Your Valentine’s Day chocolate will be more expensive this year

  • 7 months ago
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.

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Transcript
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 -

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