6 Most Important Things in Business Today

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Mar 13, 3:36PM EDT · Published May 21, 4:56AM EDT

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General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) may set a transaction to radically change one of its divisions. According to Reuters:

General Electric Co is nearing a deal to merge its transportation business, which manufactures train engines, with Wabtec Corp a U.S. maker of equipment for the rail industry, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday

A deal valuing the combined business at more than $20 billion could be announced as early as this week, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

After the departure of Campbell Soup Co.’s (NYSE: CPB) CEO, Wall Street wants to know its plans. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Denise Morrison was the biggest champion of Campbell Soup Co.’s yearslong push into fresh and refrigerated foods, telling investors earlier this year that management was urgently pressing to transform Campbell into a health-oriented snacking company.

Ms. Morrison’s abrupt departure on Friday as U.S. soup sales and Campbell’s fresh-food business falter suggests that the strategy flopped.

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“Deadpool 2” ruled the box office this weekend. According to Box Office Mojo:

Even though Deadpool 2 didn’t deliver a record opening domestically for an R-rated movie it still captured a few record of its own as well as delivered a couple studio records en route to an impressive $301.3 million worldwide debut. Meanwhile Avengers: Infinity War continued it’s impressive run becoming the fourth largest global release of all-time while Paramount’s Book Club and Global Road’s Show Dogs delivered on expectations in their attempts at counter-programming against the pair of superhero features.

Anyone at a Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) can use the bathroom. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Starbucks Corp. said Saturday it is creating an official policy that allows all guests to use its cafes, including its restrooms, whether or not they make a purchase.

The policy comes a month after a Philadelphia manager called the police in April about two black men who asked to use the bathroom without purchasing anything and then allegedly refused to leave the cafe when asked.

Oil prices are going to hit the bottom lines of airlines. According to CNBC:

More travelers are packing airplanes, but it’s getting more expensive to fly them.

Jet-fuel prices have climbed 15 percent this year, and have surged around 60 percent over the past year, according to S&P Global Platts, presenting airlines with a growing fuel bill just before the summer travel rush, the busiest time of year.

China and the United States called a truce as they negotiate trade issues. According to CNNMoney:

After weeks of tensions, China and the United States have reached a ceasefire.

Both sides this weekend said they had agreed to not impose new tariffs on one another while talks continue, after reaching an initial agreement on trade.

In a joint statement on Saturday, the countries said China would “significantly increase” purchases of US goods and services to reduce their trade imbalance. This was a top demand of the Trump administration during two days of trade talks in Washington with Chinese officials.

“We’re putting the trade war on hold,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told “Fox News Sunday. “We have agreed to put the tariffs on hold while we try to execute the framework.”

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.