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1. Sunak Takes Helm as UK Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak, the United Kingdom’s former chancellor of the exchequer, will serve as the country’s next prime minister, the New York Times reports. His rival for the position, Penny Mordaunt, withdrew from the race today and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson dropped out last night. He will replace Liz Truss, who served as the U.K.’s prime minister for 44 days following the resignation of Johnson.
Sunak previously served in Johnson’s cabinet but resigned in July over several scandals involving Johnson and his appointees.
The new prime minister will enter office with a divided Conservative Party, unfavorable polling and the country facing several economic challenges.
2. Business Activity Drops in Europe for Fourth Month
October marks the fourth month that business activity has fallen in Europe, reports the Wall Street Journal from S&P Global’s composite purchasing managers index. The results indicate a potential slowdown in the global economy as consumers struggle with higher prices and interest rates.
“Demand is falling sharply and companies are increasingly growing worried over high inventories and weaker than expected sales, especially as winter approaches,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. “The risks are therefore tilted toward the downturn accelerating toward the year-end.”
3. Investors Want Clarity on Hotel Executives’ Outlook
As publicly traded hotel companies prepare to announce third-quarter earnings, industry analysts said investors want more clarity from executives on their economic outlook, reports HNN’s Dana Miller. A potential recession, group demand and economic trends are expected to be main topics of discussion.
"There's lots of concern about the macro; certain companies, certain markets, certain portfolios are over-earning," said Michael Bellisario, director and equity research senior analyst at Baird. "Have we already hit peak pent-up travel demand realization, have we hit peak rate growth, peak margins? If these portfolios over-earned, are we going to run into tough comparisons next year?"
4. Holiday Travel in US Expected To Top Summer
U.S. airport officials and industry analysts said they believe the number of people flying between the Thanksgiving holiday and New Year’s will reach or surpass 2019 levels, when 93 million passengers flew, Bloomberg reports. Over the summer, passenger traffic was about 90% of pre-pandemic volume.
Complicating air travel during the upcoming holiday season are rising airfares, which have grown 43% since a year ago and 22% since 2019, as well as shortages of pilots and other workers, according to the article.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said demand for flights continues to grow partly due to hybrid working models that allow people to travel more.
“It’s just a new, permanently higher level of demand,” he said. “That makes every weekend a potential holiday weekend.”
5. Justice Department Files Discrimination Suit Against Hotel
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against a hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota, for a policy that discriminates against Native Americans, USA Today reports. The suit alleges the hotel’s policies “denied Native Americans the full equal enjoyment of access to the services, accommodations and privileges.”
In March, the owners of the Grand Gateway Hotel and its casino, Cheers Sports Lounge and Casino, posted to Facebook it would no longer allow Native Americans on the property, citing a recent killing on the premises.
The hotel and casino also face a lawsuit from the NDN Collective, an indigenous rights nonprofit organization.