2019 was all about electrification, and this year saw multiple top car brands plugging into the trend. While Tesla’s Model 3 was by far the best-selling EV in America this year, we saw a strong showing from competitors with vehicles like the Ford Mustang Mach E, the Chevrolet Bolt, the Jaguar I-Pace, and the Volkswagen E-Golf making their debuts. The momentum will continue into 2020 as more EVs are on their way from Ford, Mercedes, Porsche, and Volvo, to name a few (and of course, recently revealed Tesla Cybertruck). Overall, 2019 changed the game for electric vehicles with cars reaching longer ranges on a single charge and consumers overcoming range anxiety.
We also saw how investment in new tech can translate into layoffs. 2019 turned out to be one of the worst years for auto workers, with Daimler and Audi announcing 20,000 job cuts this month. Those automakers joined with Nissan, Ford, and Nio, all recently announcing slashes in the workforce. And those numbers are only going to get worse. Bloomberg predicts more than 80,000 auto job cuts in the coming years. Many auto workers expressed their unrest over the last few months, with the UAW hosting one of the largest strikes of the decade against General Motors. The strike lasted for five weeks and ended in a new contract being ratified. The strike inspired others like Fiat Chrysler workers who recently came to a new labor agreement, getting better pay and health care from the company.
Electric vehicles aren’t just for the road: An air-shuttle service in Vancouver successfully tested what promises to be the first commercial aircraft powered entirely by batteries. And while the technology is currently only available for short flights, the plane-maker Airbus announced that it plans to start having its planes draft off each other — a test of whether tailgating can save fuel and cut emissions by up to 10 percent.
And we can’t forget about the heated scooter wars of 2019. Lime has grown rapidly over the last year, with over 100 million rides in September in 120 markets around the globe. The company is hoping to reach profitability in 2020. But the scooter company faces stiff competition from Bird, Spin, and Uber’s Jump, which have their own scooter fleets around the world. With more scooters littering the sidewalks, both local governments and city dwellers have conflicting opinions about the micro mobility options. Washington, DC, has decided to cut the number of scooter operators in half for next year following in line with other cities like Los Angeles which suspended Uber’s permit to rent scooters and bikes in the city. Whether you love them or hate them it seems the scooter wars are sure to continue into 2020.
Finally, off the Earth, It was a huge year for space travel. Virgin Galactic became the first commercial space tourism company to trade publicly on a stock exchange. While commercial travel to space once seemed like a far off idea, Virgin Galactic’s IPO signals more realistic confidence from investors. NASA meanwhile took steps toward putting men and women back on the Moon, unveiling the enormous Space Launch System rocket and pushing it to the limit in tests. We also saw the first all-female space walk in 2019 with engineers Christina Koch and Jessica Meir of NASA on the exterior of the International Space Station.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
