The Crazy Amount of Money America Spends on Valentine's Day
Americans are expected to spend a near-record $20 billion this Valentine's Day, but what are they shelling out all that money for? Lisa Rowan, Writer at The Penny Hoarder, joins Your Cheddar to discuss how you can keep the love in your wallet this Valentine's Day.
If you can believe it, Americans will spend $4.7 billion on jewelry, $3.7 billion on an evening out, $2 billion on flowers and $1.8 billion on candy! But because of supply and demand, a lot of the usual Valentine's Day gifts go up in price. Rowan says you may want to avoid going to a restaurant or booking a hotel room for a romantic evening because prices could increase up to 30%.
So what should you do if you don't want to break the bank but still want to give your partner a little something? Rowan suggests thinking about what their hobbies are and aligning with something they love to do. Maybe its a smaller gesture, but it will mean more than flowers or candy.
Memorial Day rang in the unofficial start of summer here in the United States -- and with it, the unofficial start of summer travel. Whether consumers traveled by air or by land, they probably experienced some form of frustration over the weekend. Flyers faced delays and cancellations, and drivers faced the most expensive gas prices ever recorded on Memorial Day. Zach Griff, Senior Aviation Reporter for the Points Guy, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Next-generation gaming ecosystem Joystick recently raised $8 million in a seed round and is in the process of raising a $110 million Series A funding round. Gaming ecosystems are a relatively new type of platform in the Web3 space, allowing users to maximize their play-to-earn gaming opportunities, exchange crypto-currencies, and sell their digital assets. Joystick says its platform is flipping the current model on its head by giving players the opportunity to keep 100% of the revenue they earn. Robin Defay, co-founder and CEO of Joystick, and Michael Le, co-founder of Joystick and TikTok content creator, join Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Abe Stein, Head of Innovation at Sports Innovation Lab, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why the top four spots on his company's 2022 list are European soccer clubs and discusses Sports Innovation Lab's plan to publish data on women's pro sports teams in the not-too-distant future.
Joel Birch, Co-Founder and CEO of Stacked, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why he doesn't see any new catalysts that would lead to a Bitcoin rally at the moment. He also reiterates that now is a good time for long-term Bitcoin investors to buy low.
The dating app Bumble has sponsored bills and pushed lawmakers to criminalize the online practice of sending unsolicited nudes or “cyberflashing." Payton Iheme, Bumble's head of public policy for the Americas, joined Cheddar News to discuss why the app was going after the harassing behavior beyond its own platform. "Now, while we went to work internally in the company, and we created something called private detector to automatically blur those images so the user can decide if they want to see them, there's nothing for the rest of the internet," she said. "And so that's why we went to work with these laws."
The holiday weekend saw Disney+ and Netflix competing head-to-head for streaming views as the Disney behemoth kicked off the unofficial start to summer with its release of "Obi-Wan Kenobi" and Netflix responded with the first part of "Stranger Things" Season 4. The streaming giants caught the eye of Wall Street, and Seth Schachner, the managing director at consultancy Strat Americas, joined Cheddar News to break down the heavy hitters. "This is a very tough, competitive game, and I don't see it getting any easier," he said. "I think you'll probably see more consolidation."
