Spencer Jakab

The question in 2024 is “How Much is the Beef?” It has been almost two weeks since burger chain Wendy’s unveiled full-year results and, aside from mild investor disappointment (the stock fell by 1.5% that session), management’s predictably upbeat comments didn’t spark much of a reaction. Suddenly, though, something Chief Executive Officer Kirk Tanner said back then has sparked unwelcome headlines for the chain known for its square beef patties: “Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and day-part offerings along with AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling.” Dynamic pricing, less-flatteringly known as “surge pricing,” is a practice associated with companies like Uber, but it is actually widespread.

Oil and gas giant Chevron said in October that [it would pay $53 billion in stock](https://www.wsj/business/energy-oil/chevron-to-buy-hess-for-53-billion-f1373362) for Hess. Unfortunately, [a rival company could play spoiler.](https://www.wsj/business/energy-oil/exxon-throws-a-wrench-in-chevrons-deal-for-hess-42fa6483) Exxon Mobil had just inked the largest oil and gas deal in decades weeks earlier by agreeing to [buy shale operator Pioneer Natural Resources](https://www.wsj/business/energy-oil/exxon-buys-pioneer-in-60-billion-deal-to-create-shale-giant-207c168b). Chevron had its own big shale deal for Anadarko snatched away years earlier by smaller Occidental and may have been willing to take a risk.

This year's ‘wave season' will break revenue records for cruise lines, but investors are wary of the massive debts the industry took on during the pandemic.

今年は米クルーズ業界の「ウエーブシーズン」が過去最高になるとの見方が広がる一方、投資家の間ではクルーズ船大手が抱える巨額負債への懸念が根強い。

Buying U.S. Treasury bonds used to be cumbersome—not to mention pretty boring. Thanks to financial innovation, though, investors don’t have to worry about things like clipping coupons. Retail investors might not be able to whip out a slide rule and calculate Macaulay duration the way a bond geek can, but it is pretty common knowledge that the most bang for your buck comes from owning the longest-dated bonds.

The world’s largest full-service restaurant company has also been one of the best, or at least most consistent, performers in the food industry in recent years. High expectations can have negative consequences, though, and Darden Restaurants shares were tumbling Thursday morning, on pace for their sharpest retreat in nearly two years. Revenue grew by 6.8% overall in Darden’s fiscal third quarter, but that was all due to restaurant openings and the acquisition of steakhouse chain Ruth’s Chris.

A little bit of seasickness is par for the course for cruise line investors–especially those owning the largest and most-indebted one, Carnival Corp. Its shares were recently edging higher, after falling earlier following the release of its results. Only Royal Caribbean has erased its pandemic losses, though, with the other two weighed down by debt.

In a note Wednesday, Apollo Global Chief Economist Torsten Slok points out that the median size of a new single-family home is shrinking. An affordability index maintained by the National Association of Realtors, while off of its lows in October as mortgage rates have cooled, is remarkable. By last October it was $108,432, or just 91.4% of median household income.

The answer is almost always “yes”—French fries are the most-consumed item in fast-food eateries. Pound for pound, the tubers are a low-cost way to get calories down eaters’ gullets, and addictive to boot. A warning from Lamb Weston on Thursday paints a darkening picture for quick-serve restaurants, or QSRs, and their core customers.

You see an Iced Starbucks Blonde Vanilla Latte that costs $7.25. An economist sees a “Veblen good.” Part of the secret to the coffee chain’s success and ubiquity has been the fact that it sells coffee not only at a huge markup to the cost of foamy brown water but simply that it costs a lot.