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The 50-year-old from Seattle is one of America's top wine critics and US editor of Decanter magazine.
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Reuters
20 minutes ago
- Reuters
Delta, United sued for selling windowless 'window seats'
NEW YORK, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), opens new tab and United Airlines (UAL.O), opens new tab were sued on Tuesday by passengers who claimed they paid extra money to sit in "window" seats, only to find themselves placed in seats next to a blank wall. Proposed class actions were filed against United in San Francisco federal court and against Delta in Brooklyn, New York federal court, seeking millions of dollars of damages for more than 1 million passengers at each carrier. The complaints say some Boeing 737, Boeing 757 and Airbus A321 planes contain seats that would normally contain windows, but lack them because of the placement of air conditioning ducts, electrical conduits or other components. Passengers said Delta and United do not flag these seats during the booking process, unlike rivals such as Alaska Airlines (ALK.N), opens new tab and American Airlines (AAL.O), opens new tab, even when charging tens or occasionally hundreds of dollars for them. The lawsuits say people buy window seats for several reasons including to address fear of flying or motion sickness, keep a child occupied, get extra light or watch the world go by. "Had plaintiffs and the class members known that the seats they were purchasing (were) windowless, they would not have selected them — much less have paid extra," the United complaint said. The Delta complaint contained similar language. Delta is based in Atlanta, and United in Chicago. Neither immediately responded to requests for comment. Ancillary revenue from seat selection, baggage fees, cabin upgrades, airport lounges and other services help carriers generate more cash when they fly while keeping base fares lower. The Delta lawsuit is led by Nicholas Meyer of Brooklyn, and the United lawsuit is led by Marc Brenman of San Francisco and Aviva Copaken of Los Angeles. Copaken said United refunded fees for her windowless seats on two flights, but not a third. Passengers can use websites such as SeatGuru to find pluses and minuses of specific seats, including those lacking windows. Carter Greenbaum, a lawyer whose firm filed the two lawsuits, said the ability to find information from third party websites doesn't excuse Delta's and United's conduct. "A company can't misrepresent the nature of the products it sells and then rely on third party reviews to say a customer should have known that it was lying," he said in an email. The cases are Meyer v Delta Air Lines Inc, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 25-04608; and Brenman et al v United Airlines Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of San Francisco, No. 25-06995.
Reuters
20 minutes ago
- Reuters
TRADING DAY Tech it down a notch
ORLANDO, Florida, Aug 19 (Reuters) - TRADING DAY Making sense of the forces driving global markets By Jamie McGeever, Markets Columnist Wall Street slumped on Tuesday, dragged down by weakness in some of the big tech companies that have led the charge to new highs this year, as investors hunker down ahead of a keynote speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell later this week. More on that below. In my column today I look at the cagey dance between Donald Trump and Wall Street - the market knows it has the power to rein in some of the president's policy excesses, but isn't wielding it. Not yet, anyway. If you have more time to read, here are a few articles I recommend to help you make sense of what happened in markets today. Today's Key Market Moves Today's Talking Points: * Peace in our time? Investors digested the extraordinary summit between U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and a phalanx of European leaders in the White House on Monday. Did it move the dial much on the prospects of a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire, or a deal to end the war? Optimism around Trump's promise of security guarantees for Ukraine in the future buoyed European markets on Tuesday. But that evaporated as the U.S. session rolled on, as Trump told Fox News he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin may not want to make a deal after all. There may be no immediate direct impact on major equity, bond, or currency markets from the conflict. But prolonged war on Europe's doorstep, fractured ties between the US and Europe, and a fickle relationship between Trump and Putin can't be good in the long term. * Retail therapy. Some of America's biggest retailers report second-quarter earnings this week, shining a light on the health of the U.S. consumer and, by extension, the economy at large. Home Depot reported on Tuesday; Lowe's, Target, and TJX release results on Wednesday; and Walmart is out on Thursday. There are conflicting signals coming from the U.S. consumer. By some measures, household consumption flat-lined in the first half of the year, but other indicators show consumer spending is the biggest contributor to GDP growth. The rich are spending, but the bottom 50% are struggling. The S&P 500's consumer discretionary sector is flat this year, and the consumer staples index is up 6%. Both are lagging the broader index, which is up 8%, and the IT and communications sectors, which are both up around 13%. * Interest rate decisions. The central banks of New Zealand, Indonesia, and China announce their latest policy decisions on Wednesday. Two of the three are expected to stand pat, and one is expected to cut borrowing costs. The People's Bank of China is expected to keep benchmark one- and five-year lending rates unchanged for the third straight month at 3.5% and 5.5%, respectively. Although the economy needs more support, the central bank may want to explore structural policies aimed at specific sectors rather than broad-based monetary easing. For now. This has helped propel a recovery in the yuan, which was plumbing 17-year lows at the depths of the "Liberation Day" tariff turmoil in April. Since then, the PBOC has only lowered borrowing costs once, by 10 basis points, and has fixed the yuan higher in 16 of the last 19 weeks. Markets, Trump in delicate policy dance U.S. President Donald Trump has faced little opposition in his drive to rip up the global economic rulebook, whether from his fellow Republicans, political opponents, or institutional guardrails. The only exception has been "the market." But now even investors are holding their fire, enabling more risk to build up in the financial system. Wall Street's reaction to Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs on April 2 was so ferocious that the president did something he had rarely done: he backed down. Trillions of dollars were wiped off the value of U.S. stocks amid a 10% nosedive from April 3-4. The only two-day selloffs since the 1930s that were bigger occurred during the Second World War, "Black Monday" in 1987, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, and the pandemic in 2020. The stock market bottomed out on April 7 after Trump paused most of his country-specific tariffs. Wall Street has not looked back since, with the S&P 500 rebounding 35% to an all-time high. This episode suggests that "the market" is one of the few true checks on Trump's apparent pursuit to reshape the U.S. – and indeed the world – economy. The only problem is that the president has continued to pursue unorthodox policies in recent months - including challenging the independence of the Federal Reserve, firing statisticians, and slapping tariffs on countries for non-economic reasons – and investors have failed to tap the brakes. The so-called "Trump put" -- the idea that the president won't let the markets fall too far -- is essentially a funhouse mirror version of the famous "Fed put," the long-held belief that, in the event of a crisis, the central bank will step in to restore stability. Trump seemingly did just that in April, but it was to clean up a mess of his own making. And one could argue that it was actually investors who came to the economy's rescue by putting pressure on the president to reconsider policies considered ill-advised by most economists. Trump and markets are therefore now in a curious dance. Investors appear to believe that markets can ultimately stop Trump from pushing the envelope too far on tariffs or other policies. But as a result, investors are not overreacting – or reacting at all – to the latest controversies around the Bureau of Labor Statistics firing, his attacks on Fed Chair Jerome Powell, his pressure on Intel's CEO to resign, or the outsized tariffs slapped on Brazil and India. This, in turn, has powered the markets to new record highs, emboldening Trump to push the envelope even further. So even though the market has the power to rein in the president's economic policy excesses, it's not using it. Why hasn't the market pushed back? As the cliche goes, equity investors are paid to be optimistic. It's in their interest to keep the train hurtling along, provided there aren't any immediate obstacles to derail it. There are, of course, a few pretty large hurdles on the horizon for the U.S. economy, including the highest tariffs since the 1930s and some of the biggest budget deficits since World War II outside of crisis periods. But until these or other issues present an immediate economic threat, markets can choose to ignore them. By under-reacting to Trump's unorthodox policies, markets may not only delay the day of reckoning but also amplify the potential impact. Why? Genuine economic and geopolitical paradigm shifts are under way, and investors are not pricing in the attendant risk. Nobody knows what the ultimate impact of these shifts will be, but we do know that with greater uncertainty comes greater downside risk. Yet equity volatility is the lowest it has been this year, and even in the bond market – not known for its optimism – volatility is the lowest in three and a half years, while U.S. corporate bond spreads are the tightest since 1998. Ultimately, the market is unlikely to call Trump's bluff until something truly unexpected or extreme hits. In the meantime, investors can justify this nonchalance by saying that corporate earnings growth is solid, AI enthusiasm is high, economic growth remains decent, unemployment is low, and consumers are still spending. Wall Street is choosing not to put on the brakes, meaning this train will continue rolling on. Whether it's heading for a collision is an open question. What could move markets tomorrow? Want to receive Trading Day in your inbox every weekday morning? Sign up for my newsletter here. Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, opens new tab, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
US to hold more than 30 offshore oil and gas auctions through 2040
Aug 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday unveiled a comprehensive schedule to hold more than 30 offshore oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska's Cook Inlet over the next 15 years. The plan fulfills a directive in Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed last month, and is aligned with his administration's energy dominance agenda to boost domestic fossil fuel production. The schedule marks a significant departure from former President Joe Biden, whose administration had planned for a historically small number of drilling rights auctions as part of its efforts to address climate change. "The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a landmark step toward unleashing America's energy potential," Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. "Under President Trump's leadership, we're putting in place a bold, long-term program that strengthens American Energy Dominance, creates good-paying jobs and ensures we continue to responsibly develop our offshore resources." The schedule includes 30 lease sales through 2040 in the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump has renamed the Gulf of America. The first Gulf sale is set for Dec. 10 of this year. Starting next year, there will be two sales in the Gulf annually through 2039 and one in 2040. Six lease sales are planned for Alaska's Cook Inlet through 2032. The first will be held in March of 2026.
