startup told CNBC exclusively that it entered into a transaction with Stake to take on all of the company’s clients and move all assets the firm manages in the U.K. over to its own platform.
Freetrade and Stake declined to disclose financial information of the deal, including the value of Stake’s U.K. customer book.
Stake, which is based in Sydney, Australia, was founded in 2017 by entrepreneurs Matt Leibowitz, Dan Silver and Jon Abitz with the aim of providing low-cost brokerage services to retail investors in Australia.
The company, which also operates in New Zealand, launched its services in the U.K. in 2020. However, after a recent business review, Stake decided to focus primarily on its Australia and New Zealand operations.
Following the deal, customers of Stake U.K. will be contacted with details about how to move their money and other assets over to Freetrade in “the coming weeks,” the companies said. Customers will still be able to use their Stake account until assets and cash are transferred to Freetrade in November.

Freetrade operates primarily in the U.K. but has sought to expand into the European Union. It offers a range of investment products on its platform, including stocks, exchange-traded funds, individual savings accounts, and government bonds. As of April 2024, it had more than 1.4 million users.
Earlier this year, CNBC reported that the startup’s co-founder and CEO, Adam Dodds, had decided to depart the company after six years at the helm. He was replaced by Viktor Nebehaj, the firm’s then-chief operating officer.
Freetrade was a beneficiary of the 2020 and 2021 retail stock investing frenzy, which saw GameStop and other so-called “meme stocks” jump to wild highs. In the years that followed, Freetrade and its rivals, including Robinhood were impacted by higher interest rates which hammered investor sentiment.
In 2022, Freetrade announced plans to lay off 15% of its workforce. The following year, the firm saw its valuation slump 65% to £225 million ($301 million) in an equity crowdfunding round. Freetrade at the time blamed a “different market environment” for the reduction in its market value.
More recently, though, things have been turning around for the startup. Freetrade reported its first-ever half year of profit in 2024, with adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization hitting £91,000 in the six months through June. Revenues climbed 34% year-over-year, to £13.1 million.
“I’m focused on scaling Freetrade into the leading commission-free investment platform in the UK market,” CEO Nebehaj said in a statement shared with CNBC. “This deal shows our commitment to capitalise on opportunities for inorganic growth to reach that goal.”
“Over the last few months, we have worked closely with Stake to ensure a smooth transition and good outcomes for their UK customers. We look forward to welcoming them and continuing to support them on their investment journeys.”
Freetrade currently manages more than £2 billion worth of assets for U.K. clients. Globally, Stake has over $2.9 billion in assets under administration.
Robinhood, a far larger player in the U.S. with $144 billion in assets under management, launched in the U.K. in November 2023 to much fanfare. Earlier this month, the company launched a securities lending scheme in the U.K., in a bid to further entice prospective British clients. More

Retail investing platform Robinhood announced that it’s offering customers in Europe the ability to transfer cryptocurrencies in and out of its app.
The company is looking to broaden its product capabilities in the region as it ramps up its international expansion.
The company said that it’ll allow customers in the European Union to deposit and withdraw more than 20 digital currencies through its platform, including bitcoin, ethereum, solana, and USD coin.

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Retail investing platform Robinhood on Tuesday announced that it’s offering customers in Europe the ability to transfer cryptocurrencies in and out of its app, broadening its product capabilities in the region as it presses ahead with international expansion.
In a blog post on Tuesday, the company said that it’ll allow customers in the European Union to deposit and withdraw more than 20 digital currencies through its platform, including bitcoin, ethereum, solana, and USD coin.

The move effectively gives Robinhood’s European users the ability to “self-custody” assets — meaning that, rather than entrusting your cryptocurrency to a third-party platform, you can instead take ownership of it in a fully owned wallet that holds your funds.
In December last year, Robinhood launched its crypto trading service, Robinhood Crypto, in the EU for the first time. The service allowed users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, but not to move them away from the platform, either to another third-party platform or to their own self-custodial wallet.
Johann Kerbrat, general manager of Robinhood’s crypto unit, told CNBC that he thinks the EU has the potential to become an attractive market for digital currencies, thanks to crypto-friendly regulations being adopted by the bloc.
“The EU can become a very attractive market next year,” Kerbrat said in an interview. He pointed to the EU’s landmark Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), regulation, which sets out harmonized rules for the crypto sector across all 27 of the bloc’s member states.
Once MiCA is fully in place, Kerbrat said, every EU country will fall under the same unified regime.

“In terms of total addressable market, [the EU] is as big as the U.S.,” he told CNBC, adding, “it’s definitely an interesting market for us.”
Robinhood added that, for a limited time, the company will offer European customers the ability to get 1% of the value of tokens deposited on its platform back in the form of the equivalent cryptocurrency they transfer into Robinhood.
Robinhood is rolling out new features in the EU at a time when U.S. crypto firms are sparring with regulators at home. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission has sued several companies including Coinbase, Binance and Ripple over claims that they’re all dealing in unregistered securities.

Each of the platforms has contested the SEC’s allegations, stipulating that tokens marketed and sold on their platforms don’t quality as securities that should be registered with the agency.
“We are disappointed by the way U.S. regulation is happening, where it’s basically regulation by enforcement,” Kerbret told CNBC. “We are not super happy to see that.”
Robinhood is regulated by the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) at a federal level in the U.S. It also holds a BitLicense with New York State Department of Financial Services.

Bitstamp deal

In June, Robinhood announced that it would acquire Luxembourg-based crypto platform Bitstamp to take advantage of the firm’s exchange technology and further expand its reach globally. The deal, which is valued at approximately $200 million in cash, is set to close in the first half of 2025.
Kerbrat said that the company’s deal to buy Bitstamp would help it gain access to even more international markets and obtain coveted regulatory permissions around the world. Bitstamp holds over 50 licenses and registrations globally including in Singapore, the U.K. and the EU.
Beyond expanding globally, the deal with Bitstamp is also expected to help Robinhood diversify its crypto business to serve more institutional investors, Kerbrat told CNBC. For example, Bitstamp offers a “crypto-as-a-service” offering which helps banks and other financial firms launch their own crypto capabilities.
Robinhood’s crypto trading, deposit and withdrawal functionality are currently only available to customers in the European Union, not in the U.K. The company launched its popular stock trading service to Brits in November last year. However, it does not yet currently offer crypto services to U.K. clients. More

Over six months from 2014 to 2015, the Chinese stock market doubled in value, while leverage climbed, Aaron Costello, regional head for Asia at Cambridge Associates, pointed out Monday.
This time around, the market hasn’t run up as much, while leverage is lower, he said. “We’re not in the danger zone yet.”
What’s less clear is whether economic growth will pick up enough to support a sustainable market rally.

A customer watches stock market at a stock exchange in Hangzhou, China, on September 27, 2024. 
Costfoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

BEIJING — The rocket higher in Chinese stocks so far looks different from the market bubble in 2015, analysts said.
Major mainland China stock indexes surged by more than 8% Monday, extending a winning streak on the back of stimulus hopes. Trading volume on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges hit 2.59 trillion yuan ($368.78 billion), surpassing a high of 2.37 trillion yuan on May 28, 2015, according to Wind Information.

Over six months from 2014 to 2015, the Chinese stock market doubled in value, while leverage climbed, Aaron Costello, regional head for Asia at Cambridge Associates, pointed out Monday.
This time around, the market hasn’t run up as much, while leverage is lower, he said. “We’re not in the danger zone yet.”
Stock market leverage by percentage and value were far higher in 2015 than data for Monday showed, according to Wind Information.

The Shanghai Composite in June 2015 soared past 5,100 points, a level it has never regained since a market plunge later that summer. MSCI that year delayed adding the mainland Chinese stocks to its globally tracked emerging markets index. Also hitting sentiment was Beijing’s back-and-forth on a crackdown on trading with borrowed funds and a surprise devaluation of the Chinese yuan against the U.S. dollar.
This year, the yuan is trading stronger against the greenback, while foreign institutional allocation to Chinese stocks has fallen to multi-year lows.

The Shanghai Composite closed at 3,336.5 on Monday, before mainland exchanges closed for a week-long holiday commemorating the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. Trading is set to resume on Oct. 8.
In the runup to the 2015 market rally, Chinese state media had encouraged stock market investment, while loose rules allowed people to buy stocks with borrowed funds. Beijing has long sought to build up its domestic stock market, which at roughly 30 years old is far younger than that of the U.S.

Strong policy signals

The latest market gains follow announcements in the last week of economic support and programs to encourage institutions to put more money into stocks. The news helped stocks rebound from roughly their lowest levels of the year. The CSI 300 rallied by nearly 16% in its best week since 2008.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday led a high-level meeting that called for halting the real estate market’s decline as well as strengthening fiscal and monetary policy. The People’s Bank of China last week also cut interest rates and the amount existing mortgage holders need to pay.
“The policy is much stronger and [more] concerted this time than 2015. That said, the economy faces greater headwind[s] right now compared to back then,” said Zhu Ning, author of “China’s Guaranteed Bubble.”
One week of massive stock gains do not mean the economy is on its way to a similar recovery.
The CSI 300 remains more than 30% below its February 2021 high, a level that had even surpassed the index’s 2015 high.
“The Japanese experience provides an important perspective, as the Nikkei 225 Index bounced four times by an average of 34 per cent on its way to a 66 per cent cumulative drop from December 1989 to September 1998,” Stephen Roach, senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, pointed out Tuesday in a blog post that was also published in the Financial Times opinion section.
Economic data for the last few months have pointed to slower growth in retail sales and manufacturing. That raised concerns that China’s gross domestic product would not reach the full-year target of around 5% without additional stimulus.
“I think what’s missing is the key to a lot of this, that has not come out, which would be a truly confidence-boosting measure, is how are they going to fix the local government finances,” Costello said, noting local coffers once relied on land sales for revenue to spend on public services.
While Chinese authorities have cut interest rates and eased some home buying restrictions, the Ministry of Finance has yet to announce additional debt issuance to support growth.

Animal spirits at play

Peter Alexander, founder and managing director of Z-Ben Advisors, expects the level of fiscal stimulus — when it’s likely announced in late October — to be less than what markets are hoping for.
It “may have investors a little bit over their skis, as people like to say,” he said Monday on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia.”
He added in a written response that his experiences in 2007 and 2015 indicate the Chinese stock market rally could last for another three to six months, or abruptly end.
“This is pure animal instincts and the Chinese have been pent up for a stock market rally,” Alexander said. He added that there are market risks from how unprepared the stock trading system was for the surge of buying.
Data on the number of new retail investors in China this year wasn’t publicly available. Reports indicate brokerages have been overwhelmed with new requests, echoing how individuals piled into the stock market nearly a decade earlier. The Shanghai Stock Exchange on Friday said confirming transactions at the market open had been abnormally slow.

Looking for earnings growth

“China was cheap and was missing the catalyst. … The catalyst has occurred to unlock the value,” Costello said.
“Fundamentally we need to see corporate earnings go up,” he said. “If that doesn’t go up, this is all a short-term pop.”
Beijing’s efforts earlier this year to stem a market rout included changing the head of the securities regulator. Stocks climbed, only to see the rally peter out in May.
A factor that can send stocks past May levels is that earnings per share forecasts have stabilized versus downgrades earlier this year, James Wang, head of China strategy at UBS Investment Bank Research, said in a note Monday.
Lower U.S. interest rates, a stronger Chinese yuan, increased share buybacks and more coordinated policymaker response also support gains, he said. Wang’s latest price target of $70 on the MSCI China index is now just a few cents above where it closed Monday.
— CNBC’s Hui Jie Lim contributed to this report. More

A shareholder at a securities hall in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province in east China, on Sept. 24, 2024.
Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images

China stocks rallied Monday to their best day in 16 years, with related U.S. ETFs also rising after recent economic stimulus buoyed investor optimism in the market.
The Shanghai Composite Index surged 8.06% in its best day since September 2008, and capping a nine-day win streak for the index. It ended September up 17.39%, its first monthly gain in five and its best monthly performance going back to April 2015.

The Shenzhen Composite Index closed up 10.9%, its best day since April 1996. It gained 24.8% in September, its best month going back to April 2007.
The China ADR index closed up 1.2%. It climbed nearly 6% earlier in the day.
The U.S.-listed shares of online video company Bilibili and brokerage company Futu Holdings rose slightly.

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China ADR Index

The KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB) gained 0.6%.
Chinese stocks have been on a tear after Beijing last week unveiled a slew of economic stimulus measures including interest rate cuts to support the weak property market. On Thursday, state media said Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top leaders affirmed the measures.

“While we don’t know for sure if there’s going to be enough to really kick the economy back into gear, it’s certainly the right first step,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth. “I think the impact of a strengthening China can’t be underestimated.”
“On balance, this is going to be an ambiguous positive for markets going forward,” he added. “And I think that there’s a lot of investors are going to have to quickly recalibrate their expectations.”
More U.S. investors are bullish on the market following the move. Last week, billionaire hedge fund founder David Tepper said he is overwhelmingly bullish on Chinese equities, having bought “everything” related to China following the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cut.
— CNBC’s Gina Francolla, Nick Wells, Lim Hui Jie and Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.
Correction: Art Hogan is chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth. A previous version misstated his firm.

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