TheStreet’s J.D. Durkin brings the latest business headlines from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as markets open for trading Tuesday, March 26.
Related: Trader Joe's manager reveals secret hack shoppers don't know about
FULL VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
J.D. Durkin: I’m J.D. Durkin - reporting from the New York Stock Exchange - here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
Stocks are looking to pick up steam after a muted day yesterday. The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 all saw minimal movement from open to close.
Investors are anticipating today's consumer confidence report as well as as Friday’s PCE report - which the Federal Reserve pays the closest attention when deciding its path forward on interest rates. Currently, investors are pricing in a 92 percent chance that the central bank holds rates steady during its May meeting.
In other news - for the first time in more than two decades, Trader Joe’s is raising the price of its 19-cent bananas. A single banana will now run you 23 cents - and while that doesn’t seem like a big deal on the surface, keep in mind that it’s a more than 20 percent price hike.
While the grocer didn’t go into detail about what prompted the increase, Trader Joe’s said “We’ve now reached a point where change is necessary.” But the change falls in line with what Americans have had to deal with across the board when it comes to groceries. According to a CBS MoneyWatch report, consumers are paying 20 percent more for the same groceries they bought in 2021.
Another food favorite that continues to get more expensive is chocolate. The price of cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate, is at an all-time high and is continuing to rise. West Africa is responsible for more than 60 percent of the world’s cocoa production. But climate issues in the region have damaged crops, causing the cocoa supply to drop and prices to increase. Rising fuel prices have also bumped up transportation costs - and now cocoa prices are already up more than 100 percent this year.
That’ll do it for your daily briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m J.D. Durkin with TheStreet.
