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1. US Supreme Court to hear tariff arguments this week
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments starting Wednesday over President Donald Trump's ability to impose tariffs during emergencies, a power otherwise granted to Congress, the New York Times reports. The justices are expected to rule quickly after hearing the case rather than waiting to announce their decision until the end of the current term.
The president cites a 1977 law that gives the office the power to deal with "any unusual and extraordinary threat" to national security, foreign policy or the economy, including the power to "regulate" imports, according to the article. That law, however, does not mention tariffs, taxes or duties.
2. Flight delays continue in shutdown
U.S. airports continue to experience flight delays due to a air traffic controller shortage caused by the federal government shutdown, the Associated Press reports. Flight tracker FlightAware reported 4,295 delays and 557 cancellations of flights within, into or out of the U.S. as of Sunday evening, though not all were shutdown related.
The Federal Aviation Administration posted to X on Friday that nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers have been working for weeks without being paid, the AP reports. Prior to the shutdown, the FAA was already experiencing a shortage of about 3,000 air traffic controllers.
3. Park Hotels CEO says liquidity is strong despite revenue drop
Even though hotel room revenues dropped more than 6% in the third quarter compared to 2024, Park Hotels & Resorts Chairman and CEO Thomas Baltimore Jr. said the real estate investment trust has significant liquidity for the road ahead, reports CoStar News Hotels' Sean McCracken from the REIT's recent earnings call. The company has reworked its now $1 billion revolving credit facility.
The REIT has invested about $1.4 billion into its core properties, and the company plans to continue this strategy.
"We're generating significant returns and higher returns through our development and strategic ROI activities than we can generate through acquisition," Baltimore said. "So we're strong believers in that, and strong believers that there's a lot of embedded upside within this portfolio."
4. Companies end firing freeze
U.S. corporations had been holding on to employees after lingering fears from the pandemic of not being able to bring back laid off employees. That's no longer the case, the Wall Street Journal reports, as a softening job market has led to several major corporations letting go tens of thousands of employees over the past few weeks.
"A number of things could be at play in companies’ increasing comfort with layoffs, including optimism over artificial intelligence, but they all come down to the bottom line," according to the article. "Labor is a major cost, and cutting it is one way to bolster profit margins. Tariffs could be adding to the urgency, especially for companies weighing whether and how to pass through the higher costs they are paying for goods on to consumers."
5. Consumer brands point to widening income inequality
Multiple consumer-facing brands are signaling they're seeing a widening of income inequality, with families in lower economic brackets pulling back on their spending, NBC News reports.
Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright said during the company's recent earnings call the restaurant chain had seen a deepening divide among its customers.
“Earlier this year, as consumer sentiment declined sharply, we saw a broad-based pullback in frequency [of restaurant visits] across all income” levels, he said. “Since then, the gap has widened, with low- to middle-income guests further reducing frequency” of visits.
McDonald's President and CEO Chris Kempczinski said the "two-tier economy" is one of the main reasons the restaurant chain brought back its "Extra Value Meal" options.
“Traffic for lower-income consumers is down double digits,” Kempczinski told CNBC in September. “We needed to step in.”