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1. Biden Drops Out of Presidential Election
U.S. President Joe Biden will no longer be seeking reelection and has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming presidential election in November, the New York Times reports.
Concerns about Biden's age and mental fortitude had plagued the 81-year-old's campaign and caused concerns about his ability to defeat Republican nominee Donald Trump, leading to several high-ranking members of the Democratic Party to advise the president to halt his reelection prospects.
Stephen Innes, head of trading and market strategy at SPI Asset Management, said Biden's decision didn't affect financial markets.
"U.S. yields and the dollar opened slightly weaker in Asia but then rebounded, suggesting investors were fully clued into this outcome. The odds of a Trump victory also haven't changed much," he said.
2. Delta Flight Cancellations Persist Amid Tech Outage
Delta Air Lines canceled more than 600 flights on Monday after canceling about 1,300 flights on Sunday and 1,200 flights on Friday and Saturday each, due to the CrowdStrike global software outage, the New York Times reports. As of 7 a.m. EDT on Monday, 17% of Delta's scheduled departures were canceled.
"Canceling a flight is always our last resort, and something we don't take lightly," Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta, said in a statement Sunday.
Delta isn't the only airline affected by the outage; more than 7,000 U.S. flights were canceled between Friday and Sunday this past weekend, the Wall Street Journal reports.
3. Hoteliers Search for ROI on Experiences
Experiential travel has been growing in popularity in recent years, but determining the return on investment in those experiences is difficult for hotels, HNN's Sean McCracken reports.
"[Guests are] talking about the s'mores they got to make, or the things they got to do. Those little pieces and touches that are so local and so specific. The challenge is we want an ROI to all of that, as well. It's easy to talk about your ROI per square foot that you're allocating to things, but those experiences are reflected in [revenue per available room]. You may not be charging directly for that experience," said Tiffany Donato, chief investment officer for Marcus Hotels & Resorts, during a session at the ALIS Summer Update in Greater Phoenix.
4. Federal Reserve Inching Toward Rate Cuts
The U.S. Federal Reserve has referred to inflation as "elevated" since late 2021, but as it nears the Fed's target of 2%, phrases like "drawing closer" have been used more, potentially further indicating a shift in policy is imminent, Reuters reports.
Personal consumption expenditures are down to 2.6%, not quite low enough for a rate cut just yet. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said in June that inflation would have to dip below 2.5% before talks of rate changes commence.
The Fed will next meet on July 30 and 31.
5. Motels Gain Momentum
In recent years, there's been a rise in "motel culture" among travelers — especially younger ones — who are drawn to the design choices at motel properties, the New York Times reports.
"These motels are very Americana," said Lisa Lennox, owner of three motels. "They've got a really unique design. But they're all in disrepair, and a lot of them are being torn down."
The newspaper reports that the popularity of motels has grown in part due to their privacy and safety features during the COVID-19 pandemic.