Mass. economy sluggish in first quarter

FOOD

Tyson Foods shares plunged the most since August after the company said persistent inflation has eroded consumers’ appetite for the branded and ready-to-eat offerings accounting for most of the company’s profits. High inflation and low saving rates have prompted consumers to prioritize essential staples over discretionary categories, Melanie Boulden, who oversees Tyson’s Prepared Foods business, said in a conference call with analysts. The executive said the business that produces sausages and snacks under brands such as Wright and Jimmy Dean is likely to deliver less profits in the second half of the current fiscal year than in the first. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

RETAIL

Target doesn’t just want to sell its private-label brands to its shoppers. The company is going after customers at other stores, too. The Minneapolis-based retailer said it’s expanding sales of the in-house Cat & Jack children’s brand at department-store chain Hudson’s Bay Co. in Canada to include swim, outerwear, and shoes, going beyond the apparel products it’s been offering since March. The company said it has received interest from other retailers around the world and is in the early stages of exploring opportunities to sell its products to retailers in Europe and the Americas. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

SHIPPING

A.P. Moller-Maersk expects that the shipping industry this quarter will spend 15 percent to 20 percent of its Asia-to-Europe vessel capacity on sailing south of Africa to avoid the Red Sea. The effects of the conflict in the region “are widening,” the Copenhagen-based shipping company told its clients in an advisory on Monday, echoing the comments it made in its earnings report last week. The world’s supply lines have since mid-November been affected by Houthi militant attacks in the Red Sea, which have cut container line transits through the key Suez Canal waterway by about 80 percent, according to Bloomberg Intelligence estimates. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

AIRLINES

Qantas Airways agreed to pay 120 million Australian dollars ($79 million) in compensation and a fine for selling tickets on thousands of canceled flights, the airline and Australia’s consumer watchdog said on Monday. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sued the Sydney-based airline in the Federal Court last year. The commission alleged that Qantas engaged in false, misleading, or deceptive conduct by advertising tickets for more than 8,000 flights from May 2021 through to July 2022 that had already been canceled. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

MOVIES

“The Fall Guy” seemed to have everything. Megawatt stars. Death-defying stunts. Splendid reviews. An original story. It added up to only $28.5 million in North American ticket sales from Friday to Sunday, the worst start to Hollywood’s all-important summer season since 1995. “The Fall Guy” cost Universal at least $200 million to make and market. It collected an additional $37 million overseas. It was the first time in 19 years that Hollywood’s summer season — a four-month period that typically accounts for 40 percent of annual ticket sales — did not start with a superhero or a sequel. — NEW YORK TIMES

TOOLS

The Swiss Army Knife, the iconic, more than century-old fold-up tool used by whittlers, soldiers, and even astronauts, will soon be available without a blade. Victorinox, the company behind the quintessentially Swiss product, is responding to tighter regulations around weapons around the world, chief executive Carl Eisner told the Blick newspaper on Monday. Instead, it plans to add tools for cyclists and other functions to a gadget that usually also features scissors and a corkscrew. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

HOUSING

US renters are more pessimistic about their ability to ever own a home and households’ expectations of home-price growth has reaccelerated after falling last year, a new Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey showed. Amid elevated prices, high mortgage rates, and difficulty saving money for a down payment, only about four in 10 renters think that they will be able to buy a home, the New York Fed said Monday. That’s the lowest level since the survey on consumers’ housing-related experiences and expectations was started a decade ago. For the first time, half of younger renters — those under age 50 — don’t think they will be able to buy a home. In the past year, the share of renters in the Northeast think their probability of buying has dropped in half, from 51 percent to nearly 26 percent. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

LUXURY

Rocky star Sylvester Stallone will sell 11 timepieces at Sotheby’s on June 5, including an ultra-rare Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime watch that originally sold for around $2.5 million. This will be the first time a Grandmaster Chime has been put up for commercial auction. At the Only Watch charitable auction in 2019, a steel model sold for $31 million, setting a record. Stallone’s version of the two-sided timepiece, with its 20 complications— the most Patek has ever put in a wristwatch — is in white gold. It has five different chiming modes, features a perpetual calendar, and can track two time zones. The watch is so rare, even for the vaunted Swiss watchmaker, that it comes with an elaborate presentation box that includes a collection book and plaque, both with Stallone’s name, an original certificate, cuff links, and an iPad in a Patek Philippe leather case. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

COFFEE

Former Starbucks chief executive and founder Howard Schultz says the company’s leaders should spend more time in stores and focus on coffee drinks as they work to turn around flagging sales. In a LinkedIn post published over the weekend, Schultz said many people had reached out to him after Starbucks reported weaker-than-expected quarterly sales and earnings last week. Schultz, who bought Starbucks in 1987, is credited with growing the company into the global behemoth it has become with nearly 39,000 stores worldwide. He has been the chairman emeritus of the company since last fall, when he stepped down from Starbucks’ board. Schultz remains Starbucks’ largest individual shareholder, holding shares that were valued at $1.5 billion at the end of last year. — ASSOCIATED PRESS