Stock Market Winners & Losers: S&P 500 Rises Adding to 7-Week Advance | Consumers Turn to Buy Now, Pay Later | Streaming Bills Got More Expensive in 2023

Winner: S&P 500 rises adds to 7-week advance
• Stocks rose as the market maintained the momentum seen during its seven-week winning streak.
• The S&P 500 is coming off its longest string of weekly gains since 2017.
• The broad market index is up by more than 3% for the month.
• Investor sentiment took a positive turn last week after the Federal Reserve indicated three short-term interest rate cuts are expected in 2024 amid cooling inflation.

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Southwest fined $140 million for last year’s holiday meltdown. The airline separately paid some $600 million to reimburse and refund stranded travelers.The DOT said the penalty is 30 times larger than any previous fine for violating consumer protection rules.
Loser: Consumers Turn to Buy Now, Pay Later
• Wimpy’s plaintive offer to “gladly pay you Tuesday for a burger today” was meant as humor, not fiscal advice.
• A recent poll reported that more than one third of Americans are considering BNPL loans for their shopping this holiday season, an 8% jump from the same time last year.
• Americans have more than $1 trillion in combined credit card debt, with the average household total at $8,000.
• Some consumers are making it worse with via BNPL services like Affirm, Afterpay, and Klarna.
• These platforms often have lower interest rates than credit cards, which are averaging around 21% annually.
• It’s a tempting alternative,
• (BNPL is) just an easier way for big companies to convince you to spend money you don’t have.

Loser: 2023 streaming bills got (a lot) more expensive
• Gone are the days of cheap streaming. It's profitability time, folks.
• 2023 represented a year of change for media after rising costs and debt-ridden balance sheets .
• Media giants enacted mass layoffs, rolled out ad-supported tiers, bundled their offerings, and, , raised the monthly prices of their respective subscription plans.
• Streaming profitability still has a long way to go with virtually all media companies, except for Netflix, losing money.
• Apple raised prices the monthly cost of streaming service Apple TV+ will go up by $3 to $9.99 for new subscribers.
• Apple also raised prices on other subscription services like Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and its bundled offering Apple One.
• Netflix announced it would be raising prices for its Basic and Premium plans which now cost $11.99 and $22.99.
• Disney hiked streaming prices two times this year. to $13.99 a month. That's now double the $6.99 monthly cost when it first launched in 2019.
• Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount and Comcast's Peacock upped the cost
• YouTube TV jumped to $72.99 from $64.99 h while Hulu + Live TV with ads jumped from $69.99 to $76.99.
• Added up, the cost of these services now rival the dreaded cable TV

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