The failure by the US to bring Covid-19 cases under control is scrambling business expectations of a rapid economic revival, forcing companies to reset plans and revise forecasts as they also grapple with a new federal vaccine mandate.
Revenues have fallen at a quarter of US small businesses in each of the past three weeks while just 8 per cent saw revenue growth, according to an Economic Innovation Group study. A growing minority now expects a full economic recovery to take more than six months.
The country’s largest airlines this week disclosed a slowdown in demand as cases of the highly contagious Delta variant climbed. United Airlines reined in its capacity plans for the key Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and American Airlines and Delta Air Lines flagged lower than expected revenues for the quarter.
As executives fanned out across post-Labor Day investor conferences, several said the Delta variant had injected uncertainty and volatility into their forecasts.
“We didn’t provide guidance for [2021]
MGM Resorts said it had seen more cancellations of midweek business trips, while Tracey Travis, Estee Lauder’s chief financial officer, told a Barclays conference that a deceleration in its first quarter forecast was “primarily [due to] the Delta variant”.
Asked by an analyst about the disruptions that have confronted railroad operator CSX in recent weeks, from Delta surges to hurricanes to supply chain