Elon gets rejected from the club... Tesla stock plunged 7% Friday on news that the S&P 500 added Etsy to the famous index, but not the e-car maker. Tesla became eligible for an S&P 500 Club invite in July after posting 4 straight profitable quarters. If Tesla did get in, funds that track the S&P would need to buy over 120M Tesla shares, likely driving up the stock price. Turns out Elon hasn't made it past the S&P bouncer yet.
Throwing profit puppies out the emergency exit... Desperate move. United said it's permanently dropping its $200 change fee for domestic flights. Delta and American predictably followed suit. Profitable add-ons like change fees have 5X'd over the past decade and made up 15% of US airlines' sales last year. Buuuut: travel is still down ~60% from 2019 and airline bailout money runs out in October. Between pandemics, hurricanes, and fires, booking a flight with a $200 change fee is... risky. Airlines hope that killing those fees will boost sales.