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North America
CNBC Finance

Luxury spending now driven by experiences and 'inheritourism'

Luxury spending is expected to rebound this year, driven mainly by experiences rather than luxury goods, according to a new study. After two years of declines, luxury goods sales are expected to grow between 1% and 4% in 2026, according to a report from Bain & Co. and Altagamma. Personal luxury goods sales are projected to reach between 365 billion euros and 373 billion euros (US$413.6 billion and US$422.7 billion) this year. The tensions in the Middle East continue to dampen sales. Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was one of the fastest-growing luxury markets in the world before the Iran war but relies heavily on tourism and has yet to show signs of recovery. The report said that if the Middle East stabilizes and demand in China strengthens, luxury goods sales could post growth this year. The U.S. is now the leading country for luxury goods growth for the first time since 2021, according to the report. It said that growth in the U.S. is being driven in large part by aspirational consumers. At the same time, the priorities and spending of wealthy consumers around the world are shifting. The report said travel, events and dining experiences are becoming more important than buying status goods for show. While luxury goods sales are expected to grow between 1% and 4%, experiences are on track for growth of between 3% and 7% this year, the report said. Bookings in dining, leisure and entertainment are up around 30% this year. "What we're seeing across experiential luxury this year is resilience concentrated in the categories that offer something money can't easily replicate: time, access and meaning," said Claudia D'Arpizio, a senior partner at Bain & Co. "Luxury is increasingly about how people live rather than what they own." Trips to nontraditional and less crowded destinations are growing. "Immersive wayfaring," or bespoke, slow-travel experiences rooted in discoveries and traditions, are also growing more popular. Travel to nontraditional locations is up 20%, according to the report. The report also cites the rise in "inheritourism," in which wealthy families travel together and Gen Zers adopt the travel tastes and preferences of their parents. Cruises in particular are drawing many first-time buyers along with repeat customers. Fine dining and gourmet food are being driven by a "less-but-better" mindset, and fine arts are returning to growth. "Consumers aren't simply spending more; they're spending differently, in pursuit of moments that feel personal and authentic," D'Arpizio said. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Luxury spending now driven by experiences and 'inheritourism'
North America
CNBC Finance

GM reveals 2027 GMC Sierra pickup with new V-8 engines, redesigned styling

DETROIT – General Motors revealed its 2027 GMC Sierra 1500 pickup truck lineup on Thursday with new V-8 engine options and redesigned interior and exterior styling. The new GMC trucks are crucial to the automaker's sales and earnings, especially the highly profitable Denali luxury models and off-road AT4 models that represent roughly half of the vehicle's current sales, according to GM. Such models feature unique parts, accessories and amenities to boost pricing and profits for the company. GM said Thursday it's narrowing its model lineup for the next-generation Sierra to the Pro, Elevation, AT4, AT4X, Denali and Denali Ultimate. It's removing the mid-level SLE and SLT trims, which currently start at about $51,500 and $57,900, respectively. GM said pricing details as well as performance specifications will be released closer to when the vehicles go on sale late this year. Starting prices for the current Sierra 1500 lineup ranges from roughly $41,000 for an entry-level Pro to more than $86,000 for a Denali Ultimate. "With the next-generation Sierra 1500, we're bringing together a new generation of Small Block V8 power, precise off-road capability, and our most immersive cabin experience to date," said Michael MacPhee, vice president of GM's GMC and Buick brands, in a release. "The next-generation Sierra is the truck all others will be measured against." The new trucks come a week after the Detroit automaker unveiled updates to its Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickup trucks, which are mechanical siblings to the GMC models. Most noticeably the GMC pickups are styled far differently than their Chevy brethren, including taking styling cues from the brand's all-electric Sierra pickup truck and featuring a new interior. The interior cabin comes with more storage, a sliding center console and a folding table or work surface — all made possible by moving the gear shifter from the center console to behind the steering wheel. It also features new technologies and more than 60 inches of available screens, including an 11.5-inch passenger-side screen that includes media and entertainment functions. Other significant changes are found under the hood. Like the Silverado models, the GMC pickups will include a new generation of the automaker's small block V-8 gas engines, available in 5.7-liter and 6.6-liter options. In addition to the V-8 engines, the GMC trucks will offer two six-cylinder engines, including a GM-exclusive diesel variant. GM's U.S. sales through the first half of this year are forecast to decline by roughly 7%, according to Cox Automotive. The overall market is expected to see sales fall roughly 3%, Cox said Wednesday. GM reported first-quarter sales were down 9.7% compared with a year earlier, with its GMC brand about level. Sales of the Sierra 1500 were down about 2% to nearly 51,900 units, while larger, heavy-duty models were off about 8% to roughly 24,500 units. Sales of the electric Sierra were up 3%, but remained under 1,300 units.

GM reveals 2027 GMC Sierra pickup with new V-8 engines, redesigned styling
North America
CNBC Finance

JPMorgan names Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh co-presidents as longtime exec Marianne Lake exits

JPMorgan Chase on Thursday promoted two of its top executives into newly created co-president roles, marking the latest step in CEO Jamie Dimon's long-running succession planning while announcing the retirement of one of Dimon's most prominent potential successors. Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh, who have jointly led the bank's commercial and investment banking division since early 2024, were named co-presidents of JPMorgan effective immediately, according to a regulatory filing. As part of the changes, Petno, 61, becomes the sole chief executive of the commercial and investment banking division, while Rohrbaugh, 56, will take over as CEO of the firm's consumer and community banking division, succeeding Marianne Lake. "The decision to elevate Doug and Troy to Co-Presidents and heads of the company's two largest businesses reflects the Board's confidence in their extraordinary leadership capabilities, business performance, relationships, experience and commitment to always doing the right thing," Dimon said in a statement. Lake, a 25-year veteran of JPMorgan who has been on the short list of potential Dimon successors since serving as CFO starting in 2013, decided to retire from the firm, according to the filing. The moves reshape the leadership team beneath Dimon, 70, who has repeatedly said the bank's board has multiple executives capable of eventually becoming CEO. By placing Petno and Rohrbaugh in charge of the firm's two biggest and most important operating businesses while also elevating them to co-presidents, JPMorgan gives both executives broader management experience at a crucial time. Dimon expects to remain CEO for roughly three more years, though that timeline could change, according to two people with knowledge of his thinking. The bank has said that after Dimon steps down, he will likely stay on as chairman to advise the new CEO. Before the latest changes, Petno had the edge over Rohrbaugh in the succession race, but that gap has closed, according to the two people, who declined to be identified speaking about the bank's plans. Either manager could take over for Dimon in the short term if needed, they said. While Petno takes over sole control of the key Wall Street and commercial banking group that he has co-led for a few years, Rohrbaugh will now learn consumer banking after a career in institutional trading and markets businesses, a key step to expanding his resume. Lake submitted her resignation after the board winnowed the successor shortlist to the two men, according to one of the people. The person told CNBC they expect Lake to find an executive role elsewhere. Dimon said that Lake, who took over as sole head of the consumer banking division in 2024, was "an outstanding partner and friend and has dedicated her career to championing our people and customers, building world-class businesses and delivering results, always with unquestioned integrity." In another sign of their freshly minted status atop the succession list, Petno and Rohrbaugh each received one-time restricted stock bonuses valued at $30 million.

JPMorgan names Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh co-presidents as longtime exec Marianne Lake exits
Europe
The Guardian

US media regulator Brendan Carr accuses Disney of ‘misinformation’ on investigations

Brendan Carr, FCC chairman, attends the Conservative Political Action Conference USA 2026 at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, in Grapevine, Texas, on 27 March 2026. Photograph: Daniel Cole/ReutersView image in fullscreenBrendan Carr, FCC chairman, attends the Conservative Political Action Conference USA 2026 at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, in Grapevine, Texas, on 27 March 2026. Photograph: Daniel Cole/ReutersABCUS media regulator Brendan Carr accuses Disney of ‘misinformation’ on investigationsDisney-owned ABC launched awareness campaign about two FCC investigations it faces, urging viewers to write in Brendan Carr, the Trump-aligned chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has accused Disney of running a “campaign of misinformation” as the media group defends itself against investigations the regulator has initiated. Disney-owned ABC launched a public awareness campaign earlier this week to encourage viewers to back the network as it faces two separate investigations before the US media regulator. Since ABC began running advertisements encouraging viewers to file public comments, the FCC has received more than 51,000 submissions on its investigation into whether the daytime talk show The View violated equal time provisions around political candidates appearing on programs. There have also been nearly 40,000 submissions regarding the commission’s broader investigation into whether ABC should be able to renew its licenses for the eight local television stations it owns around the country. The outcome of that license renewal process, which could take more than a year, is extremely crucial for the future of the network. Carr said that Disney “is running a fairly standard, off-the-shelf PR strategy” and is seeking to litigate the case in the media. Taking it one step further, Carr said: “I do think that Disney is running a campaign of misinformation here, I think in a lot of ways.” He specifically called out ABC for saying in its advertisement raising awareness about The View investigation that “the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show.” “Our position is that we are enforcing the provisions of the Communications Act that Congress has passed,” he said. “We’re going to apply the law. Again, we have not made a decision one way or the other. We’re open-minded. We’ll see what they say.” Asked whether the FCC would factor in the overwhelming proportion of comments that are defending ABC when making decisions about the network, Carr said: “We have our ways of combing through the comments and we evaluate the merits of what people are saying. We look at the facts and the arguments that are being presented. This is what we do day in and day out. Maybe it’s more comments than we normally get, but it’s not entirely unprecedented when you get issues that break above the media noise floor.” Some telecom experts critical of Carr have said the license renewal process could ultimately take years, leaving the network in limbo. Asked by the Guardian about those concerns, Carr said it’s too early to say how long it could go. “It’s not been decided at the FCC yet whether to renew the licenses, or whether we can’t make a finding to renew and therefore you set it for hearing through a hearing designation order,” he said. “Again, at this point, all options remain on the table and it can be dictated by the facts and the law, and we just got to go forward. If it’s short, great. If it’s long, great. But we got to apply the Communications Act and the provisions.” Anna M Gomez, the lone Democrat-appointed FCC commissioner, reiterated her belief that Carr is using investigations and the license renewal process to put editorial pressure on ABC to go soft on the Trump administration, and not out of concern about whether Disney is discriminating against employees based on their race and gender, the rationale the chairman has given. “It is so clear that this early license renewal is being done to pressure Disney,” she said. “This is all designed to pressure Disney to cave.”

US media regulator Brendan Carr accuses Disney of ‘misinformation’ on investigations
Europe
BBC Business

Warning over power bank fire risk on flights as summer holidays begin

Image source, Getty ImagesByKaty AustinTransport correspondentPublished4 hours agoFlight passengers are being warned not to pack power banks or vapes in their hold luggage ahead of the busy summer holiday travel period beginning for parts of the UK. The fire risk posed by lithium batteries is now the number one safety risk to aircraft, according to the aviation regulator, as the number of devices found in hold bags has nearly doubled in a year. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says the average person now takes four different lithium powered devices on a flight. Ahead of the school summer holidays, which begin in Scotland first this week, people are being reminded to take devices in the cabin with them. The batteries can store huge amounts of energy in a small space, and are now commonly used in lots of electrical items including laptops, vapes, power banks, mobile phones and smart watches. They're incredibly useful and versatile. But if the batteries overheat or are defective, a fire can result which spreads very quickly and is hard to control. In 2024, 316 incidents of devices with lithium batteries detected in hold bags were reported to UK authorities. In 2025, that rose to 643. Reports of devices overheating or malfunctioning also nearly doubled the same year, from 123 to 206. Most of these issues occurred in the cabin where crew could deal with the situation, but the concern is that if this happens in the hold, the problem may not be discovered until it's too late to control it. Apart from the risk of fire, having to remove bags from the hold can cause delays. Planes can even be diverted. Last month an EasyJet flight had to divert to Rome because it emerged a power bank had been packed in the hold. In October, video was widely shared of flames belching from the overhead storage compartment of an Air China flight, reportedly caused by a lithium battery.

Warning over power bank fire risk on flights as summer holidays begin
Europe
BBC Business

Teens who hacked TfL were known to police years before cyber-attack

Two young men convicted over the cyber-attack that crippled Transport for London (TfL) in 2024 had long histories of cyber-offending and were both known to law enforcement bodies, the BBC has learnt. Owen Flowers, 18, from Walsall, and Thalha Jubair, 20, from east London, pleaded guilty on Monday to carrying out the attack. The breach disrupted TfL services for months, affected the personal data of millions of people and left all 28,000 TfL employees needing to reset their passwords in person. The BBC has discovered the authorities made frequent attempts to curb Flowers and Jubair's offending - raising questions over the effectiveness of such interventions with young cyber-criminals. Experts have told the BBC the case also indicates that perpetrators of cyber-attacks often do not appear to understand the real world consequences of their actions. The National Crime Agency (NCA) says it highlights the need for its officers to be given additional powers. Flowers and Jubair's trial heard they were part of the cyber-crime collective, Scattered Spider. The loosely organised gang of young English-speaking cyber-criminals has been linked to dozens of other cyber-attacks including on retailers Marks and Spencer and the Co-op. But the BBC has learned Flowers initially came to the attention of police shortly after he turned 16 years old. In October 2023 he was caught carrying out low-level cyber-crime and visited by West Midland's Regional Cyber Crime Unit prevent officers. Police say that during the visit Flowers did not engage with officers and was given a cease and desist order to deter him from further offending. Police had the option to invite him to enrol in the national Cyber Choices programme, which works to steer young people away from cyber-crime.

Teens who hacked TfL were known to police years before cyber-attack
Europe
BBC Business

The abundant but expensive energy source that's under your feet

It's hard to get Democrat and Republican politicians to agree on much at the moment, but the benefits of geothermal energy is one rare area of consensus. Geothermal energy makes use of natural heat below the Earth's surface and the next generation of technology can access hotter, deeper and more varied locations than ever before. Broadly, the low greenhouse gas emissions of geothermal plants appeals to liberals, while conservatives like the additional energy independence of geothermal, plus the use of drilling technology familiar in the oil and gas industry. Some US states are trying to accelerate permits for geothermal plants and in April senators from both parties introduced the Next-Generation Geothermal, external Research and Development Act. The legislation would direct the Department of Energy to support the development and commercialisation of the next generation of geothermal energy systems. In EGS, underground rock is fractured hydraulically. That's done by pumping pressurised fluid into one well, and then collecting steam or hot water from another well. Better known as fracking, this technique has become well known and controversial (particularly in the UK) in the oil and gas industry. "It's the same techniques and up to a point it's the same industry as well," sums up Gernot Wagner, a climate economist at Columbia Business School in New York. But "from a climate perspective, there's a huge difference," he adds. For him, the risk of seismic activity, by creating cracks underground, is outweighed by the benefits of an energy source that is renewable, always-on and large-capacity. "Based on where we are, moving much faster, much bigger in the direction of using much more geothermal, frankly, is all good news," Wagner says. Companies are developing drilling equipment that is more stable when breaking through hard rock at high temperatures. Quaise, a company with roots at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is using a technology called millimetre wave drilling. The frequency is similar to that of microwaves.

The abundant but expensive energy source that's under your feet
Europe
BBC Business

Yes, there have been rows but here's how I've made moving back home work

When 24-year-old Natasha Suman moved back into her parents' home in Bedford after university, she only expected it to be for a "few months" while she searched for her first job. But almost three years later, she's still there, saving for a deposit on her first home. The marketing coordinator pays towards bills but doesn't pay rent, so is able to put aside £1,000 a month in a Lifetime ISA - a tax-free account topped up by the government. That would have been impossible had she lived by herself, she says, given the "cost of living". However, Natasha admits she has "less freedom" than when she lived independently and generally does fewer "spontaneous things". She also argues more with her family than she used to, despite feeling very fortunate to live with them. "When I left home [for university], I was a very different person, and by the time I came back, I had essentially become an adult," she says. "Because of that, there have definitely been some clashes between me and my parents." The proportion of people in their 20s and 30s living with their parents has increased sharply over the last three decades, as rising house prices and rents have forced many to move back in to save for their first home. But while it can be a practical way to save money or deal with the loss of a job or a relationship breakdown, it often comes with frustrations, such as feeling like you've lost your independence or even regressed to childhood. For Natasha and her parents, Rita and Pawan, flashpoints have included shared use of the family car after her own vehicle broke down, disagreements over how chores are divided, and how much time to spend together - with her parents wanting to see more of her. "A lot of these disagreements stem from the fact that we are now four adults living together, all with our own routines, expectations and opinions." Her parents set "clear expectations" such as cleaning up after herself and making her own lunch.

Yes, there have been rows but here's how I've made moving back home work
Asia
The Economic Times

ITC, HUL among 10 FMCG stocks that have tumbled up to 31% in 2026. How many do you have?

The FMCG sector has had a subdued run in 2026, with the index declining 10% on a year-to-date basis as geopolitical disruptions stemming from the Iran war and inflationary pressures during April and May dented investor sentiment. Here are top laggards from the sector. Britannia Industries has had a challenging year so far, with the stock declining 13.30% YTD. Colgate-Palmolive India has remained under pressure in 2026, slipping 4.11% YTD. Dabur India has seen a sharp correction this year, with the stock falling 15.74% YTD. Godrej Consumer Products has also struggled to gain traction, declining 15.87% YTD. Hindustan Unilever has delivered a relatively resilient performance compared with peers, though the stock is still down 6.15% YTD. Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care has witnessed heavy selling pressure, with the stock plunging 30.62% YTD. Tata Consumer Products has remained under pressure this year, declining 5.27% YTD. United Breweries has faced significant headwinds, with the stock falling 18.09% YTD. United Spirits has shown relative resilience despite market volatility, slipping 4.20% YTD. (Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

ITC, HUL among 10 FMCG stocks that have tumbled up to 31% in 2026. How many do you have?