DETROIT – Ford Motor is delaying production of a new all-electric large SUV and pickup truck, as it shifts to offer hybrid options across its entire North American lineup by 2030.

The Detroit automaker on Thursday said it will continue to invest in EVs, but it is postponing production of the three-row SUV at a plant in Canada from 2025 to 2027 to allow for the market to mature more. The pickup is being pushed back from late 2025 to 2026.

The shift in EV plans is the latest for Ford and the entire automotive industry as adoption has been slower than many expected and production costs remain high.

Ford last year said it would delay or cancel $12 billion in planned spending on new electric vehicles due to the shifting market conditions as well as challenges to profitably building and selling the vehicles. It was not immediately clear whether the new delays were part of those plans.

“As the No. 2 EV brand in the U.S. for the past two years, we are committed to scaling a profitable EV business, using capital wisely and bringing to market the right gas, hybrid and fully electric vehicles at the right time,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said Thursday in a statement.

The three-row SUV was part of a roughly $1.3 billion investment to transition Ford’s Oakville Assembly Plant in Ontario, Canada, into a new electric vehicle hub. It was supposed to be Ford’s first time completely retooling a North American facility producing gas-powered vehicles into one that manufactures EVs.

“The additional time will allow for the consumer market for three-row EVs to further develop and enable Ford to take advantage of emerging battery technology, with the goal to provide customers increased durability and better value,” the company said in a release.

Ford said it will continue to focus its EV efforts on new plants such as its “BlueOval City” campus in Tennessee rather than transitioning current facilities producing engine-powered vehicles to all-electric models.

“Our breakthrough, next-generation EVs will be new from the ground up and fully software enabled, with ever-improving digital experiences and a multitude of potential services,” Farley said.

The automaker said the massive Tennessee facility, which was part of an $11.4 billion investment announced in 2021, will begin production of Ford’s next-generation all-electric truck, codenamed “T3,” in 2026, rather than 2025.

Ford said it is continuing construction of battery plants in Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky.

In the first quarter of 2024, Ford’s electric vehicle sales increased by 86% from subdued levels a year earlier. Hybrid sales for the automaker rose 42% year over year, while sales of Ford’s traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines were up 2.6%.

Ford’s “Model e” electric vehicle business lost $4.7 billion in 2023, including $1.57 billion during the fourth quarter. In February, the automaker said it expected the unit to lose between $5 billion and $5.5 billion in 2024.

A Norwegian cruise ship has been denied permission to dock in Mauritius over fears of a potential cholera outbreak on board.

Local authorities on Sunday denied permission for the Norwegian Dawn vessel, which has 2,184 passengers and 1,026 crew on board, to access the Mauritius capital of Port Louis, citing “potential health risks.”

The ship was on a 12-day itinerary from Cape Town, South Africa to Port Louis that started on Feb. 13.

The Mauritius Ports Authority said Sunday that samples were taken from at least 15 passengers on board. These passengers had been placed in isolation on board the vessel “due to the state of their health,” the port authority said, according to a Google translation.

“As the test results will only be known in approximately 48 hours, passengers who were due to board the ‘Norwegian Dawn’ and begin their cruise from Mauritius today will not be able to do so due to potential health risks. They will have to be relocated to available hotel establishments,” the port authority said.

A spokesperson for the U.S.-headquartered Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings said Sunday that “a small number of guests experienced mild symptoms of a stomach-related illness” during Norwegian Dawn’s South Africa voyage.

On returning to Port Louis, the spokesperson said the vessel’s management team met with local authorities to confirm that precautionary measures were being taken to ensure the wellbeing of those on board.

Multiple media outlets reported the stomach illness on board the ship was suspected to be cholera.

“The health and safety of our guests, crew and the destinations we visit is our top priority. We operate at the highest public health and sanitation standards, and encourage our guests to practice good hygiene and to report any illness-related symptoms to the onboard medical team immediately,” the spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings said.

“Additionally, we have elevated our sanitation procedures aboard the ship as part of our routine measures to ensure a safe environment for all on board and will continue to take any necessary measures to protect our guests, crew and destinations we visit,” they added.

The World Health Organization says cholera is an “extremely virulent” disease transmitted through the ingestion of contaminated food or water.

It is rare in the U.S., and infection is often mild or without symptoms, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that symptoms can also be severe. The CDC says cholera symptoms can include diarrhea, vomiting and leg cramps.

Since January last year, the U.N. says that roughly 188,000 cholera cases have been reported across eight southern African countries, including 3,000 related deaths.

Shares of Intuitive Machines jumped 16% in trading Friday after the company’s successful first moon landing.

Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C cargo moon lander known as “Odysseus” on Thursday became the first privately developed spacecraft to land on the lunar surface — as well as the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on the moon in more than 50 years.

The company, based in Houston, Texas, confirmed that the IM-1 mission lander was standing upright and sending data back to Earth.

“Odysseus has found his new home,” Tim Crain, Intuitive Machines’ CTO and IM-1 mission director, said Thursday evening from the company’s mission control.

Intuitive Machines stock initially ripped 40% higher before paring gains with heavy trading volume to close at $9.59 a share. The company has a market valuation of about $1 billion.

The company’s stock has been rallying over the past month as excitement built in the lead-up to and progress of the IM-1 mission. Intuitive Machines went public via a SPAC a year ago and shares had steadily slid to all-time lows near $2 in January.

Wall Street analysts emphasized to CNBC ahead of the landing that the unprecedented nature of the event could lead to volatile momentum trading.

“We’ve never witnessed a publicly traded company go through [a moon landing attempt]. So this is new, not just for investors, but for us analysts as well,” Cantor Fitzgerald’s Andres Sheppard said before the landing.

In a note to investors after the landing, Cantor Fitzgerald increased its price target on Intuitive Machines’ stock to $13 a share from $4 a share.

“In our view, this validates the company’s technology and adds significant credibility to the business. As such, we believe Intuitive Machines is now very well positioned to continue to capitalize on the growing commercial space economy, and on subsequent launches,” Sheppard wrote in the note.

Intuitive Machines, in a statement Friday morning, said that “Odysseus is alive and well,” noting that the lander is charging its solar panels.

“Flight controllers are communicating and commanding the vehicle to download science data,” the company said.

The company and NASA plan to hold a press conference at 5 p.m. ET on Friday.

The Odysseus lander carried 12 government and commercial payloads — six of which are for NASA under a $118 million contract through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative.

Intuitive Machines has already won two more CLPS contracts for future lander missions, with IM-2 expected to launch as early as the second half of this year.

Additionally, the company has part of a five-year $719 million contract to provide engineering services to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Analysts expect the Goddard contract is worth about $11 million per month in revenue for Intuitive Machines, with Cantor Fitzgerald estimating the company will bring in about $338 million in fiscal year 2024 revenue.

LONDON — L’Oreal shares fell more than 7.3% in early deals Friday, before slightly paring losses, as the company reported lower-than-expected sales and pointed to a slowdown in demand in Asia.

Shares of the stock had recovered slightly to trade down by 6.7% at 12:30 p.m. London time.

The world’s largest beauty brand on Thursday reported fourth-quarter sales below estimates, rising 2.8% to 10.6 billion euros ($11.4 billion). Barclays analysts had anticipated a figure near 10.9 billion euros, according to Reuters.

The company, which owns brands such as Lancôme and Kiehl’s, also logged a 7.6% increase in 2023 full-year sales to 41.18 billion euros ($44.37 billion).

The quarterly shortfall was led by activity in North Asia, including China, where sales fell 6.2% over the three-month period. Sales were otherwise up in Europe and North America.

CEO Nicolas Hieronimus said Friday that the company remains very ambitious in China, adding that it has strong growth plans for the country in 2024 and beyond, according to Reuters.

The luxury sector has been under pressure since late 2023, as tough macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions have weighed on consumer spending, notable in the U.S. and China.

Still, certain high-end brands appear to have bucked the trend, continuing to attract increasingly selective shoppers.

Shares of Hermes were up 4.9% Friday morning after reporting a surge in sales as wealthy consumers continue to seek its exclusive Birkin handbags and silk scarves despite rising prices.

Fourth-quarter revenues rose 18% at constant exchange rates to 3.36 billion euros, while full-year revenues were up 21% to 13.42 billion euros. The company also announced plans for an exceptional dividend of 10 a euro share.

Speaking Friday, Executive Chairman Axel Dumas said product prices were likely to rise by an average of 8% to 9% in 2024, according to Bloomberg, which he said was indicative of the company’s continued appeal in an increasingly “polarized” market.

Hermes stock is currently up more than 13% for the year, ahead of LVMH, up 11%, and Burberry, down 8%.

Eli Lilly on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings that topped expectations on the strong launch of its new weight loss drug, Zepbound, and higher prices for its blockbuster diabetes drug, Mounjaro.

Zepbound, which won approval from U.S. regulators in early November, raked in $175.8 million in sales for the fourth quarter.

The quarterly results are the first to include sales of Zepbound, which some analysts say could post more than a billion dollars in sales in its first year on the market and eventually, become the biggest drug of all time. 

Shares of Eli Lilly were up about 5% in premarket trading Tuesday.

Here’s what Eli Lilly reported for the fourth quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: $2.49 adjusted vs. $2.22 expectedRevenue: $9.35 billion vs. $8.93 billion expected

Eli Lilly posted net income of $2.19 billion, or $2.42 a share, for the fourth quarter. That compares with a profit of $1.94 billion, or $2.14 a share, a year earlier. 

Excluding one-time items associated with the value of intangible assets, among other adjustments, the company posted a per-share profit of $2.49 cents for the fourth quarter of 2023.

The pharmaceutical giant booked fourth-quarter revenue of $9.35 billion, up 28% from the same period a year ago.

Eli Lilly also issued its full-year forecast for 2024, which was generally in line with expectations.

The company expects full-year adjusted earnings of $12.20 to $12.70 per share. Eli Lilly also forecast 2024 revenue of $40.4 billion to $41.6 billion.

Analysts surveyed by LSEG expected full-year adjusted earnings of $12.43 per share and sales of $39.38 billion.

Shares of Eli Lilly jumped almost 60% last year as weight loss drugs skyrocketed in popularity despite hefty price tags, mixed insurance coverage and a handful of unpleasant side effects. With a market cap of roughly $673 billion, Eli Lilly is the largest pharmaceutical company based in the U.S. 

Higher prices for older drugs, particularly Mounjaro, helped drive up Eli Lilly’s revenue, the company said. Mounjaro booked $2.21 billion in sales for the fourth quarter, up from just $279.2 million in the same period a year ago. 

Analysts had expected the drug to bring in $1.73 billion in worldwide sales, according to estimates compiled by FactSet.

That increase reflects increased demand but also “higher realized prices” in the U.S. due to decreased use of Eli Lilly’s savings card programs as access to the drug continued to expand during the quarter, the company said. The savings card programs aim to help lower the out-of-pocket costs for drugs like Mounjaro for patients.

Revenue growth was also driven by sales of Eli Lilly’s breast cancer pill Verzenio, which rose 42% to $1.15 billion for the quarter due to increased demand and higher prices.

Those results came in under analysts’ expectations, however, which called for $1.18 billion in sales for the period. 

Sales of Jardiance, a tablet that lowers blood sugar in Type 2 diabetes patients, climbed 30% to $798.1 million for the fourth quarter. Analysts had expected $771.8 million in sales from Jardiance. 

Jardiance, which Eli Lilly shares with Boehringer Ingelheim, is among the first 10 drugs selected to face price negotiations with the federal Medicare program. Those price talks heated up last week after Medicare sent its initial price offers for each drug to the manufacturers. 

Meanwhile, Eli Lilly said higher prices were offset by lower prices of its other diabetes medicine Trulicity and insulin product Humalog.

Trulicity reported $1.67 billion in revenue, down 14% from the same period a year ago. Analysts had expected Trulicity to rake in $1.77 billion in sales for the quarter. 

Humalog saw $366.6 million in revenue for the quarter, down 33% from the year-ago period. Analysts had expected the medicine to book $438 million in sales, according to FactSet.

That decrease isn’t a surprise: Last year, Eli Lilly said it would cut prices of Humalog and another commonly prescribed insulin by 70% and cap monthly out-of-pocket costs at $35 at certain retail pharmacies for people who have private insurance starting May 1, 2023.

Eli Lilly will hold an earnings call with investors at 10:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday. 

Executives will likely be asked about whether the company has made more progress in addressing the supply issues plaguing its weight loss and diabetes drugs. 

There may also be questions related to the timing of the FDA’s decision on Eli Lilly’s experimental Alzheimer’s drug, donanemab, which significantly slowed the progression of the memory-robbing disease in patients at the early stages of it.

The company did not mention the drug in its earnings release.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

DETROIT — General Motors beat Wall Street’s top- and bottom-line expectations for the fourth quarter, while forecasting another strong year despite potential economic and sales head winds.

The Detroit automaker’s 2024 guidance calls for net income attributable to stockholders of $9.8 billion to $11.2 billion, or $8.50 to $9.50 earnings per share; adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $12 billion to $14 billion, or $8.50 to $9.50 adjusted EPS; and adjusted automotive free cash flow between $8 billion and $10 billion.

The earnings guidance is largely better than GM’s 2023 results and in line or higher than many Wall Street analysts’ expectations of flat results compared with 2023.

Here’s how the company performed in the fourth quarter, compared with average estimates compiled by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

Adjusted earnings per share: $1.24 versus $1.16, estimatedRevenue: $42.98 billion versus $38.67 billion, estimated

For the fourth quarter, GM reported net income for stockholders of $2.1 billion, or $1.59 per share, compared with $2 billion, or $1.39 per share a year earlier. Adjusting for one-time items, GM earned $1.24 per share, topping Wall Street expectations.

Revenue was largely flat year over year, at $42.98 billion compared with $43.11 billion for the final three months of 2022.

GM’s full-year 2023 revenue was about up 10% compared with the prior year, at $171.84 billion, with net income attributable to stockholders of $10.13 billion and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $12.36 billion. That compares with 2022 revenue of $156.74 billion, net income attributable to stockholders of $9.93 billion and adjusted EBIT of $14.47 billion.

“As we begin 2024, I believe GM is well positioned for another year of strong financial performance,” GM CFO Paul Jacobson told media during a call to discuss the results.

GM’s 2023 earnings included several special charges, including $1.1 billion in North American strike costs and $792 million charge for new commercial agreements between GM and LG Electronics and LG Energy Solution.

Shares of GM are down less than 2% this year after rising about 7% last year, lifted by an accelerated $10 billion share repurchase program that was announced in late November.

GM’s North American adjusted earnings were off 45% during the fourth quarter from a year earlier to $2.01 billion. Its international operations declined by 1.1% to $269 million.

China – GM’s second-largest market – continued to struggle, with a 34% decline in equity income for the year to $446 million, including a 54% drop during the fourth quarter.

Jacobson said GM expects its China operations this year to be roughly flat from last, including an anticipated loss in the first quarter.

“The team is doing a good job of managing through a challenging situation but we’re going to have a tough first quarter,” he said.

For the year, GM’s North American operations were off 5.3% to $12.31 billion, while international operations were up 5.9% to $1.21 billion.

GM expects to spend roughly $1 billion less this year on its majority-owned autonomous vehicle subsidiary Cruise. In 2023 it spent $2.7 billion on the embattled business unit, excluding special items such as severance packages for layoffs.

Cruise remains under several state and federal investigations following an Oct. 2 accident involving a pedestrian in San Francisco.

GM CEO Mary Barra, who chairs Cruise’s board, said officials have “already begun to implement significant changes” at Cruise following the findings of internal, third-party probes into the incident and operations.

Cruise and GM last week released findings of internal investigations that outlined cultural issues, regulatory ineptitude and poor leadership at the company, but found that officials did not intentionally deceive or mislead regulators.

The companies also disclosed Cruise remains under investigation by several entities, including the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“At Cruise, we are committed to earning back the trust of regulators and the public through our commitments and our actions,” Barra said in a letter to shareholders Tuesday.

Both Barra and Jacobson acknowledged that the adoption of electric vehicles in the U.S. has been slower than originally expected but said the company remains committed to expanding its EV lineup and sales in 2024.

“Consensus is growing that the U.S. economy, the job market and auto sales will continue to be resilient, and at GM, we expect healthy industry sales of about 16 million units with the mix of EVs continuing to grow,” Barra said.

The automaker last year pulled its near-term sales guidance for EVs but maintained plans to add 1 million units worth of EV production capacity in North America and achieve a mid-single-digit EBIT EV margin, both by 2025.

GM’s EV sales totaled 75,883 units, or 2.9% of the company’s overall sales, last year. A vast majority of those were sales of its now discontinued Chevrolet Bolt models.

The company has experienced problems in ramping up production of its newer “Ultium” EVs, including a major issue with battery module assembly.

GM has said it plans to keep its North American plants “flexible” to produce EVs and traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines, based on consumer demand.

This is breaking news. Please check back for additional updates.

— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

The U.K. government on Monday announced it will ban disposable vapes, citing an “alarming rise” in the number of young people using them.

There will also be new restrictions on how vapes can be packaged and displayed, as well as the flavors they can come in.

Brightly colored e-cigarettes which are used once and thrown away have proliferated in the U.K. and other countries in recent years.

Pointing to the nicotine content that is typically present in many vapes, the U.K. government on Monday warned that withdrawal from the substance can sometimes cause “anxiety, trouble concentrating and headaches. While vaping can play a role in helping adult smokers to quit, children should never vape.”

It is illegal to sell vapes to consumer under the age of 18 in the U.K., but according to government figures, 9% of 11 to 15-year-olds use them. The number of children vaping has tripled over the last three years, it said.

Shops which sell vapes to children face higher spot fines.

Campaigners have also highlighted the environmental impact of vapes, which are difficult to recycle and contain hazardous liquids and flammable lithium batteries.

Five million disposable vapes are thrown away each week, equal to the lithium batteries of 5,000 electric vehicles over the course of the year, the government said.

Alex Robinson, CEO of charity Hubbub, said that disposable vapes were a single-use plastic electrical and have been an “environmental disaster.”

“Each one contains a battery and a circuit board, with precious metals like lithium. But it’s too expensive to recycle them, and most are just chucked in the bin,” he told CNBC.

The vaping measure comes amid a broader U.K. crackdown that is set to make it illegal to sell any tobacco product to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it was important to act before vaping among children becomes “endemic.”

“The long-term impacts of vaping are unknown and the nicotine within them can be highly addictive, so while vaping can be a useful tool to help smokers quit, marketing vapes to children is not acceptable,” Sunak said Monday.

Jacob George, chair of cardiovascular medicine and therapeutics at the University of Dundee, said he fully supported the disposable vape ban and discouraging young people and non-smokers from starting to vape — but cautioned against “criminalising and penalising all vaping activity.”

“It is a useful adjunct for helping people who smoke tobacco cigarettes to quit. Government legislation in this area should be nuanced and careful,” George said.

An oil tanker operated on behalf of Trafigura was struck by a missile on Friday after transiting the Red Sea, a company spokesperson told CNBC in statement.

The Marlin Luanda, a petroleum products tanker vessel, was struck by the missile in the Gulf of Aden. Firefighting equipment on board is being used to suppress a fire in one of the cargo tanks, the spokesperson said.

“We remain in contact with the vessel and are monitoring the situation carefully,” Trafigura said. “Military ships in the region are underway to provide assistance.”

Houthi militants claimed responsibility for the attack, describing the vessel as a “British oil ship.” Trafigura said the vessel is flagged under the Marshall Islands.

The militants used a “number of appropriate naval missiles, the strike was direct and resulted in the burning of the vessel,” the Houthis’ military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement.

Houthi militants in Yemen have attacked commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea since November in support of Palestinians. The U.S. and UK began a series of airstrikes against the militia on Jan. 11 aimed at deterring the Iranian-backed group.

Houthi militants fired a ballistic missile at the U.S. Navy destroyer Carney in the Gulf of Aden earlier on Friday, according to U.S. Central Command. The missile was shot down by the Carney. No injuries or damage were reported, according to CENTCOM.

Several of the world’s major oil tanker companies paused traffic toward the Red Sea immediately after the U.S. and Britain began launching airstrikes against the Houthis earlier this month.

U.S. crude oil on Friday settled at $78.01 a barrel to close out its best week since Sept. 1. The global Brent benchmark settled at $83.55 a barrel, posting its best week since Oct. 13.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for March was last up 74 cents, or 0.96%, at $78.10 a barrel. The Brent March contract was trading at $83.73 a barrel, up $1.30 or 1.58%.

Oil futures have not responded dramatically to escalating tensions in the Middle East so far because there has not been a major disruption to supply. Analysts have warned that a direct confrontation between the U.S. and Iran could send prices significantly higher.

Robert Thummel, portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital, told CNBC on Thursday that the market is not pricing enough geopolitical risk into crude prices. Thummel said WTI should really be trading at $85 right now given the tensions in the Middle East.