3. Wells Fargo CEO: Economy isn’t ready for rate hikes
Charles Scharf, the CEO of Wells Fargo, says the economy isn’t quite prepared for the future rate hikes the Fed has in store, as the central bank wages a battle against four-decade-high inflation. “We know rates are going up; it couldn’t be clearer,” he told CNBC’s Sara Eisen at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Wednesday. “We know that consumers and businesses, while strong today, are going to see deterioration, and we’re going to act surprised when it happens.”
4. Spirit delays shareholder vote on Frontier deal
In an 11th-hour move, Spirit Airlines on Wednesday evening again delayed its shareholder vote on a proposed merger with fellow low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines. The meeting was set for Thursday morning but was moved to July 8. The delay gives JetBlue a renewed opportunity to push its bid for Spirit, which has been rejected several times despite increasingly sweetened offers. Either merger would create the fifth-biggest airline in the United States. “Spirit would not have postponed tomorrow’s meeting if they felt they had the votes,” Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry consultant and president of Atmosphere Research Group, told CNBC.
5. Walgreens sticks with its outlook
Pharmacy company Walgreens Boots Alliance’s earnings report Thursday beat Wall Street’s expectations, thanks in part to growth in online sales. Walgreens, which said it administered millions of Covid tests and vaccines during the quarter, also stuck by its profit outlook for the year. Shares of the company fell more than 2% in light premarket trading.
— CNBC’s Pippa Stevens, Ian Thomas, Arjun Kharpal, Leslie Josephs and Melissa Repko contributed to this report.
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