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Conway Gittens: I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
Stocks gained ground throughout Tuesday’s session with the S&P 500 now less than a full percent away from setting its first record high of 2025. The outlook for interest rates and the fourth-quarter reporting season are providing support. D.R. Horton, the nation’s largest publicly traded homebuilder, easily beat quarterly forecasts as it focused on building and selling more affordable homes.
On Wednesday’s calendar, investors will hear from a diverse group including Halliburton, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Las Vegas Sands.
Related: Why alcohol sales are declining
In other business headlines, military conflicts in several parts of the world, global political uncertainty and dissatisfaction, and inflation’s stubborn will not to go back down - are all taking a toll on the world’s party vibe. With that in mind, Champagne sales were down in 2024 for a second year in a row.
The number of bottles of Champagne shipped outside of France dropped nearly 10 percent for all of 2024, compared to the year before. Meanwhile, bottles shipped inside France dropped 7 percent as well, according to Comité Champagne, a trade group representing the bubbly that’s only produced in the Champagne region of France.
In a statement announcing the drop, Maxime Toubart, head of the trade group said “ Champagne is a true barometer of consumer mood. And this is no time for celebration.”
Now to be clear it’s not just sales of the expensive stuff that’s gone flat, alcohol sales are down across the board, with the exception of ready-made, pre-mixed drinks.
That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
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