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Airlines cut global schedules as Iran-driven energy shock ripples into May. (00:14) Tesla wins first European approval for FSD supervised. (01:54) GSK bets big on cancer comeback with aggressive trial push. (02:52)
This is an abridged transcript.
Airlines are scaling back flight schedules more aggressively as disruptions tied to the Iran conflict continue to constrain energy flows, according to new research from BNP Paribas.
Analyst Matt Akers said in a note to clients on Friday that carriers have reduced global capacity for April by roughly 7%, a deeper pullback than the 5% cut estimated just a week earlier.
The schedules for May are also starting to weaken, now running about 2% below pre-conflict levels, compared with a marginal decline previously.
The data suggests that the impact on air travel is becoming more pronounced as elevated fuel costs and operational uncertainty weigh on airline planning.
The Middle East remains the epicenter of the disruption. Flight schedules in the region are down sharply, with April capacity off by about 43% compared with pre-conflict plans, and May schedules currently trailing by around 14%.
Outside the Middle East, reductions are more moderate but still broadening. Asian carriers have trimmed April schedules by nearly 5% and May by just under 1%, while European airlines are down about 4% for April and slightly below 1% for May. In North America, cuts have been relatively limited, with capacity reductions of roughly 2% for both months.
Akers noted that if fuel prices remain elevated, airlines may begin accelerating the retirement of older, less efficient aircraft.
For now, demand appears resilient. Recent checks with airlines in late March indicated little change in passenger behavior, even as geopolitical tensions intensified and operating costs climbed.
Dutch regulators have cleared the use of Tesla’s (TSLA) self-driving software with mandatory human supervision on highways and city streets.
This marks a European first for the EV maker as it pushes for broader adoption across the European Union.
The Netherlands’ approval of the system, branded Full Self-Driving Supervised, which can steer, brake, and accelerate, follows more than 18 months of testing and evaluation by the Dutch vehicle authority RDW.
RDW noted that EU vehicle approval standards impose stricter safety requirements than those in the U.S.
It said, “This means that the FSD Supervised version in the U.S. is NOT comparable to the FSD Supervised version in the EU,” but did not provide further details.
Tesla’s (TSLA) European sales showed tentative signs of recovery, rising in February for the first time in over a year.
GSK (GSK) is preparing a high-stakes push into oncology.
The company is lining up five late-stage trials at once for a promising cancer drug, Bloomberg News reported Sunday.
The British drugmaker, long criticized for a weak pipeline, is attempting to accelerate development of mocertatug rezetecan, or Mo-Rez, with three trials in ovarian cancer and two in endometrial cancer.
Early results for Mo-Rez are encouraging. Data presented at a recent oncology conference showed response rates of 62% in ovarian cancer patients resistant to certain chemotherapy and 67% in endometrial cancer patients, meaning tumors shrank or disappeared in those cases.
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The four-day Space Symposium will begin. The broad space industry conference that brings together leaders from government, defense, commercial space, and research organizations. Northrop Grumman (NOC) and Lockheed Martin (LMT) are two of the notable companies participating. The symposium has added significance after the Artemis mission and anticipated increase in defense-related spending.
The four-day CinemaCon event in Las Vegas begins. Studios with presentations scheduled include Sony Pictures (SONY), Warner Bros. (WBD), Universal Pictures (CMCSA), Amazon MGM Studios (AMZN), Paramount Pictures (PSKY), and Walt Disney Studios (DIS).
Stock index futures are down after U.S.-Iran talks collapsed and Washington announced it will begin a blockade of Iranian ports.
U.S. Central Command posted Sunday that it will begin enforcing a maritime blockade on all traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports starting Monday, April 13, at 10 a.m. ET, following a presidential directive.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that, no matter the pressure, Britain would not be drawn into the Iran war or take part in any blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Crude oil is up 8% at $104. Bitcoin is little changed at $70,000 and Gold is down 0.8% at $4,714.
The FTSE 100 is down 0.4% and the DAX is down 1%.
The biggest movers for the day premarket: Children’s Place (PLCE) -16% – Shares tumbled after a weak Q4 marked by a sharp earnings and revenue miss, with sales down 19.4% Y/Y and comparable sales falling 10.7%, driven by weaker e-commerce traffic, reduced Amazon shipments, and soft consumer demand.
Economic calendar:
