GDP rose 0.1% in the third quarter, compared with 0.3% in the second, amid uncertainty about the government’s budget and the impact of a cyberattack on a major carmaker.
Don Nico Forbes
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U.K. Economy Grows at Slower Pace Ahead of Budget
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Japan-U.S. Outline Investment Plan; Trump Says Toyota to Invest $10 Billion in U.S. Auto Plants
TOKYO—President Trump said Japanese auto giant Toyota is poised to invest $10 billion in auto plants in the U.S., coming as Tokyo released some details about the over half a trillion dollars it has pledged to invest in America as part of a trade deal.
Trump made the remark while addressing U.S. military personnel in Japan, saying that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told him of the carmaker’s plan.
Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Yang Jie
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AMC extends losing streak to five days, hits another record low close
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. extended its losing streak to five days Friday, with the stock ending the session down 2.5% to $5.15.
AMC
AMC,
-2.45%
shares are now on their longest losing streak since a seven-day slide that ended on Aug. 29, 2023. The movie-theater chain and onetime meme-stock darling ended Thursday’s session at a then-record-low close of $5.30. AMC was a top trending symbol on Stocktwits, a social platform for investors and traders, at Friday’s open.The stock’s previous record closing low had been $6.07, which was set on Dec. 21, 2023, according to Dow Jones Market Data, citing available information dating back to Dec. 18, 2013.
Related: AMC hits another record-low close, extends losing streak to four days
The decline in AMC’s share price is a far cry from its meme-stock heyday, when it hit an all-time closing high of $339.05 on June 2, 2021.
In a regulatory filing Tuesday, AMC said that between Dec. 28 and Dec. 29, 2023, the company entered into a series of privately negotiated exchange agreements to issue nearly 3.26 million shares of Class A common stock in exchange for $22.5 million of its notes due in 2026. The common stock issued had an implied value of $6.94 per share, according to AMC. “The company may engage in similar transactions in the future but is under no obligation to do so,” AMC said in the filing.
The move is the latest in AMC’s attempts to tackle its debt burden, which reached more than $5 billion in 2022. That year, AMC launched its APE special dividend, and in 2023 it completed the conversion of the APEs into AMC common stock and a reverse 1-for-10 split of common stock.
Related: AMC CEO slams ‘prophets of doom,’ says company is ‘blazing new trails’ as it enters 2024
In December, AMC also completed its latest at-the-market equity offering, raising approximately $350 million. AMC CEO Adam Aron has repeatedly warned that the company faces liquidity challenges.
AMC shares are down 84.8% in the last 12 months, compared with S&P 500 index’s
SPX
gain of 20.6%. -
This is what we can expect to see from meme stocks in 2024
It may be a couple of years since the meme-stock feeding frenzy hit its heights, but we’re still seeing occasional bursts of meme-like activity in number of stocks.
No discussion of meme stocks would be complete without OG AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.
AMC,
-0.89% .
But while the movie theater chain and original meme stock darling still grabs plenty of attention, it no longer fits the bill of a meme stock, according to Alicia Reese, VP of equity research at Wedbush. “AMC has seemingly lost its meme status, its share price having come crashing back down to earth over the past several months, particularly since its APE fold-in and reverse stock split,” she said. “AMC is now trading at a more normalized valuation, even if still at the high-end of its pre-meme historic range.”AMC’s shares ended Friday’s session at $6.65, a far cry from their high of $393.63 on June 2, 2021, during the meme-stock frenzy.
Related: AMC’s stock falls more than 5% after company completes $350 million equity offering
“AMC’s premium valuation here is driven in part by a sub-section of the shareholders it gained during its meme stage, who have remained loyal to the company and have long claimed to be AMC shareholders for life,” Reese added. “AMC shed all the rest of its meme-era shareholders and are now left with the lifers, along with some institutional shareholders now that valuation has come back to a more normalized range.”
The analyst thinks that in 2024, AMC will continue to issue pre-authorized shares to pay down its high-debt balance, as evidenced by the $350 million equity offering completed this week. “The company is focused on right-sizing the balance sheet, while attempting to maintain strong relations with the AMC lifers still propping up the stock,” said Reese.
Fellow original meme stock GameStop has also been in the news recently, with the company’s board of directors approving a new investment policy, which lets the company invest in equity securities, among other investments. The board also gave Chairman and Chief Executive Ryan Cohen the authority to manage the investment portfolio. The new policy was dubbed “alarming” and “inane” by Wedbush Managing Director Michael Pachter.
“If he can invest in anything – farmland, chicken feed, cryptocurrency – that’s not in the best interests of the shareholders,” he told MarketWatch. “Heaven knows what he will do.”
Related: GameStop’s plan to buy stocks with company cash ‘alarming’ and ‘inane,’ analyst says
As for GameStop, the analyst describes the videogame retailer as a declining business, pointing to the company’s third-quarter revenue of $1.078 billion, which was down from $1.186 billion in the prior year’s quarter. “They are shrinking, period, and they can’t save their way to prosperity,” he added.
The company’s new investment policy could also fuel more meme-style activity, according to Pachter, who says that Cohen’s moves will be closely watched. “He will invest in something and it will possibly become the next meme stock,” the analyst told MarketWatch.
Pachter pointed to Cohen’s decision in 2022 to unload his huge stake in beleaguered home goods retailer and sometime meme stock Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. just months after buying it. In August of that year Cohen sold his entire stake in Bed Bath & Beyond five months after accruing the stake in an activist campaign, amassing a profit of more than $58 million.
Stocktwits, a social platform for investors and traders, told MarketWatch that it has seen a dedicated core audience of retail investors stick with the likes of AMC and GameStop. “Message volume and sentiment have remained elevated on the platform throughout the year, with their audiences growing temporarily around earnings or other events that create volatility,” Tom Bruni, senior writer at Stocktwits, told MarketWatch.
Related: Small-cap Chinese stocks spark meme-like buzz
Retail traders are still on the lookout for high-volatility situations, according to Bruni, who cited the example of Vietnamese electric vehicle stock VinFast Auto Ltd.
VFS,
+13.54% ,
which had a “crazy month” in August before crashing back down. “However, we would note that there have been fewer instances of these types of meme stocks occurring this year, and their lifespan tended to be pretty short,” he added.“For stocks with the ‘meme’ potential in 2024, look to beaten-down areas of the market that already have strong retail investor communities around them,” Bruni told MarketWatch. “Several that stick out are electric vehicle stocks (specifically startups), solar stocks, or anything China-related. Traders will likely be looking for stocks at the intersection of these themes, like Lucid Group ($LCID), as potential ‘powder kegs’ for volatility in 2024.”
Shares of Lucid Group Inc.
LCID,
-7.20%
are down 30.2% in 2023, compared with the S&P 500 index’s
SPX
gain of 22.9%.One thing is for sure – the social media dynamics that created the meme stock phenomenon are not going away. “Internet culture will continue to be more prevalent in markets as the world becomes more digitized and young people age into participation,” Tommy Tranfo, head of community at Stocktwits, told MarketWatch. “Crypto markets are an area where we expect to see a large concentration of this activity, particularly within the context of a crypto bull market, which will likely bring in a new wave of market participants who will skew toward the internet culture demo.”
Related: This EV company has a bigger market cap than Ford or GM. But you may not have heard of it.
“New crypto meme communities such as the $BONK (a dog-themed coin on the Solana blockchain) are already clear examples of this craze taking place,” he added.
-
Honda joins Toyota in raising U.S. wages for its auto workers as unionization push looms
Honda Motor Co.’s U.S. unit joined other foreign carmakers in raising their automobile workers’ wages in the wake of historic wins for the United Auto Workers and as the union has vowed to intensify its organizing push.
Honda
7267,
-4.11%
gave U.S. production workers an 11% raise that will go into effect in January. Honda also cut down the time to reach a top wage from six years to three years, and added benefits, the company said Friday.The Wall Street Journal on Friday first reported the raises, citing a memo it had reviewed.
UAW President Shawn Fain has said numerous times the union wants to expand its base into the nonunionized automobile workforce beyond the Midwest.
At an address to UAW members in mid-October, for instance, Fain said that the UAW was “going to organize non-union auto companies like we’ve never organized before.”
Don’t miss: Ford and GM inventories rise despite UAW strike, but demand concerns linger
U.S. auto workers at foreign carmakers such as Honda and Volkswagen AG
VOW,
-1.12% ,
which have their major factories in the Southeast, are not unionized. Neither are auto workers at Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
+2.22% ,
which has car-making factories in California and Texas.Auto workers went on strike for six weeks starting in mid-September, hitting several factories and facilities of Ford Motor Co.
F,
+1.65% ,
General Motors Co.
GM,
+0.75%
and Stellantis NV
STLA,
+1.57% .The labor action, which the UAW dubbed a “stand-up strike,” called on select local unions to stand up and walk out. It marked a break from tradition: Going back decades, the UAW would strike at one company at a time, mostly to save its picket-line firepower and strike fund.
Related: There’s a new Tesla bear in town: EV maker is a ‘very expensive company,’ HSBC says
The new strategy yielded big results, including pay raises of around 25% over the life of the four-year contract plus cost-of-living adjustments, the end of several wage tiers, and better retirement benefits.
At an event Thursday to celebrate the UAW deal and the reopening of a Stellantis factory in Illinois, President Joe Biden seemed to support the UAW’s unionization push.
“I want this type of contract for all auto workers,” Biden said. “And I have a feeling UAW has a plan for that.”
During the UAW strike, some Wall Street analysts said that Tesla would benefit from the increased costs to unionized factories following the labor agreements. One analyst noted that even before any wage increases, the Big Three automakers were paying their workers 38% more than comparable Tesla workers earned.
-
AMC swings to Q3 profit, reports positive net income for second consecutive quarter
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. reported third-quarter results that beat top- and bottom-line expectations Wednesday, as the movie-theater chain and meme-stock darling swung to a profit.
The company swung to net income of $12.3 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with a loss of $226.9 million, or $2.20 a share, in the prior year’s quarter. Excluding nonrecurring items, AMC
AMC,
-1.27%
reported a loss of 9 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for a loss of 25 cents a share.Related: AMC bonds see bullish activity while meme-stock darling rides the Taylor Swift wave
Revenue grew 45.2% to $1.406 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $1.260 billion. AMC’s adjusted Ebitda was $194 million.
“For both revenue and adjusted Ebitda, these were AMC’s most successful third-quarter results in our company’s entire 103-year history, by definition being greater than the third quarter of pre-pandemic 2019,” AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron said in a statement. “For the second consecutive quarter, AMC reported positive net income, and we ended the quarter with $730 million of cash. This all suggests that we are well underway on our growth path to recovery from the ravages of the COVID pandemic.”
“What is perhaps most impressive of all is that our success in the third quarter came at a time when our attendance at the domestic box office in the quarter was still 16% below comparable 2019 levels,” Aron added. “That success is because our contribution per patron was up 30% versus 2019.”
Admissions revenue was $797.7 million, above the FactSet consensus of $739 million. Food and beverage revenue was $482.7 million, above the FactSet consensus of $449 million.
AMC’s stock fell 1.3% in extended trading Wednesday. The company’s shares are down 71.9% in 2023, compared with the S&P 500 index’s
SPX
gain of 14.2%.Related: AMC’s debt-to-equity, late payments, could be ‘red flags,’ warns Creditsafe
Speaking during a conference call to discuss the results, Aron said that the short-term impact of the writers’ and actors’ strikes will cause challenges for AMC in 2024. “Without taking sides … we strongly encourage all the parties involved to come to the negotiating table with the intent of reaching an agreement immediately,” he said.
The AMC CEO also discussed the success of Taylor Swift’s record-breaking concert film, which opened Oct. 12. “Both as distributor and exhibitor, AMC benefited handsomely,” he said, adding that AMC Theatres Distribution is following this success with the release of “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé,” which hits theaters globally Dec. 1.
“In working with two of the most admired pop stars on the planet, we already have touched lightning,” Aron added. “We are optimistic, though, that this will lead to much more ahead … we believe that we will have several more concert film products in 2024 and 2025. We intend to be working with some of the most known and most loved musical artists the world has ever known.”
-
A wall of debt rolling over: Here’s what’s scaring Bridgewater’s co-CIO
A weak session is setting up for Tuesday, with oil under pressure after unexpectedly downbeat China export data. So the preference is for bonds this morning, as stock futures tilt south.
Onto our call of the day, which deals with another worry — a wall of government debt that will be with us for decades. It comes from Bridgewater’s highly regraded co-chief investment officer Bob Prince, who was speaking at the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit on Tuesday, hosted by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
Prince touches on asset liability mismatches, such as what was seen during the banking crisis earlier this year. He explains that one big factor behind a crisis is when a certain economic regime exists for an extended period of time and “people extrapolate that into the future on the basis of leverage and asset liability mismatches. Then you get a shift in that regime.”
The events of March, which saw the collapse of SVB, Signature Bank and Silvergate, were a perfect example of that, Prince says. Then he turns to what he calls the “broader effects of a transition from 15 years of abundant free money,” that was first used to battle deleveraging pressures in the financial system in 2008 and then the pandemic.
One long-term effect of that gets particular attention by Prince, who points out how U.S. government Treasury debt to GDP was about 70% in 2008, around where it had been for decades.
“The after effects of offsetting deleveraging and pandemic, you’ve had a massive wealth shift from the public sector to the private sector and that’s left the government with debt to GDP up from 70% up to 120%. And the particular vulnerability of that is in the debt rollovers and the gross issuance that you’re going to see in the coming decades . You’re stuck with that debt until you pay it off and that means you have to roll it over like anybody else does,” said Prince.
“Gross debt issuance will be running at 25% for as far as the eye can see, that means every year you’re issuing 25% of GDP in debt. In 1960, the average amount of debt issuance was 12% of GDP,” he said.
Prince says most people really don’t pay attention to debt rollovers because they just assume those will get done, but notes that when countries have experienced balance of payments crisis in the past, mostly emerging markets, that is because they have been unable to roll over that debt.
In the U.S. case, it’s crucial to look at who is holding the debt, particularly the 27% held by foreign investors and 18% by central banks. “Foreign investors would normally be a reliable source of investment but it does heighten sensitivity to geopolitical risk, and so geopolitical risk converges with debt rollovers and gross issuance of the Treasury is an issue that you need to pay attention to in the coming years.
While not an “acute problem,” he says, it’s a lingering one, and when it comes to central banks it’s also unclear whether their holdings also present a “rollover risk.”
Prince also touches on the fact that that all that “abundant free money” has fueled a private-equity boom, but with interest rates now at 8% instead of 2% or 3%, “the pace and transaction cycle is bound to slow,” and they are starting to see that.
“When we talk to institutional investors around the world, many of them are experiencing liquidity issues right now and the liquidity issues result from the fact so much money was allocated to private assets and the transaction cycle is slowing,” he said.
MarketWatch 50: Forget U.S. stocks for now. Invest here instead, says Bridgewater’s co–investment chief
A team of analysts at Citigroup led by Nathan Sheets have also weighed in on government debt, telling clients in a new note that “it’s unwise for policy makers to experiment or test” where the threshold for too much debt lies. Here’s their chart showing the bleak trajectory:
Dirk Willer, head of global asset allocation at Citigroup, said a debt crisis scenario in the U.S. would likely mean a selloff of risk assets globally. He notes that bonds in rival countries may not be the best bet as they don’t always benefit. And both gold and bitcoin underperformed during the U.K. gilt crisis, so those may be out.
Also in attendance at the conference in Hong Kong, Deutsche Bank’s CEO is worried geopolitics could create another market event and Citadel’s Ken Griffin said investors should put money in China.
Read: ‘Stock-market correction is over’ after broad surge amid ‘epic’ market rallies
The markets
Stock futures
ES00,
-0.02% NQ00,
+0.31%
are pointing to a weak to flat session ahead, while the 10-year Treasury yield
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
eases back. U.S. crude
CL.1,
-2.20%
is under $80 a barrel after worse-than-forecast China exports signaled more economic bumps in the global growth engine. The dollar
DXY
is up.The buzz
Planet Fitness stock
PLNT,
-0.27%
is surging on upbeat results and an improved growth outlook. Uber
UBER,
+0.82%
is up as earnings beat forecasts, but revenue fell short. D.R. Horton
DHI,
-0.96%
stock is also getting a boost from results. EBay
EBAY,
-0.44% ,
Occidental Petroleum
OXY,
-2.00% ,
Akamai Tech
AKAM,
-0.06%
and Gilead Sciences
GILD,
-0.55%
after the close.Reporting late Thursday, Tripadvisor
TRIP,
+2.29%
delivered blowout results and the stock is surging, while Sanmina
SANM,
-1.03%
is down 14% after the manufacturing services provider’s disappointing results.UBS
UBS,
-0.49% UBSG,
+2.79%
swung to a $785 million quarterly loss on lingering effects of its Credit Suisse takeover, but it pulled in $33 billion in new deposits and shares are up.After a decade of turmoil, office-sharing group WeWork
WE,
-24.73%
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday.The U.S. trade deficit climbed 5% in September to $61.5 billion as imports rebounded. Still to come is consumer credit at 3 p.m. Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr speaks at 9:15 a.m., followed by Fed Gov. Christopher Waller at 10 a.m.
The International Monetary Fund boosted its China outlook for 2023 and 2024.
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The chart
According to this recent JPMorgan survey, two-thirds of investors are ready to start pumping more money into equities, while just 19% plan to increase bond exposure. Also, note that 67% also said they did not expect performance of the Magnificent 7 stocks — Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Tesla and Meta — to “crack before the end of the year.”
Top tickers
These were the top-searched tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m.:
TSLA,
-0.31% Tesla AMC,
+2.15% AMC Entertainment NVDA,
+1.66% Nvidia AAPL,
+1.46% Apple NIO,
-3.16% NIO GME,
-2.45% GameStop AMZN,
+0.82% Amazon.com PLTR,
-1.85% Palantir Technologies MULN,
+3.88% Mullen Automotive MSFT,
+1.06% Microsoft NVDA,
+1.66% Nvidia Random reads
Fifteen people ended up with eye pain and sight issues after a Bored Ape NFT event.
A death metal band asked for singers on social media. A choir responded.
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Disney and other entertainment giants report after upbeat results from peers, but investors are getting harsher on companies that don’t deliver
Last month, Netflix Inc.
NFLX,
+1.80%
stock jumped after it reported big subscriber gains and hiked prices. Last week, results from Paramount Global
PARA,
+15.44%
beat expectations, sending shares of the streaming and entertainment giant on its best percentage gain in nearly a year, and Roku Inc.
ROKU,
+8.58%
also offered an upbeat outlook.This week — as Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. all report results — we’ll get a deeper sense of whether the entertainment industry is starting to make investors happy again, even if they make viewers less happy in the process.
Those companies will report as the streaming industry, under pressure from investors to turn a better profit, consolidates and as platforms charge more to watch and cram more advertisements into shows and films.
Cable TV providers and movie theaters, too, are trying to figure out a way forward as streaming becomes more prevalent. Even as Hollywood’s writers come back to work following a strike that shut down production, its actors are still striking, with issues surrounding AI usage to portray actors, streaming payments and other issues in the balance.
Disney
DIS,
+2.14% ,
which reports results on Wednesday, faces questions about losses at Disney+, efforts to cut billions in costs and stamp out streaming-account sharing, its planned takeover of the streaming platform Hulu and speculation over which of its large media properties it might sell. BofA analysts recently estimated that ESPN, which Disney has leaned on for years, could be worth around $24 billion. Meanwhile, activist investor Nelson Peltz has been angling for seats on Disney’s board, and its fight with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continues.Elsewhere, Warner Bros. Discovery
WBD,
+6.23%
— the parent company of the streaming service Max, Warner Bros. Pictures, Discovery Channel, CNN and other channels — reports on Wednesday, as it tries to turn its reserves of intellectual property into franchise films. Meme-stock theater chain AMC
AMC,
+2.19% ,
which also reports Wednesday, following upbeat results from rival Cinemark Holdings Inc.
CNK,
-2.43% .Sales at the theater chains have been lifted in recent months by “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” While both were original films, analysts have said the avalanche of sequels and remakes in theaters is unlikely to stop.
The pressure to boost profits will ultimately affect what TV shows and films get made, and what viewers actually consume. And a report from FactSet on Friday found that investors have been more unkind than usual to companies whose results come up short of Wall Street’s expectations.
That report found that through the third-quarter earnings season, companies whose earnings miss expectations have seen an average stock-price drop of 5.2% during the two days before the publication of the results through the two days after. If that figure holds, it would be the stock market’s biggest adverse reaction to an earnings miss since the second quarter of 2011.
This week in earnings
Among S&P 500 companies, 55 including one from the Dow, will report quarterly results during the week ahead.
EV startup Rivian Automotive Inc.
RIVN,
+0.68%
reports amid concerns about EV demand. Following Ticketmaster parent Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s
LYV,
+3.53%
blowout quarterly results last week, results from Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp.
MSGE,
+1.03%
will shed more light on people’s appetites for live entertainment. Results from digital marketing platform Klaviyo Inc.
KVYO,
+3.86%
and fast-casual chain Cava Group Inc.
CAVA,
+5.49%
— both recent IPOS — will offer a deeper look at digital ad budgets and a competitive restaurant backdrop, respectively.The New York Times Co.
NYT,
+0.91%
also reports during the week. So do Planet Fitness Inc.
PLNT,
-0.09% ,
Gilead Sciences
GILD,
+0.44% ,
eBay Inc.
EBAY,
+3.98%
and Take-Two Interactive Software
TTWO,
+1.03% .The call to put on your calendar
Cybersecurity drama: Cyberattacks are getting more severe, and customers are starting to feel their effects more acutely. Against that backdrop, casino and resort operator MGM Resorts International
MGM,
+5.27%
will report quarterly results on Wednesday, in the wake of a cyberattack that took down some of its systems. MGM has said that attack, which the company disclosed in September, would cost them roughly $100 million.The company said the fallout of that attack — which disrupted hotel bookings and put hotels on manual operations, resulting in long lines — was largely contained to September. But the SEC last week accused software company SolarWinds Corp.
SWI,
+1.74%
of failing to disclose its purported cybersecurity vulnerabilities, potentially leaving other companies wondering whether they’re vulnerable to similar legal action.The numbers to watch
The gig economy and delivery demand: Rival ride-hailing platforms Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. report results on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Maplebear Inc.
CART,
+0.94% ,
better known as the grocery-delivery platform Instacart, also reports on Wednesday.Analysts have been kinder to Uber
UBER,
+2.73% ,
the larger of the two ride-hailing companies. But Lyft has tried to cut its prices and roll out new services, including one that tries to match women and non-binary riders and drivers. The financials from all three companies will land after strong results from food-delivery platform DoorDash Inc.
DASH,
+5.35% ,
which has expanded its services into retail an effort to compete with Instacart and other delivery providers. And they’ll fill in the picture of rider demand following the back-to-school season and a bigger push to get workers back into offices.Beyond ride-sharing, results from Uber and Instacart will narrow the lens on delivery demand, as some analysts question whether higher prices for basics and the return of student-loan payments might make food delivery more dispensable. Analysts also seem likely to zero on in those companies’ high-margin digital-ad businesses, as more e-commerce platforms try to turn their apps and websites into online billboard space.
-
Detroit Is Paying Up to End the UAW Strike. Now Carmakers Will Live With the Costs.
Updated Oct. 30, 2023 12:50 pm ET
The United Auto Workers campaign against Detroit’s three automakers can be described as one thing for the union: a win.
The strike, now in its seventh week, is nearing its conclusion with General Motors on Monday reaching a tentative labor deal with the UAW following similar pacts with Ford Motor and Chrysler-parent Stellantis.
Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
-
WSJ News Exclusive | UAW Expands Strike With GM After Reaching Tentative Agreement With Stellantis
Updated Oct. 28, 2023 10:03 pm ET
The United Auto Workers called a fresh strike at a General Motors factory in Tennessee, a surprise walkout after negotiators had been working nearly around the clock to finalize a new contract this weekend.
Workers at GM’s factory in Spring Hill, Tenn., were ordered to go on strike Saturday evening, according to people with knowledge of the union’s plans. The strike came just as the UAW confirmed that it reached a tentative agreement with Chrysler parent Stellantis on a new labor contract.
Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
-
AMC shares rise as meme-stock darling eyes another big Taylor Swift weekend
For AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is the gift that keeps on giving.
Taylor Swift’s record-breaking concert film, which opened Oct. 12, is in its third weekend at the box office and has already brought in more than $178 million worldwide, according to IMDbPro’s Box Office Mojo.
“Weekend #3 for Taylor Swift The Eras Tour: Thursday through Sunday,” tweeted AMC CEO Adam Aaron Wednesday. “Playing at all AMC & Odeon theatres in the U.S. & Europe. The highest grossing concert film of all time. CinemaScore A+, RT 99%/98%. See the phenomenon that has captivated the world.”
Related: AMC still riding a ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ wave
Earlier this week Aaron tweeted that the movie enjoyed a successful second weekend in theaters. “It’s such a privilege to report that Taylor Swift The Eras Tour won the weekend again!” he wrote on Monday. “The first ever movie distributed by AMC, it had the biggest box office gross last weekend and this weekend! Grossed $179 million so far. All the credit goes to the extraordinary Taylor Swift!”
Set against this backdrop AMC
AMC,
-0.87%
shares rose 1.9% Friday and are on pace to snap a two-day losing streak.In addition to showing “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” in its theaters, AMC is also the theatrical distributor for the movie. AMC Theatres Distribution and subdistribution partners Variance Films, Trafalgar Releasing, Cinepolis and Cineplex Inc. have clinched deals with movie-theater operators representing more than 8,500 theaters globally to show the film, according to AMC.
EXCLUSIVE: AMC boosted by Taylor Swift and summer blockbusters, cinema foot-traffic data show
“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” remained atop the domestic box office last weekend, ahead of Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which brought in an estimated $23 million on its debut weekend, according to Comscore data released Sunday. The new Scorsese movie, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, also enjoyed a strong opening weekend internationally, bringing in an estimated $21 million.
Shares of movie theater chain and meme stock darling AMC have fallen 73.8% in 2023, compared with S&P 500 index’s
SPX
gain of 7.2%. -
Ford’s stock drops 4% after carmaker pulls guidance, EV unit loses $1.3 billion
Ford Motor Co.’s stock dropped 4% after hours Thursday after the carmaker reported lower-than-expected quarterly earnings and withdrew its guidance for the year, citing the pending agreement with the United Auto Workers.
Ford
F,
-1.65%
also reported an adjusted loss of $1.3 billion for its EV unit, which was wider than Wall Street expected, saying that customers interested in EVs are “unwilling” to pay the vehicles’ premium prices. The company paused billions of long-term investment in EVs due to that disconnect.“Our business is never short of challenges, especially right now with the evolution of the EV market,” Chief Executive Jim Farley told analysts in a call following results.
Ford earned $1.2 billion, or 30 cents a share, in the third quarter, swinging from a loss of $827 million, or 21 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Adjusted for one-time items, Ford earned 39 cents a share. Adjustments included a $2.7 billion impairment charge related to the investment in the shuttered, Ford-backed Argo AI driverless-car company.
Revenue rose 11% to $43.8 billion, the carmaker said.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected Ford to report adjusted earnings of 46 cents a share on sales of $43.94 billion.
Ford said that its EV business segment recorded an EBIT loss of $1.3 billion, thanks to “continued investment in next-generation EVs and challenging market dynamics.”
Many customers in North America interested in EVs are “unwilling to pay premiums for them,” which “sharply” flattens EV prices and profit, Ford said.
The carmaker said it was “poised to deliver profitability” within its previous EBIT guidance range of $11 billion to $12 billion before it decided to withdraw the year’s outlook pending the agreement with its workers.
The results come as striking employees at Ford are returning to work after the carmaker and the United Auto Workers reached a tentative agreement, which was announced late Wednesday.
The agreement is going through ratification steps, and negotiations between the union and General Motors Co.
GM,
-1.59%
and Stellantis NV
STLA,
-2.17%
are said to be “active.”On the call with analysts, Farley said that once the deal is ratified, Ford will provide Wall Street “a deeper look at the contract and its impact on our business.”
Ford, GM and Stellantis each have had several factories and distribution centers offline due to the strike. GM and Stellantis are expected to follow with agreements of their own.
Ford was the first company to face walkouts at a key factory, as workers at Ford’s Kentucky pickup-truck plant walked out on Oct. 11.
GM earlier this week detailed some of the impacts of the strike, particularly through the end of the current quarter, and also withdrew its guidance.
See also: UAW strike moves to GM’s key SUV plant
Ford shares have underperformed the broader equity market, and are losing about 1.6% so far this year, which contrasts with gains of around 8% for the S&P 500 index
SPX.The underperformance holds for the past three months, with Ford shares down 16% compared with the index’s 8% drop in the period.
The union said that the current four-year deal grants a 25% increase in base wages through April 2028. It will cumulatively raise the top wage at Ford by more than 30% to more than $40 an hour, and starting wages by 68% to over $28 an hour.
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Leapmotor Shares Fall After Stellantis Takes Stake in EV Maker for $1.58 Billion
By Jiahui Huang
Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology’s shares were lower at the mid-day break after initially rising on news of a 1.5 billion euro ($1.58 billion) investment by Stellantis in the Chinese electric-vehicle maker.
Leapmotor shares ended the morning session down 9.4% at 33.40 Hong Kong dollars, reversing course from early gains of as much as 11.5%.
Some of the whipsawing into negative territory arose from early investors in the company seeking an exit point, said Ke Qu, an analyst at CCB International Securities.
“The stock price is under pressure due to selling pressure from pre-IPO investors,” Qu said in an email. “Most may think this partnership announcement creates [a] better exit window for their three-year or even longer investment.”
Qu added that Leapmotor is relatively short on cash compared with other listed startups in China, and can benefit from a partner to leverage its exposure and competitiveness in European or U.S. markets.
“Greater access to [the] EU means better profitability than elsewhere in the world,” she said.
Netherlands-based Stellantis said early Thursday that it is taking a roughly 20% stake in Leapmotor, with the companies planning to create a joint venture to sell Leapmotor products outside of China, starting with Europe.
Leapmotor debuted in Hong Kong in September 2022 after raising about HK$6.06 billion (US$774.8 million) in its initial public offering.
The Chinese company delivered 44,325 vehicles in the third quarter, up almost 25% from a year earlier. Revenue in the quarter rose 32% on the year to CNY5.66 billion.
Write to Jiahui Huang at jiahui.huang@wsj.com
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UAW won’t expand auto workers strike
The United Auto Workers said Friday it has made progress in the negotiations with the Big Three carmakers, and didn’t announce any new plants that would expand its ongoing strike.
Nearly 34,000 workers at Ford Motor Co.
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+0.95% ,
General Motors Co.
GM,
+1.13%
and Stellantis NV
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-0.37%
are on strike, with the most recent labor-movement expansion hitting Ford’s highly profitable Kentucky pickup truck factory earlier this month.There was “serious movement” in negotiations at GM and Stellantis, UAW President Shawn Fain said Friday in an address to the membership.
“The bottom line is we’ve got cards left to play and they’ve money left to spend. That’s the hardest part of a strike. Right before a deal, is when there’s the most aggressive push for that last mile,” Fain said.
Earlier Friday, GM made new proposal to auto workers, reinstating cost-of-living adjustments and offering compounded raises of about 25% over four years.
Auto workers started the strike at the stroke of midnight Sept. 14, walking out at one plant each of GM, Ford, and Stellantis NV
STLA,
-0.37% .
The union expanded the labor action to more factories and facilities as the weeks went by.Striking at all Big Three at once was a departure from the long-standing UAW tradition striking at one car company at a time, to save picket-line firepower and the strike fund.
During his address Friday, Fain vowed to intensify efforts to unionize at more auto plants.
“We are going to organize non-union auto companies like we’ve never organized before,” he said.
Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
-3.69%
has for years fended off efforts to unionize its factory in Fremont, Calif. Several foreign automakers have U.S. plants in the Southeast, where union traditions are not as the Midwest. -
Ford Executive Chairman Calls for End to UAW Strike
Updated Oct. 16, 2023 2:28 pm ET
Ford Motor Executive Chair Bill Ford called for a resolution to an “acrimonious” round of talks with the United Auto Workers and warned that a continuing strike could hurt the company’s ability to keep factory jobs in the U.S.
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Taylor Swift’s film opened Thursday, surprising (and disappointing) some fans
So much for being the first in line for the highly anticipated Taylor Swift “Eras Tour” concert film.
With the last-minute news that the film’s release was being moved to Thursday instead of the originally announced date of Friday, some Swift fans have expressed frustration that they may have to buy tickets all over again.
Or as one commented Wednesday on X (formerly Twitter), “you’re telling me I had to fight for my life on the cineplex website for opening day tickets just for her to add showtimes tmrw?”
Swift revealed the change to the film’s release schedule on Wednesday, saying, “Due to unprecedented demand we’re opening up early access showings of The Eras Tour Concert Film on THURSDAY in America and Canada!!”
Swift attended the film’s premiere in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, joined by some 2,200 fans. But on Thursday, she was back to taking in a Kansas City Chiefs game, according to an Associated Press report.
Swift has attended other Chiefs games this season to root on tight end Travis Kelce. The pair are said to have a growing relationship.
Some Swifties greeted the announcement of the film’s new Thursday release date with joy. “Taylor Swift always knows how to surprise us! Can’t wait for this incredible journey to begin!” said one.
But others were disappointed that they no longer had those first-to-see bragging rights. And they suddenly were faced with the dilemma of having to buy tickets all over again if they wanted to maintain that position. In turn, that left them with the problem of what to do with the tickets they purchased for Friday showings.
One commenter on X thought it was pretty savvy of Swift to boost the box office this way, saying the singer is “getting more sales out of her fans by moving opening night.”
Another commenter also said this was “a smart move” on Swift and her team’s part.
Not that theaters haven’t already sold plenty of seats for the film. The movie is set to have at least a $150 million opening, according to the Hollywood Reporter, and has buoyed the AMC
AMC,
+5.57%
and Cinemark
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chains. -
UAW says 8,700 Ford workers have walked off the job at Louisville truck plant
In what was described as an unannounced decision, the United Auto Workers union has called a strike at Ford Motor Co.’s
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large Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, the union said Wednesday.The union, in a statement, said that 8,700 union members had walked off the job at 6:30 p.m. Eastern at the plant, which Ford described as its biggest. The union said that the move marked a “new phase” in its ongoing strike, in which select workers have been called on at different times to walk out.
In a statement, UAW President Shawn Fain said Ford “has not gotten the message.”
“It’s time for a fair contract at Ford and the rest of the Big Three,” Fain said. “If they can’t understand that after four weeks, the 8,700 workers shutting down this extremely profitable plant will help them understand it.”
Ford, in a statement, called the decision “grossly irresponsible” and said it had made an “outstanding offer” in the negotiations, which involve the union and the Big Three auto makers.
Ford said the vehicles made at the factory — the F-Series Super Duty, the Ford Expedition and the Lincoln Navigator – bring in $25 billion a year in sales.
The automaker said the UAW’s decision “carries serious consequences for our workforce, suppliers, dealers and commercial customers.”
Fain will host an event on Facebook on Friday to give updates on bargaining. Shares of Ford fell nearly 2% after hours.
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GM stock sinks to 3-year low after report that faulty air-bag parts may lead to massive recall
General Motors Co.’s stock ended at its lowest in three years on Thursday following a news report saying that the carmaker may face a massive recall in connection with defective air-bag inflators.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that at least 20 million GM
GM,
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vehicles are built with the potentially dangerous air-bag part, made by auto supplier ARC Automotive of Tennessee.GM stock fell 2.4% to close at $30.31, its lowest since Sept. 30, 2020, when it closed at $29.59. The stock has been down for five straight sessions, and off more than 8% in the period.
The report, citing people familiar with the matter, said that GM would be among the “most exposed” automaker to the recall, which involves 52 million inflators made by ARC.
At least two people have been killed and several others injured after the inflators exploded with too much force during a crash, sending shrapnel flying, the report said.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not yet released how many vehicles would be in the recall, or the specific models that would be affected, it said.
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Tesla, Rivian, Discover, Sphere Entertainment, Nvidia, and More Stock Market Movers
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Ford pauses work on $3.5 billion EV battery plant in Michigan
Ford Motor Co. said late Monday it has halted work on a $3.5 billion battery factory in Michigan, just days after the carmaker made concessions to its striking workers.
“We’re pausing work and limiting spending on construction on the [Marshall, Mich.] project until we’re confident about our ability to competitively operate the plant,” a Ford
F,
+1.21%
spokesperson said. “We haven’t made any final decision about the planned investment there.”Ford said in February it was investing $3.5 billion to build the facility in Marshall, about 100 miles west of Detroit. The plant, which Ford called BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, is part of Ford’s “commitment to American manufacturing,” the company said then.
The plant was expected to employ about 2,500 workers at the start of production, scheduled for 2026. The $3.5 billion investment is part of Ford’s commitment to invest more than $50 billion in electric vehicles globally through that year.
Employees in some parts of a Michigan Ford plant making Broncos and Rangers have been on strike since Sept. 14, part of a first wave of United Auto Workers’ labor action also hitting one plant each of General Motors Co.
GM,
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and Stellantis NV
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after the union’s contract expired without progress in the negotiations.Read more: UAW strike: 5 things to know
The UAW on Friday expanded the strike to 38 GM and Stellantis distribution centers across 20 states, but didn’t extend the labor action at Ford because it said it had won some concessions for the automaker, such as a return of cost-of-living adjustments.
Ford was showing the UAW that it was “serious about reaching a deal,” union leadership said at the time.
The strike comes at a time the legacy automakers are stretched thin to make investments in EVs, with batteries an especially critical — and pricey — components.
