Latest news with #Spark
Boston Globe
9 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Summer is here. The international tourists are not. Why the US is losing billions in visitor revenue.
Advertisement Predictions about tourism losses in the United States began shortly after Trump took office. But now that we've arrived in the thick of summer, a time when international tourism should be hitting its peak, those predictions have become reality. Airlines are Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The losses are hitting the travel industry across the board with ever-changing volatility, said Dulani Porter, an executive vice president with Spark, an agency that works with travel brands such as Visit Fort Lauderdale, Norwegian Cruise Lines, and Hilton Hotels & Resorts. Visitors walk along an uncrowded Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 28, in Los Angeles. Justin Sullivan/Getty 'It's all sectors,' she said. 'Domestic travel has remained consistent, but the international travelers are not coming to the US this year. It's off 20 percent in some markets. The biggest declines have been from Canadian and Mexican travelers. Western Europeans are also going elsewhere.' Advertisement New research published last week from 'Factors contributing to the negative outlook include Trump administration posturing and policy announcements, such as 'Liberation Day' tariffs across long-standing trade partners,' Aran Ryan, director of industry studies, concluded. 'Media coverage of border security incidents and national travel advisories also pose risks.' Multiple countries have issued travel advisories in recent months. Australia updated its advisory last month, citing gun violence and unpredictable immigration enforcement in the United States. Germany, France, Denmark, and Finland all issued warnings about new US gender policies that may affect travelers who use nonbinary identifiers in their passports. The UK's Foreign Office is warning travelers to the United States that minor entry mistakes could lead to detention or deportation. Old Orchard Beach in Maine was quiet the weekend before the Fourth of July. The author didn't see a single Quebec license plate during his visit, which is highly unusual in the summer. Christopher Muther A Canadian actor on a work visa was detained at the Tijuana border for 12 days before being sent home, according to Musicians have also been canceling US tours. Bells Larsen, a transgender singer-songwriter based in Montreal, Advertisement 'The current political climate in the US, especially in regard to immigration and freedom of speech, is very worrisome,' the band wrote in a message The White House has dismissed the advisories. At In addition to the warnings, fees to enter the country for international visitors are rising. The Electronic System for Travel Authorization fee is rising from $21 to $40. The 'These fees are not reinvested in improving the travel experience and do nothing but discourage visitation at a time when foreign travelers are already concerned about the welcome experience and high prices,' Geoff Freeman, president of the US Travel Association, said in a All of these factors have made the United States a less appealing place for international tourists to spend their vacation dollars. Advertisement The travel industry publication A man walks past Delusions of Grandeur furniture shop in Ottawa in April. Signs that once announced sales are replaced with an anti-American sentiment that has not waned. Christopher Muther/Globe Staff New Englanders don't need an industry survey to see that those numbers are down. A quick drive through Old Orchard Beach, where French becomes the unofficial second language each summer, shows a distinct lack of license plates from Quebec in hotel parking lots. Wright, of Jay Peak, said he spent two weeks calling nearly 100 long-time Canadian customers who purchased season passes last year but haven't yet this year. 'They cite the present administration's flagrant disrespect of Canadian independence as not only a challenge to Canadian sovereignty, but to their own identity, and they feel the need to respond,' Wright said. The World Travel and Tourism Council estimates the loss of international tourism to the US economy at $12.5 billion. 'This is a wake-up call for the US government,' said Julia Simpson, president and CEO of the council. 'The world's biggest travel and tourism economy is heading in the wrong direction. . . . While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the US government is putting up the 'closed' sign.' Simpson's assessment may sound dramatic, but at a time when tourism is dropping, the government has slashed funding to market the country as a tourism destination. Part of Trump's Advertisement A Brand USA representative said that despite the cuts, the organization is proceeding with an America the Beautiful campaign slated to begin next month. 'We're trying to do all we can,' said Chris Heywood, chief communications officer for Brand USA. 'Despite our budget restrictions and limitations, we're putting all our chips on the table and still trying to deliver.' He's also optimistic that 2026 will be a stronger year for tourism, with events such as l ( But in the interim, the losses are piling up. The latest No matter what the financial loss, perhaps the largest hit is to the goodwill tourists feel toward the United States. In Perth, Nigel Goodman said he will 'not step foot in the US until the current administration is gone.' In New Brunswick, Adam MacDonald said he will not be visiting relatives in Massachusetts this summer. In Spain, Maria García is not comfortable with the thought of a US vacation. Advertisement 'I know the risks are low,' she said earlier this month at a rooftop bar in Madrid. 'But vacation shouldn't come with any risks at all.' Christopher Muther can be reached at
Globe and Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Strategy Updates on Bitcoin Holdings and Share Sales
Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Strategy ( (MSTR)) just unveiled an update. On July 21, 2025, Strategy announced updates to its at-the-market offering programs and bitcoin holdings. From July 14 to July 20, 2025, the company sold various shares, generating significant proceeds, which were partly used to acquire 6,220 bitcoins. This strategic move highlights Strategy's ongoing commitment to integrating cryptocurrency into its financial operations, potentially impacting its market position and stakeholder interests. The most recent analyst rating on (MSTR) stock is a Buy with a $195.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Strategy stock, see the MSTR Stock Forecast page. Spark's Take on MSTR Stock According to Spark, TipRanks' AI Analyst, MSTR is a Neutral. The overall stock score reflects the significant financial challenges MSTR faces, despite strong technical indicators and a positive strategic outlook on Bitcoin. The earnings call and corporate events emphasize ambitious growth but are offset by valuation concerns and financial instability. To see Spark's full report on MSTR stock, click here. More about Strategy Strategy, operating under the name MicroStrategy Incorporated, is a company involved in offering securities such as Class A Common Stock and various series of perpetual preferred stock. The company is also active in the cryptocurrency market, particularly in acquiring and holding bitcoin. Average Trading Volume: 13,029,743 Technical Sentiment Signal: Buy Current Market Cap: $115.7B For an in-depth examination of MSTR stock, go to TipRanks' Overview page.
Globe and Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Denison Mines Unveils New High-Grade Uranium Discovery at Gryphon
Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Make smarter investment decisions with TipRanks' Smart Investor Picks, delivered to your inbox every week. Denison Mines ( (TSE:DML)) has shared an announcement. Denison Mines Corp. has announced the discovery of additional high-grade mineralization at its Gryphon uranium deposit, located near its flagship Phoenix project in northern Saskatchewan. This discovery, made during a successful delineation drill program, is expected to enhance the confidence in Gryphon's mineral resources and potentially expand the deposit's estimated mineral resources. The results support further project development and de-risking efforts, highlighting Gryphon's potential as a competitive, low-cost uranium mining operation. The most recent analyst rating on (TSE:DML) stock is a Buy with a C$2.60 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Denison Mines stock, see the TSE:DML Stock Forecast page. Spark's Take on TSE:DML Stock According to Spark, TipRanks' AI Analyst, TSE:DML is a Neutral. Denison Mines' overall stock score reflects significant challenges in financial performance due to ongoing losses and cash flow inefficiencies. However, the company's strong equity position and proactive corporate events, such as advancing key projects and strengthening governance, provide a positive outlook for future strategic growth. Technical indicators suggest a cautious approach due to a lack of upward momentum. Valuation metrics indicate the stock is not currently attractive for traditional investors, as reflected by the negative P/E ratio and absence of a dividend yield. To see Spark's full report on TSE:DML stock, click here. More about Denison Mines Denison Mines Corp. operates in the uranium mining industry, focusing on the exploration and development of uranium deposits. The company is primarily engaged in projects in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, with its flagship project being the Phoenix In-Situ Recovery uranium mine. Denison is known for its high-grade uranium deposits, including the Gryphon deposit, which is a significant part of its portfolio. Average Trading Volume: 2,660,758 Technical Sentiment Signal: Strong Buy Current Market Cap: C$2.27B See more insights into DML stock on TipRanks' Stock Analysis page.
Scoop
5 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Download Weekly—Winter, game updates see UFB traffic surge
Data in demand as temperatures drop June 8 saw a new record for daily data use on the Chorus network. The fibre wholesale company says it moved 30 petabytes of data as gamers downloaded the latest Fortnite update. Per-connection downloads averaged 671 GB in June. That's a four percent increase compared with 642 GB in April. At the top end of the curve, close to 19 percent of customers downloaded a terabyte of data. This coincided with the arrival of cold, wintry weather and the Big Fibre Boost which saw customers on standard plans move from 300 Mbps to 500 Mbps. Fortnite has form when it comes to Chorus network data surges. Fibre uptake Fibre uptake continued to edge up in the quarter, by 0.1 percent. This brings the total uptake to 72.1 percent across the 1,532,000 addresses passed by Chorus' network. The growth was faster in areas connected during the second phase of the UFB network build with the total in UFB2 areas climbing from 61 to 62 percent. Chorus says another 11,000 users signed up for the entry level Home Fibre Starter plan which increased its speeds from 50/10 to 100/20 Mbps in June. This is a product aimed at less well-off homes. Two-thirds of the users signing up for the plan were new connections. During the quarter, 15,000 copper lines were disconnected. The total has now dropped to 92,000. Chorus expects there will be no copper lines in its fibre areas by the middle of next year. Starlink promises terabit capacity next year A Starlink network update says SpaceX aims to launch its third-generation satellites in the first half of 2026. The update says these will 'add an order of magnitude improvement in capacity compared to the current satellite'. Specifically, the new satellites will deliver a terabyte per second of downlink capacity and 200 Gbps of uplink capacity. It says this is ten times the downlink capacity and 24 times the uplink capacity of today's second generation satellites. On top of that, Starlink says the third-generation satellites will use next-generation computers, modems, beamforming and switching to improve the network's latency. The new satellites will connect to each other with optical links for additional backhaul. Starlink says it is aiming for 20ms latency. While Starlink promises a lot, there is a catch. SpaceX has optimised its satellites to launch on the company's Starship rockets. They are the ones that keep exploding. Busy time for appointments Spark network simplification leader Steven Lawrence is the new chief technical director for Next Generation Critical Communications. During his time with Spark, Lawrence worked on the telco's contribution to the Public Safety Network's cellular roaming and priority services. He also had responsibility for Spark's delivery of 111 emergency services. Crown-owned research network operator Reannz has appointed Jo Perez as head of corporate services and chief financial officer. Perez has previously worked for New Zealand Rugby, Department of Corrections and Trade Me. Former Trustpower and Mercury chief executive Vince Hawksworth is now working as a power and energy strategy advisor for Datagrid. Phone market flat in Q2, likely to stay that way for 2025 The analysts don't agree. Canalys says the phone market 'marginally declined' in the second quarter of 2025. Counterpoint says the market was up two percent. IDC says it was up one percent. Taken collectively, we can assume there's not much going on. All three agree Samsung is the top-selling phone brand. Apple is in second place and Xiaomi in third. While Samsung and Apple grew faster than the overall market, Samsung grew the most. Canalys thinks the market will remain flat over the whole of 2025. IDC hints at growth without offering anything specific. Counterpoint makes no comment on the subject. The analysts all note the current uncertainty over tariffs is having an impact on the market. There's a sense that, if or when. the US stops its on-again, off-again tariff talk, the market is poised for take-off, but don't expect that to happen this year. Sign up for Bill Bennett telecommunications + technology from a New Zealand perspective Subscribe No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Tuanz releases Connecting Aotearoa report Tuanz — Connecting Aotearoa Chorus has released a report based on the Connecting Aotearoa summit in Hamilton. (Download Weekly reported on the summit in May.) Like the conference, the report aims to answer the question: Why can't 100 percent of New Zealanders be connected? With one in five households still not connected, there's a pressing need to bring everyone who wants to be online into the fold. While there are issues with rural connectivity and digital skills, the cost of connecting remains the most intractable issue. In other news... Auckland firm IQ Hive could enable more MVNOs —Reseller News South Island cool climate makes it ideal for data centres —The Press New Zealand farmers falling behind on technology transformation—Farmers Weekly 'Senior industry figures I've spoken to are increasingly sceptical about whether this government can deliver on anything that requires actual strategic thinking in the tech space.'—BusinessDesk (paywall). Analyst skewers Spark's Agile strategy Eden Bradfield takes no prisoners in his withering overview of Spark's performance. The story is behind BusinessDesk's paywall. Among the jabs, he connects the company's embrace of Agile to its sagging share price. Agile is a software development methodology. It doesn't necessarily translate well to other businesses disciplines. In 2018, Spark announced it was adopting Agile companywide. I asked then-CEO Simon Moutter about this. He said half of Spark's capital was spent on software. Hence Spark was a software company. Kind of. It sounded plausible. Spark owned Lightbox, a streaming TV business. There was Spark Sport and Morepork, the home security business, Qrious, a data analytics division and Mattr, focused on identify and verification software. All could be viewed through a software and digital services lens. Since then, Lightbox, Spark Sport and Morepork have left the building. To the outside world today's Spark looks less like a software company. Yet the commitment to Agile remains. Like others, Bradfield raises the prospect of a private equity buy out. It's possible. If that happens, how long do you give Agile? Download Weekly five years ago Spark plans to retire PSTN in Devonport and Miramar by Christmas. The move will affect around 1000 customers. Enjoy Download Weekly? Feel free to pass this email on to your colleagues. Have your say. Subscribers are able to comment on any newsletter or story on the website. Just scroll to the bottom of the page. Reader emails are also welcome. The Download Weekly is supported by Chorus New Zealand. Winter, game updates see UFB traffic surge was first posted at Bill Bennett Freelance journalist. Auckland-based Bill Bennett writes technology and business stories that are directly relevant to New Zealand readers. His emphasis is on telecommunications, but he also covers other aspects of technology and business. You can find his features in the New Zealand Herald and hear him regularly on RNZ Nine to Noon and the NZ Tech Podcast. Bennett's The Download Weekly here. If you want to support his work, you can make a donation to his PressPatron account.
Business Insider
6 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Why Is 22nd Century Stock (XXII) Up 85% Today?
22nd Century (XXII) stock rocketed higher on Thursday after the tobacco company announced new partnerships for its low-nicotine cigarettes. The company has teamed up with Smoker Friendly and Pinnacle for the sale of its unique cigarettes, which are designed to reduce the harmful effects of smoking normal cigarettes. This includes weaning smokers off normal cigarettes and helping them stop smoking. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Make smarter investment decisions with TipRanks' Smart Investor Picks, delivered to your inbox every week. To go along with this, 22nd Century cigarettes are compliant with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's proposed new Tobacco Product Standard for Nicotine Yield of Cigarettes and Certain Other Combusted Tobacco Products. 22nd Century CEO Larry Firestone said, 'The FDA's new product standard proposed in January is one of many factors that are driving early commercial interest in our VLN reduced nicotine content tobacco products.' 22nd Century Stock Movement Today XXII stock was up 86.035% in pre-market trading on Thursday, following a 3.58% drop yesterday. The stock has also fallen 96.25% year to date and 99.83% over the past 12 months. Today's rally came with heavy trading, as some 10 million shares changed hands, compared to a three-month daily average of about 94,000 units. Is 22nd Century Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold? Turning to Wall Street, coverage of 22nd Century is lacking. Luckily, TipRanks' AI analyst Spark has it covered. Spark rates XXII stock a Neutral (44) with a $5 price target, suggesting a potential 9.17% upside for the shares. It cites 'weak financial performance and bearish technical indicators' as reasons for this stance.
