Your Valentine’s Day chocolate will be more expensive this year
TheStreet’s J.D. Durkin brings you the biggest news of the day, including how the market fared and why your Valentine’s Day chocolate will be more expensive than ever.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 I'm JD Durkin reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
00:03 Stocks were in mixed territory to close out this Monday trading session.
00:07 The Dow closed up 126 points after hitting a fresh record high.
00:11 The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed down 0.3 percent, while the S&P 500 closed fractionally lower.
00:18 Investors are awaiting some key economic data this week, consumer inflation Tuesday, retail
00:22 sales Wednesday, and wholesale inflation data Friday.
00:25 The U.S. Federal Reserve has made it clear it would not cut interest rates until inflation
00:30 has sufficiently cooled.
00:32 In other news, more than 90 percent of Americans say they plan to buy chocolate and candy for
00:36 Valentine's Day, according to the National Confectioners Association, and it's going
00:41 to cost a bit more than usual.
00:43 The price of cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate, is at an all-time high and is continuing
00:48 to rise.
00:49 Sales at Hershey and Mondely's, two of the biggest chocolate makers in the world, both
00:53 fell last quarter, and Hershey said falling sales caused the company to lay off five percent
00:58 of its workforce.
00:59 But what's driving up the price of cocoa?
01:02 West Africa is responsible for more than 60 percent of the globe's cocoa production, but
01:06 climate issues in the region have damaged crops, causing the cocoa supply to drop and
01:11 prices to increase.
01:12 This marks the third consecutive year production has been less than anticipated.
01:17 But the higher prices are not stopping Americans from enjoying their sweet treats on February
01:21 14th.
01:22 The National Confectioners Association says chocolate and candy sales last year surpassed
01:27 four billion dollars.
01:30 That will do it for your daily briefing.
01:31 From the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, I'm J.D. Durkin with The Street.
01:34 -