TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and why Southwest Airlines is making big changes.
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00:00I'm Conway Gittins reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here's what we're watching on the street today. An economic surprise on Thursday
00:06could offset earnings angst one day after the biggest stock market sell-off in a year and a half. The U.S. economy
00:13expanded at a 2.8 percent annual rate during the second quarter
00:17according to gross domestic product figures released by the Commerce Department.
00:21Economic growth showed a healthy uptick from the 1.4 percent rate seen the prior quarter.
00:26Earnings season, however, remains a concern for Wall Street.
00:30There was a huge earnings miss at Ford and profits at American Airlines slumped 46 percent.
00:37Sticking with airlines for the first time in its 50-year history,
00:42Southwest Airlines is ditching open seating. The airline says,
00:46quote, the research is clear and indicates that 80 percent of Southwest customers and
00:5286 percent of potential customers prefer an assigned seat.
00:56When a customer elects to stop flying with Southwest and chooses a competitor,
01:00open seating is cited as the number one reason for the change.
01:05Southwest is also shaking up the passenger experience in other ways.
01:08It is redesigning the inside of the plane to create premium seating with more legroom,
01:13which of course means higher ticket prices. In addition, it will start flying red-eye overnight flights for the first time as well.
01:20The changes come amid
01:22intense competition across the airline industry with a glut of airline seats chasing increased demand. In its latest quarter,
01:30Southwest posted a 51 percent drop in profit.
01:34That'll do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange. I'm Conway Gittins with The Street.