The daily business briefing: September 23, 2019

1. British tour company Thomas Cook shuts down

The world's oldest travel company, the British firm Thomas Cook, shut down on Monday, leaving 600,000 customers stranded abroad. Thomas Cook started out in 1841 organizing local rail trips. It later pioneered European package vacations, and ran hotels, resorts, and airlines in 16 countries. It collapsed after failing to strike a rescue deal with lenders for emergency funding as it struggled with $2.1 billion of debt. The company has been hit hard by online competition and world events, including a 2018 Europe-wide heat wave that discouraged summer travel, and the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, a key destination. CEO Peter Fankhauser apologized to customers and employees. The British government is organizing flights to get travelers home in the U.K.'s biggest peacetime repatriation ever.

Reuters

2. Downton Abbey leads the weekend box office

Downton Abbey took the top spot at the weekend box office, pulling in $31 million during its domestic debut weekend. This was the biggest opening ever for its distributor, Focus Features. The film, a continuation of the beloved PBS/ITV series that ended in 2016, brought together much of the original cast, including Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Allen Leech, Hugh Bonneville, and Laura Carmichael. In this big-screen follow-up, the King and Queen come to Downton Abbey, and the upstairs and downstairs have very different ways of dealing with the visit. Coming in second place was Ad Astra, starring Brad Pitt, which brought in $19.2 million. Sylvester Stallone's Rambo: Last Blood was a close third with $19 million.

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Entertainment Weekly

3. Warren, Biden join GM workers on picket line

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former Vice President Joe Biden joined striking General Motors workers on picket lines on Sunday as Democratic presidential candidates continued battling for the support of union groups. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) plans to join striking autoworkers in Detroit on Wednesday. Warren criticized GM for closing factories despite profits in the billions. "GM is demonstrating that it has no loyalty to the workers of America or the people of America," she said. "Their only loyalty is to their own bottom line. And if they can save a nickel by moving a job to Mexico or to Asia or to anywhere else on this planet, they will do it." President Trump last week said he hoped the strike would be brief, and expressed support for workers' concerns.

The New York Times

4. Johnson vows to tell Trump U.K. health service off table in trade talks

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said ahead of his meeting with President Trump this week at the United Nations General Assembly that the U.K.'s state-funded health service will be off the table in post-Brexit trade negotiations. Johnson arrived in New York on Monday for the annual gathering as he tries to get European Union leaders to agree to revise a divorce deal before Britain exits the trading bloc. Johnson has vowed to lead his country out of the EU at the end of October with or without a deal. Critics fear a U.S. trade deal will open the National Health Service to American companies, but Johnson said he would tell Trump that can't happen, and that the deal must "open up American markets."

The Associated Press

5. Stock futures mixed after 'constructive' mid-level U.S.-China talks

U.S. stock index futures were mixed early Monday. With hopes rising for a deal to end the U.S.-China trade war, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down slightly. Those of the S&P 500 inched higher while Nasdaq futures rose by 0.2 percent. The movement came after deputy trade negotiators for the U.S. and China finished two days of talks intended to pave the way for high-level negotiations in October. China's Commerce Ministry said the talks were "constructive." Analysts said the news was positive but doubts remained. "The two nations have continued to hold constructive talks," said National Australia Bank senior forex strategist Rodrigo Catril. "That's helped the sentiment but the markets still remain unconvinced."

Reuters CNBC