United Airlines Placed Its Largest Jet Order Ever. Who Wins From Its Big Bet on Travel’s Return.

United ended 2020 with 812 planes in its fleet.

United is primarily a Boeing airline, but also operates about 180 Airbus planes. The order for the newest version of the A320 is a nice win for Boeing rival Airbus. But Boeing wasn’t left out, far from it. The new MAX order shows the airline industry is moving past 2019’s two deadly crashes now that the jet has been recertified to fly.

United is also doubling down on traveler comfort. It’s adding 75% more premium seating on North American departures along with larger overhead bins, more seatback entertainment, and Wi-Fi. Air travelers can look forward to a little more legroom as well as a little less gate-checked baggage.

The size and scope of the order and the cabin reconfiguration shows United, whose stock is still down 45% from its prepandemic highs despite gaining 22% this year, believes travelers will come back to pre-Covid levels.

If it’s right, perhaps its stock will too.

—Al Root

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Antitrust Lawsuits Against Facebook Dismissed as Legally Insufficient

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Monday dismissed antitrust lawsuits the Federal Trade Commission and 46 state attorneys general filed against Facebook, saying their claims that the social media giant maintained a monopoly were not sufficient.

• The FTC said Facebook acquired potential rivals like WhatsApp and Instagram instead of competing with them, and was trying to undo those transactions.
• U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said the FTC’s lawsuit was “legally insufficient” because it didn’t include enough allegations. It can file an amended lawsuit after 30 days.
• He dismissed the states’ lawsuit in its entirety, saying they waited too long to bring their claims. New York Attorney General Letitia James and other states said Facebook’s lack of rivals harmed consumers and exploited data privacy.
• The lawsuits were part of a broad effort by government antitrust watchdogs to go after tech giants for unlawfully monopolizing the marketplace. Facebook has said the government could not prove that it had raised prices or reduced output as a monopoly.

What’s Next: The ruling sent Facebook’s shares up more than 4%, pushing the company above $1 trillion in market capitalization for the first time and lifting the tech-heavy Nasdaq to another record close.

—Janet H. Cho

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Banks to Pay Extra $2 Billion in Quarterly Dividends After Fed’s Green Light

Five of the six largest U.S. banks said Monday they would hike their payouts after the Federal Reserve last week lifted previous temporary restrictions on dividends and share buybacks.

• Morgan Stanley doubled its dividend to 70 cents a share and boosted the planned size of its share buyback program from $10 billion to $12 billion over the next 12 months.
• Goldman Sachs hiked its payout to $2 from $1.25 a share, JPMorgan to $1 from 90 cents, and Bank of America to 21 cents from 18 cents, and Wells Fargo doubled it to 20 cents a share. Citigroup was the only large American bank to keep its dividend unchanged, at 51 cents.
• Monday’s announcements amount to an extra $2 billion in dividends to be paid out in the third quarter, according to Financial Times calculations.
• The Fed had restricted payouts during the pandemic and asked banks to preserve capital. But it said last week that stress tests showed that 23 of the largest banks could easily suffer a combined $500 billion in losses while meeting their capital requirements.

What’s Next: The stress tests, the Fed decision and the banks resuming their payouts to shareholders illustrate the strength and resilience of the U.S. economy’s recovery.

—Pierre Briançon

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Rise in Delta Variant Infections Triggers U.K. Travel Restrictions

The increase in Delta variant infections has spurred new restrictions against international travelers from the U.K., which reported 22,868 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the highest number since January, the Financial Times reported.

• Although the U.K. has fully vaccinated 32.2 million people, or 48% of its population, according to Johns Hopkins University, the highly contagious Delta variant first identified in India is now the dominant strain there and 99% of new infections.
• Hong Kong will ban all passenger flights from the U.K. starting Thursday, including for anyone who has spent more than two hours in that country. Malta is prohibiting all unvaccinated visitors from the U.K. starting Wednesday.
• Taiwan and Portugal said travelers from the U.K. must quarantine for 14 days, and Spain will require proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test for U.K. visitors starting on Friday.

What’s Next: The U.K. has expanded eligibility for the vaccines to anyone 18 and older in a bid to vaccinate more people before the scheduled lifting of coronavirus restrictions on July 19. The reopening was delayed from June 21 by a surge in new infections driven by the Delta variant.

—Janet H. Cho

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Three Chip Makers Throw Support Around Nvidia’s Deal for Arm

Three major chip makers, Broadcom, Marvell, and Media Tek, said they support Nvidia’s proposed $30 billion acquisition of the U.K.-based chip-design firm Arm from SoftBank, according to the U.K.’s Sunday Times.

• The deal is closely watched because Arm’s microprocessor designs are widely used, especially for the processors inside smartphones.
• Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said Nvidia has assured the industry that it will increase the overall investment in Arm’s technology and that it will continue to make that technology available.
• Marvell CEO Matt Murphy said the deal would accelerate development and enable broader adaptation of Arm’s designs, with “robust licensing policies that ensure equal and timely access and fair terms.”
• MediaTek’s CEO Rick Tsai said the merger will allow it and other companies to bring more competitive and comprehensive products to the market.

What’s Next: The acquisition would make Japan’s SoftBank the largest investor in Nvidia, one of the biggest American chip makers by market value. The deal has attracted scrutiny from both regulators and other chip companies, given Arm’s position as a leading provider of microprocessor designs.

—Liz Moyer

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Fast & Furious 9 Box Office Is Good Sign for Movie Theater Chains

Fast & Furious 9 kicked off the summer movie season in earnest with the biggest opening weekend since the start of 2020. Movie theater stocks, aside from AMC Entertainment, still dipped Monday.

• F9, as the film is known, opened to a $70 million North American debut, according to media reports. That topped the franchise’s 2019 opening release of Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw at $60 million.
• Shares of IMAX, Cinemark Holdings, and Cineworld Group closed lower despite the upbeat debut. On the flip side, meme stock AMC jumped 7.6%.
• AMC CEO Adam Aron, who has engaged with the company’s retail investor base on social media, touted the film on Twitter. “What a weekend for the big screen!” Aron said. “Due to a gangbuster opening of @UniversalPics F9, 2.0 million people watched a movie in @AMCTheatres Thursday through Sunday in the U.S., and 2.5 million people did so at our theatres globally. Both RECORD NUMBERS since re-opening our theatres.”
• Analysts had looked to F9 as a bellwether for how the summer movie season could look as Covid-19 restrictions are relaxed. The debut was a good sign. F9’s strong international box office in late May signaled box office strength even before the North American debut.

What’s Next: Black Widow, the first Marvel Studios film since 2019, opens in theaters globally—and on Disney+ for a $30 fee—on July 9. The summer film slate will be packed, in part because of 2020 films that were delayed due to Covid-19 closures.

—Connor Smith

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Be sure to join this month’s Barron’s Daily virtual stock exchange challenge and show us your stuff.

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Everyone will start with the same amount and can trade as often or as little as they choose. We’ll track the leaders and, at the end of the challenge, the winner whose portfolio has the most value will be announced in The Barron’s Daily newsletter.

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—Newsletter edited by Mary Romano, Stacy Ozol, Liz Moyer, Matt Bemer, Ben Levisohn