United Airlines posts stronger-than-expected profit, but weaker sales in its third quarter

The average price of a new vehicle in the US surpassed $50,000 in September, according to Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book.

At $50,080, that’s the highest industry average ever, reflecting the price hikes faced by new car buyers in recent years amid pandemic supply shortages, tariff-induced increases, and the high cost of EV production. The figure marks a 3.6% jump from the same month last year.

“Tariffs have introduced new cost pressure to the business, but the pricing story in September was mostly driven by the healthy mix of EVs and higher-end vehicles pushing the new-vehicle ATP into uncharted territory,” Cox executive analyst Erin Keating said. Passing the $50,000 mark was inevitable, Keating said, especially considering that the country’s bestseller is a Ford truck that “routinely costs north of $65,000.”

Year over year, new vehicle prices rose nearly 6% for GM, while Ford’s climbed 2.5%. Volkswagen new prices were up 12.5%.

As prices climb, so do delinquencies on loans to borrowers with lower credit scores. Recent data from Fitch Ratings shows the portion of subprime US auto loans 60 days or more overdue reached 6.43% in August.

Alibaba slipped more than 3% Tuesday morning following reports that its cloud unit will cut prices of select Elastic Compute Service products by up to 10.2% in overseas markets including Frankfurt, Tokyo, and Dubai.

The cuts, effective October 30, reflect the company’s push to expand its global footprint. The moves reflect a more targeted regional approach for the company as it seeks to strengthen its footprint in Europe and Asia. Alibaba Cloud made similar price cuts on international cloud products last year.

Competition is hot: Alibaba Cloud sits behind behemoths Amazon, Microsoft, and Google in the global cloud race, coming in fourth worldwide, according to data from Gartner.

A few weeks after the end of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit — and the end of General Motors’ attempt to extend it — GM says slowing EV sales will cost it $1.6 billion in its third quarter.

“Following recent US Government policy changes, including the termination of certain consumer tax incentives for EV purchases and the reduction in the stringency of emissions regulations, we expect the adoption rate of EVs to slow. These developments have caused us to reassess our EV capacity and manufacturing footprint,” GM wrote in a Tuesday filing.

As a result, GM said, the company will take a $1.2 billion charge pegged to EV capacity adjustments. An additional $400 million cash hit will come from canceled EV contracts with suppliers. The automaker said it’s “reasonably possible” that it will incur more EV-related charges in the coming quarters.

GM reports its third-quarter earnings next week. In the first half of the year, rival Ford has posted losses to the tune of $2.18 billion related to its EV business.