🗞️ Meta’s bad news

…and Delta’s premium-profit summer   Might have to switch back to paper and ink (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)   [Sponsored by]( Yesterday’s Market Moves   Dow Jones 33,631 (-0.51%) S&P 500 4,350 (-0.62%) Nasdaq 13,574 (-0.63%) Bitcoin $26,750 (-0.44%) Dow Jones 33,631 (-0.51%) S&P 500 4,350 (-0.62%) Nasdaq 13,574 (-0.63%) Bitcoin $26,750 (-0.44%) Hey Snackers, Airline coffee has become as much a joke as airline chicken, but maybe not anymore: [Alaska Airlines]( [brewed]( up a coffee with Stumptown that it says tastes better in the sky (no altitude-induced taste changes). Stocks fell after the September consumer-prices report showed core inflation (which excludes food and energy) came in hotter than expected. Investors worry a rate hike could be back on the table. 🧠Memory check-in: Take our new [Snacks Seven quiz]( to check your knowledge of news we covered this week (and test your luck on Friday the 13th). Breaking Meta’s Threads is the latest social-media platform to move away from news Read all about it… somewhere else. [Meta]( text-based app Threads won’t “amplify” news on the platform, Instagram head Adam Mosseri [said](. Threads, which hasn’t been shy about saying it doesn’t want to be a news hub, got 100M users in five days when it launched this summer (some saw it as an alternative to X). Now, its daily user count has plunged 80% from its peak — and some blame Threads’ lack of news. - Moderation snare: This week the EU warned Meta that failing to remove pro-Hamas content could violate the bloc’s new moderation rules, resulting in heavy fines. Users looking for war updates on social have had to navigate through loads of misinfo, old footage, and video-game clips. - Ad squeeze: Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for Threads was to be a positive space. By remaining mostly brand-safe with less real (and “fake”) news, Meta could pull more ad revenue away from flailing rival X. - Searching: Last month, Threads blocked searches for keywords like “Covid” and “vaccines” as cases rose in the US. Social’s Thanksgiving-dinner moment… Social giants are starting to find that news isn’t worth the hassle, even though it can drive engagement. Last week, X stripped headlines from news links (though not for paid ads). Meta pulled news from Instagram and Facebook in Canada this summer (after the country passed a media-content-fee law) and it axed its Facebook News tab in the UK, France, and Germany. With the exception of TikTok and Insta, social media has broadly declined as a regular news source for American adults. THE TAKEAWAY When the going gets tough, bail… Meta and some of its rivals are leaving news behind as regulators worldwide crack down on misinfo and pressure Big Tech to pay publishers for content. Plus, as social ad spend wavers, tech titans are searching for ways to make their platforms more advertiser-friendly (read: less toxic). Sponsored by Nasdaq Trade smarter with real-time depth data Level up… Serious traders need to form educated guesses about how a stock’s price might move in the future. Level I provides a snapshot of current market conditions by showing the highest bid and lowest ask, but this info can’t really tell you what lies beneath that bid and ask. Level II, on the other hand, provides a deeper dimension of data, with the full depth of the order book, meaning you can see the number of open orders for all price levels. The takeaway: Level II offers insight into supply and demand at different price points, so you can identify potential areas of support and resistance and set price targets. [Learn more about the Level II data powered by Nasdaq TotalView.]( [(PS - it's available in retail broker offerings such as Robinhood Gold).]( Champagne Delta’s summer profit soared on premium travel, but budget airlines may have a different story Biscoff cookies FTW… [Delta]( unloaded [strong]( earnings for the summer quarter, with profit rising nearly 60% thanks to sizzlin’ travel demand. International vacays were hot, with transatlantic-flight sales up 34% as Americans tried to live out “White Lotus”-style Italian summers. The Atlanta-based carrier said its planes were nearly 90% full during the quarter (but you already knew that after being sandwiched in). Still, Delta’s annual earnings forecast was at the lower end of its initial guidance as fuel prices spiked. - Clear skies: Delta boss Ed Bastian said he expects the strong tailwinds will continue into the holiday quarter. FYI: [United]( and Alaska report next week. - Full bar carts: Bastian added that Delta’s premium-class offering has been doing “very, very well,” especially in the States. Business-class travel was back to 80%+ of prepandemic levels. But the Hollywood and auto-industry strikes put a damper on business demand last q. The airplane tables have turned… Budget airlines like [Spirit]( and [Ryan Air]( thrived during the pandemic, posting records as stimulus-laden consumers took to “revenge travel.” But now premium offerings like Delta’s business class may be coming out on top. For Q2, Spirit’s loss widened to $2.3M, even though it reported record revenue. The budget carrier also predicted “softer” summer demand (it reports this month), and Spirit and Frontier have had to slash prices to fuel bookings, despite rising costs. THE TAKEAWAY First class can be a hedge against the economy… As airplane fuel prices rise and lower-income consumers start tightening belts, it’s harder for budget carriers to churn out a profit (even with all those add-ons like charging for water). At the same time, wealthier consumers and corporate execs still have thousands to spend on luxury reclining seats for NYC meetings. Business class has the highest margins for airlines, helping them offset rising costs like fuel. APED The Crypto Catch-Up… 🎱 Shakeout… Yuga Labs, the biz behind Bored Ape NFTs, said it’s [laying off]( employees. Its revenue took a hit with the rise of Blur, a marketplace that [offered]( lower per-transaction royalty fees to NFT creators than competitor OpenSea. 🤔 Sus… Caroline Ellison, prosecutors’ star witness in Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial, took the stand. She said that SBF directed her to commit crimes and that Alameda Research [took]( ~$14B from FTX’s customers. Speaking of Ellison… 📸 Flashy… SBF’s ex-girlfriend and former CEO of Alameda [testified]( that SBF thought his hair was “very valuable” and directly contributed to his success. Ellison also said that SBF believed he had a 5% chance of being elected US president. What else we're Snackin' - [Cut]( After resolving the writers’ strike, Hollywood studios halted deal talks with the Screen Actors Guild, saying the union’s latest proposal would “would create an untenable economic burden.” Warner Bros. Discovery shares sank 6%. - [Revv]( The UAW may have more negotiating power heading into talks with Stellantis and GM after union workers walked out of Ford’s biggest $$-making factory. Ford’s wages and benefits already beat those of its rivals. - [Novid]( Walgreens’ earnings were below expectations, but it slimmed its losses after cost-cutting. Covid test kits aren’t selling like they used to, while pharmacists are staging walkouts over work conditions. - [Spicy]( Your burrito bowl could soon cost an extra buck: Chipotle’s raising prices for the fourth time in two years, joining the likes of Taco Bell and Shake Shack, which’ve also raised prices to offset inflation. - [Block]( TikTok’s trying to block a Montana law banning the app over privacy concerns. Meanwhile, Utah’s suing the swipey app over claims it “baits” kids into addictive screen habits. 🍪 Thanks for Snacking with us! Want to share the Snacks? Invite your friends to sign up [here](. Snack Fact Of the Day The Pentagon runs the top-performing school system in the US [Read more]( Friday - Earnings expected from BlackRock, Citigroup, PNC Financial, and Wells Fargo Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Alaska Air, Delta, and GM 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](