Cox: Used-vehicle wholesale prices rose 2.8% in July from June
Used-vehicle wholesale values rose 2.8 percent in July from June, Cox said. Values in July 2024 were down 4.8 percent compared with a year earlier.
Disney, SeaWorld post small revenue gains, quarterly reports show
Walt Disney Co. and United Parks & Resorts, parent of SeaWorld Orlando, on Wednesday announced small gains in revenue for their theme parks during their most recent fiscal quarters.
Third-quarter revenue for Disney’s Experiences segment, which incorporates global attractions including Walt Disney World’s parks and Disney Cruise Line, was $8.38 billion, a 2% increase. Operating income was $2.22 billion, a 3% decrease.
The entire company’s revenue for the quarter was $23.16 billion, up 4%, and its operating income of $4.22 billion was an increase of 19%. A standout statistic, the company said, was Disney’s streaming segment — Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ — posting a profit for the first time.
Executives said the parks’ trend was expected to continue in upcoming quarters despite expectations for a “flattish” fourth quarter overall.
“I want to emphasize we actually had 2% revenue growth in Q3,” Hugh Johnston, chief financial officer of Walt Disney Co., said in a call with market analysts Wednesday. “The reason, obviously, is the IP [intellectual property] is so strong in our parks, it really does attract a strong audience. And people are reluctant to cancel vacations.”
NASA lays out plan to send Starliner astronauts home on SpaceX Dragon if needed
No decision has been made yet, but NASA detailed Wednesday an option to get Boeing’s Starliner astronauts home on a SpaceX Crew Dragon if needed.
NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams ar+rived on Starliner on June 6 a day after launching from Cape Canaveral on the Crew Flight Test mission for what was supposed to be about an eight-day stay on the International Space Station.
Issues with thrusters and helium leaks on Starliner’s propulsion module, though, led Boeing and NASA to try to figure out if it would be safe enough to fly home with humans on board — going through a series of ground tests and on-station hot fires — but the exact problem has yet to be nailed down.
“When we started this mission, it was a test mission. We knew that it potentially had a higher risk than a flight on a vehicle that has more experience, more flights on it,” NASA’s Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of the Space Operations Mission Directorate, said during a press conference. “So we’re at the point now where we see additional risk.”
GM invests in agile manufacturing strategy, building EVs alongside gas vehicles
The automaker has set up a flexible manufacturing strategy, with dedicated plants that build gasoline vehicles and EVs as well as plants that build both.
Nebraska Ford dealership fined for its role in Clean Air Act violation
Moody Motor Co. was sentenced to one year of probation, a special assessment fee of $125 and a fine of nearly $40,000.