✈️ Arriving: airline earnings

…and the Biden admin tries to slash overdraft fees   Traffic on the earnings tarmac (Charly Triballeau/Getty Images)   Yesterday’s Market Moves   Dow Jones 37,469 (+0.54%) S&P 500 4,781 (+0.88%) Nasdaq 15,056 (+1.35%) Bitcoin $41,290 (-3.39%) Dow Jones 37,469 (+0.54%) S&P 500 4,781 (+0.88%) Nasdaq 15,056 (+1.35%) Bitcoin $41,290 (-3.39%) Hey Snackers, Don’t worry about wiping this dressing off your lips: Burt’s Bees [teamed up]( with Hidden Valley Ranch on new lip-balm flavors like ranch and Buffalo. They said the collab had “never been done before.” Wonder why… Stocks gained yesterday and the techy Nasdaq 100 hit a record high. Meanwhile, oil prices wobbled as traders side-eyed the ongoing shipping turmoil in the Red Sea. 🍪 Happy quiz day! The workweek is stale, but the [Snacks Seven Quiz]( is fresh outta the oven. Here’s a taste: - What is Burger King buying for $1B? ([Check your answer]( Grounded Airlines have soared to new heights, but storm clouds are shading investors’ optimism The business of economy class… 2024 is gearing up to be another banner year for travel. A record 4.7B passengers are expected to take to the skies, with airline revenue forecast to climb to a fresh high of $964B. In a November IATA survey, a third of travelers said they were flying more than prepandemic, and nearly half said they’d travel even more this year. - Last week: [Delta]( reported a record $54.7B in annual revenue. Still, its stock sank 8% after the Biscoff biggie trimmed its profit guidance for the year, citing higher costs. - Next week: [United]( [Alaska]( and [Southwest]( are set to unload their quarterly #s. While demand’s been strong, headwinds are rising… Houston, we’ve had a problem… and it's not the guy snoring on your shoulder. In September, [American]( Southwest, and [Spirit]( slashed their profit outlooks for the summer quarter as pricey fuel and new pilot-pay deals squeezed margins. Meantime, pandemic-era supply-chain snags (think: parts shortages, delays) are still pressuring profits. [Boeing]( recent midair blowout on an Alaska flight could make meeting demand even harder. Alaska and United — the two US carriers that use Boeing’s 737 Max 9s — have canceled thousands of flights. THE TAKEAWAY Investors care about the destination… Delta’s record annual revenue is a positive sign for the industry, but investors plunged the stock on a cloudier outlook for this year. Investors also worry that officials will discover more 737 Max probs during their investigation. Despite lively demand, global airline capacity is expected to be constrained until at least 2025. Drafty US regulators want to vastly limit banks’ multibillion-dollar overdraft-fee biz It’s a bit drafty in here… so the Biden admin wants to close a window. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week [proposed]( a cap on bank overdraft fees — the charges triggered when a customer’s transaction exceeds their balance. The rule would see overdraft fees ($35 is the standard) drop to as low as $3, saving US households ~$3.5B/year, and wiping out billions in bank revenue from what the CFPB calls a “junk fee harvesting machine.” - What’s being proposed? That banks only charge a fee equal to their actual cost to cover overdrawn accounts, or charge a benchmark fee of between $3 and $14. - Who benefits? Folks with lower incomes. 23M US households overdraft every year (paying $150, on average). Just 8% of bank customers account for ~75% of banks’ overdraft revenue. - Who gets hurt? Big banks, which rake in ~$9B/year from these charges (~$280B over the past two decades). [JPMorgan Chase]( which collected an industry-topping $840M in overdraft fees in the first three quarters of last year, recently reported a historic profit. There’s always money in the junk stand… The CFPB’s overdraft proposal squeezes neatly into the Biden admin’s goal of cracking down on junk fees. Americans spend $65B/year on fees like overdraft charges, resort fees, and internet-bill tack-ons. Biden’s fight against such fees has led to a barrage of lobbying from industries looking to maintain a massive chunk of revenue they’ve come to rely on. Also: US household debt is at a record high. THE TAKEAWAY It gets hot in the hot seat… Scrutiny and hefty regulator penalties have already caused some big banks to slash their overdraft fees. [Bank of America]( cut its charges from $35 to $10, and [Capital One]( eliminated them altogether. More banks could opt for the low- or no-fee life before the proposed rule would take effect in late 2025. GAMESTOPPED The Crypto Catch-Up… 🌶️ Spicy… [GameStop]( said it’ll [shut down]( its NFT marketplace after its digital-asset revenue fell off a cliff. While the overall NFT market’s seeing signs of life thanks to [ordinals]( ([bitcoin]( NFTs) and [solana]( tokens, it’s still down from its 2022 highs. 🤹‍♀️ Quirky… For (at least) the second time, [Coinbase]( lawyers put forth the legal argument that purchasing crypto is similar to [buying]( Beanie Babies. The exchange is pushing a judge to dismiss an SEC lawsuit alleging it sells unregistered securities. 🪙 Coins… The trueUSD [stablecoin]( lost its $1 peg, [falling]( to 97 cents yesterday. Traders began dumping the token after reports of problems with the publishing of real-time snapshots of the coin’s backing (aka: “attestations”). What else we're Snackin' - [Bite]( The DOJ is said to be prepping an antitrust lawsuit against [Apple]( which could get served in March. The biz has been accused of using both its hardware and its software to stifle competition. - [Depart]( [Macy’s]( is cutting 2.3K+ jobs (3.5% of its workforce) as layoff season drags on. The Bloomingdale’s owner will also close five stores as it looks to cut costs and revive sales. - [Priced]( [Novo Nordisk]( and [Eli Lilly]( upped the prices of hundreds of drugs, including diabetes meds Ozempic and Mounjaro. Pharma cos cited inflation, and more increases could be coming. - [HomeSweet]( Mortgage rates fell to their lowest in nearly eight months, hitting 6.6% for a 30-year fixed. That’s welcome news for would-be buyers ahead of what’s typically the market’s busiest season. - [Safety]( Sheryl Sandberg said she’s leaving [Meta]( board of directors. Meanwhile, internal docs [released]( as part of a New Mexico DOJ lawsuit allege that the company intentionally marketed its messaging apps to kids. 🍪 Thanks for Snacking with us! Want to share the Snacks? Invite your friends to sign up [here](. Snack Fact Of the Day The first Haribo gummy bears, introduced in 1922, were originally called Dancing Bears [Read more]( Friday - Consumer sentiment and existing-home sales - Earnings expected from Ally Financial, Fifth Third Bank, Huntington Bank, and State Street Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and shares of: Alaska Airlines, Apple, Delta, and Eli Lilly Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... [See more]( [Sherwood Terms and Conditions]( • [Our Editorial Principles]( • [Contact Us](mailto:hellosnacks@sherwoodmedia.com) • [Privacy Policy]( • [Advertise with us](mailto:advertising@sherwoodmedia.com) [Unsubscribe](