The DJIA rose 391 points on Friday while Nasdaq was up 277, the S&P 500 rose 68 points and the 10-year treasury yield was flat at 4.63%. Lodging stocks were higher although the biggest mover was a disaster for SHCO shareholders, down -21% after reporting weaker than expected 3Q results. HLT traded up to a new high while VAC fell to another new low. SOND was down -5% on the day.
Even with their stock at a new all-time high, Hilton is continuing to return capital to shareholders with stock buybacks. They announced their board of directors authorized the repurchase of an additional $3 billion of common stock bringing the total amount currently authorized for future repurchases to approximately $4.2 billion.
Not to be outdone, Marriott International announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.52 per share and an increase in the share buyback authorization from their board of directors. MAR said their board increased the authorization to repurchase Class A common stock by an additional 25 million shares. That will add onto the remaining 7.3 million shares under their prior authorizations. MAR said year to date through October 31, they have bought back 18.3 million shares for $3.3 billion.
According to the latest data recently released by the National Travel and Tourism Office, international visitors spent $18.8 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States in September 2023, an increase of 24% compared to September 2022. Conversely, Americans spent $18.3 billion traveling abroad during September, yielding a balance of trade surplus of $494 million. International visitors have spent more than $156.0 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services year to date, an increase of nearly 32% when compared to 2022. Purchase of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the U.S. totaled $10.87 billion during September 2023, also an increase of 32% when compared to the previous year. Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $3.0 billion, up