PARIS — Airbus fleets were returning toward normal operations on Monday after the European plane maker pushed through abrupt software changes faster than expected, as it wrestled with safety headlines long focused on rival Boeing.

Dozens of airlines from Asia to the United States said they had carried out a snap software retrofit ordered by Airbus, and mandated by global regulators, after a vulnerability to solar flares emerged in a recent mid-air incident on a JetBlue A320.

Airbus said on Monday that the vast majority of around 6,000 of its A320-family fleet affected by the safety alert had been modified, with fewer than 100 jets still requiring work.

But some require a longer process and Colombia’s Avianca continued to halt bookings for dates until December 8.

Sources familiar with the matter said the unprecedented decision to recall about half the A320-family fleet was taken shortly after the possible but unproven link to a drop in altitude on the JetBlue jet emerged late last week.

Shares in Airbus were down 2.1% in early trading in Paris.

Following talks with regulators, Airbus issued its 8-page alert to hundreds of operators on Friday, effectively ordering a temporary grounding by ordering the repair before next flight.

“The thing hit us about 9 p.m. [Jeddah time] and I was back in here about 9:30. I was actually quite surprised how quickly we got through it: there are always complexities,” said Steven Greenway, CEO of Saudi budget carrier Flyadeal.

The instruction was seen as the broadest emergency recall in the company’s history and raised immediate concerns of travel disruption particularly during the busy U.S. Thanksgiving weekend.

The sweeping warning exposed the fact that Airbus does not have full real-time awareness of which software version is used given reporting lags, industry sources said.

At first airlines struggled to gauge the impact since the blanket alert lacked affected jets’ serial numbers. A Finnair passenger said a flight was delayed on the tarmac for checks.

Over 24 hours, engineers zeroed in on individual jets.

Several airlines revised down estimates of the number of jets impacted and time needed for the work, which Airbus initially pegged at three hours per plane.

“It has come down a lot,” an industry source said on Sunday, referring to the overall number of aircraft affected.

The fix involved reverting to an earlier version of software that handles the nose angle. It involves uploading the previous version via a cable from a device called a data loader, which is carried into the cockpit to prevent cyberattacks.

At least one major airline faced delays because it lacked enough data loaders to handle dozens of jets in such a short time, according to an executive speaking privately.

UK’s easyJet and Wizz Air said on Monday they had completed the updates over the weekend without cancelling any flights.

JetBlue said late Sunday it expected to have completed work to return to service 137 of 150 impacted aircraft by Monday and plans to cancel approximately 20 flights for Monday due to the issue.

Questions remain over a subset of generally older A320-family jets that will need a new computer rather than a mere software reset. The number of those involved has been reduced below initial estimates of 1,000, industry sources said.

Industry executives said the weekend furor highlighted changes in the industry’s playbook since the Boeing 737 MAX crisis, in which the U.S. plane maker was heavily criticized over its handling of fatal crashes blamed on a software design error.

It is the first time Airbus has had to deal with global safety attention on such a scale since that crisis. CEO Guillaume Faury publicly apologized in a deliberate shift of tone for an industry beset by lawsuits and conservative public relations. Boeing has also declared itself more open.

“Is Airbus acting with the Boeing MAX crisis in mind? Absolutely — every company in the aviation sector is,” said Ronn Torossian, chairman of New York-based 5W Public Relations.

“Boeing paid the reputational price for hesitation and opacity. Airbus clearly wants to show … a willingness to say, ‘We could have done better.’ That resonates with regulators, customers, and the flying public.”

Campbell’s has fired an executive accused of making racist comments and mocking its products and customers, the company announced on Wednesday.

The termination follows a lawsuit filed in Michigan by former employee Robert Garza against Campbell’s, the company’s then-vice president of information technology Martin Bally and another manager.

The complaint alleges retaliation and a hostile work environment, citing a November 2024 meeting between Bally and Garza to discuss salary, according to the lawsuit.

Garza allegedly recorded the conversation, and the audio — obtained by NBC News — is more than 90 minutes long.

During the interaction, the lawsuit alleges that Bally described Campbell’s as “highly process(ed) food” and said it was for “poor people.” He also allegedly made racist remarks about Indian workers, calling them “idiots.”

‘After a review, we believe the voice on the recording is in fact Martin Bally,’ Campbell’s said Wednesday. ‘The comments were vulgar, offensive and false, and we apologize for the hurt they have caused.’

The company said it does not tolerate the language used in the audio recording and the behavior “does not reflect” its values.

Campbell’s said it learned of the litigation and first heard segments of the audio on Nov. 20.

Bally’s termination was effective Tuesday, the company said.

According to the lawsuit, Garza told his manager, J.D. Aupperle — who is also named as a defendant, about Bally’s behavior in January 2025 and wanted to report the comments to the human resources department. He was not encouraged to report the comments, the lawsuit claims, and was then ‘abruptly terminated from employment’ later that month.

‘This situation has been very hard on Robert,’ Garza’s attorney, Zachary Runyan, said in a statement to NBC News on Tuesday. ‘He thought Campbell’s would be thankful that he reported Martin’s behavior, but instead he was abruptly fired.’

Garza is seeking monetary damages from the company.

Bally and Aupperle did not immediately return requests for comment on Wednesday.

Campbell’s said it is ‘proud of the food we make’ and ‘the comments heard on the recording about our food are not only inaccurate — they are patently absurd.’

Bitcoin and ether slumped to multi-month lows on Friday, with cryptocurrencies swept up in a broader flight from riskier assets as investors worried about lofty tech valuations and bets on near-term U.S. interest rate cuts faded.

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, fell 5.5% to a seven-month low of $81,668. Ether slid more than 6% to $2,661.37, its lowest in four months.

Both tokens are down roughly 12% so far this week.

Cryptocurrencies are often viewed as a barometer of risk appetite and their slide highlights how fragile the mood in markets has turned in recent days, with high-flying artificial intelligence stocks tumbling and volatility spiking VIX.

“If it’s telling a story about risk sentiment as a whole, then things could start to get really, really ugly, and that’s the concern now,” Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG, said of the fall in bitcoin.

About $1.2 trillion has been wiped off the market value of all cryptocurrencies in the past six weeks, according to market tracker CoinGecko.

Bitcoin’s slide follows a stellar run this year that propelled it to a record high above $120,000 in October, buoyed by favourable regulatory changes towards crypto assets globally.

But analysts say the market remains scarred by a record single-day slump last month that saw more than $19 billion of positions liquidated.

“The market feels a little bit dislocated, a bit fractured, a bit broken, really, since we had that selloff,” said Sycamore.

Bitcoin has since erased all its year-to-date gains and is now down 12% for the year, while ether has lost close to 19%.

Citi analyst Alex Saunders said $80,000 would be an important level as it is around the average level of bitcoin holdings in ETFs.

The selloff has also hurt share prices of crypto stockpilers, following a boom in public digital asset treasury companies this year as corporates took advantage of rising prices to buy and hold cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets.

Shares of Strategy, once the poster child for corporate bitcoin accumulation, have fallen 11% this week and were down nearly 4% in premarket trade, languishing at one-year lows.

JP Morgan said in a note this week that the company could be excluded from some MSCI equity indexes, which could spark forced selling by funds that track them.

Its Japanese peer Metaplanet has tumbled about 80% from a June peak.

Crypto exchange Coinbase was down 1.9% in premarket trade and is on course for its longest losing streak in more than a month.

Crypto miners MARA Holdings and CleanSpark were down 2.4% and 3.6%, respectively, while the Winklevoss twins’ newly-listed Gemini has plunged 62% from its listing price.

“Bitcoin market conditions are the most bearish they have been since the current bull cycle started in January 2023,” said digital asset research firm CryptoQuant in its weekly crypto report on Wednesday.

“We are highly likely to have seen most of this cycle’s demand wave pass.”

What began as a banner day for stocks turned into a major rout, as investors signaled ongoing skepticism about the longevity of the artificial intelligence boom and trimmed hopes of support from the Federal Reserve.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 2%, and the broad S&P 500 index dropped by more than 1.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which tracks 30 top-tier stocks, declined by nearly 390 points. It had been up 700 points earlier in the day. Cryptocurrencies also shed billions in value: Bitcoin had fallen below $87,000 as of late Thursday afternoon, weeks after having set highs above $120,000.

The stunning turnaround added further unease to an already shaky economy that has forced households to trim budgets amid stubborn inflation and signs of a wavering job market. With an ever-increasing part of the economy’s principal driver — consumer spending — now reliant on affluent households, an extended market pullback could inflict wider damage.

‘You don’t have to have the biggest bubble in history for an expensive stock market’ and end up seeing declines, said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak asset management group.

Traders’ hopes were boosted early Thursday by a better-than-expected jobs report that appeared to show the economy remained resilient. Even before the day began, stocks looked poised to rise after Nvidia, the chipmaker at the heart of the AI boom, reported strong quarterly earnings and revenue.

Yet by midday, markets had turned red. The solid September jobs report diminished the odds that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month to lower the cost of borrowing money to spur economic activity. When investors don’t have to pay as much in interest, they often put those savings into stocks.

“The broad rebound in payrolls suggests diminished risks of a higher unemployment rate,” analysts with Morgan Stanley said in a note published shortly before noon. “We no longer expect a Fed cut in December.”

Losses were further compounded by ongoing concerns about AI — specifically, how much more profitable the companies buying chips like Nvidia’s will be. The fears were articulated Wednesday evening on X by Michael Burry, made famous by the movie ‘The Big Short.’

‘Just because something is used does not mean it is profitable,’ he wrote.

Finally, the ongoing sell-off of bitcoin indicated to some traders that a key source of support for stocks — retail or day traders — were beginning to waver on their trademark ‘buy the dip’ mentality.

‘I wouldn’t say we’ve flipped from bull to bear,’ said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers financial group. ‘I would say we’ve flipped from bull to balanced market in the short term. A lot depends on whether sentiment continues to weaken.’

Stocks had already been showing signs of flagging in recent weeks. With Thursday’s losses, the S&P 500 fell to its lowest point since September.

The long-delayed September jobs report, which showed that the United States added a sturdy 119,000 jobs, appeared to show some glimmers of hope for the economy.

Although the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.3% in August to 4.4%, about 450,000 workers entered the labor force. Economists view that as evidence that job opportunities are still plentiful, despite a wave of corporate layoffs.

Just before the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the jobs report, Verizon told employees it planned to lay off 13,000 employees, or about 13% of its workforce.

The company joined a suite of other blue-chip employers that say they plan to eliminate tens of thousands of jobs, including Amazon, General Motors, IBM, Microsoft, Paramount, Target and UPS.

The details of the jobs report, which captured conditions before the government shutdown, as well more recent jobs data, suggested a more mixed picture for the U.S. economy.

Manufacturing shed 6,000 jobs, continuing a trend in a sector the Trump administration has touted as a key target of its economic policies. Transportation and warehousing also lost 25,300 jobs. Wage growth slowed, and job totals for July and August were revised downward.

The employment gains in September were concentrated in the health care, hospitality and social assistance sectors.

Another snapshot of the economy came courtesy of Walmart, which on Thursday reported strong sales and raised its outlook for the year. That strength points to cracks in the economy, though. Executives said the chain is luring more high-income shoppers who are looking for bargains, and noted that lower-income families are feeling more pressure.

‘As pocketbooks have been stretched, you’re seeing more consumer dollars go to necessities versus discretionary items,’ Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said on an earnings call Thursday morning.

Walmart’s stock closed 6.5% higher.

The United States added 119,000 jobs in September, a stronger-than-expected figure and a sign that the economy was adding jobs at a healthy clip before government shutdown.

But the details of the report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics paint a more mixed picture, that of a labor market that has recently begun to look wobblier amid high-profile layoff announcements from a host of blue-chip companies.

September’s employment gains were concentrated in health care, food and drinking establishments, and social assistance. Manufacturing shed 6,000 jobs, continuing a trend in a sector the Trump administration has touted as a key target of its economic policies. Transportation and warehousing also lost 25,300 jobs.

The unemployment rate climbed from 4.3% to 4.4% in September, though the pickup was due in part to an increase in the labor force, which the BLS said gained 450,000 new potential workers.

The pace of wage growth slowed.

Thursday’s report was originally supposed to be released Oct. 3, but it was shelved because of the government shutdown. Jobs data collected for October will be released Dec. 16 as part of the full report covering November, the BLS said Wednesday.

The absence of official economic reports over the past six weeks has made it difficult to accurately assess the current state of the jobs market.

But data from private and alternative sources has painted a worrisome portrait amid signs of softening consumption among many households and stubborn price increases.

Over the past few weeks, Amazon, General Motors, IBM, Microsoft, Paramount, Target and UPS have announced plans to eliminate tens of thousands of jobs. Their ranks were joined Thursday by Verizon, which announced the start of layoffs affecting 13,000, according to an internal memo.

About 39,000 workers received layoff notices in October, according to data tracked by the Cleveland Federal Reserve — a number last seen in May and before that only during times of crisis.

A separate report released this month by the research firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas counted 153,000 job cuts announced in October, though some analysts give less weight to its data over methodology questions.

Whatever the exact total, those who do find themselves without work are now experiencing an average unemployment spell of 24.5 weeks — nearly six months. That’s the worst reading since November 2017.

Tiffany Price, South Florida general manager for Job News USA, a job listings service, said many companies face budget cuts and have effectively frozen hiring. And what companies are still hiring are offering lower compensation rates that more experienced workers may have trouble accepting.

The number of employers who attended a recent Job News jobs fair at Amerant Bank Arena in Broward County, Florida, was nearly half the figure of a year ago, while attendance among workers held steady at about 2,000 potential applicants, Price said.

Still, many organizations report difficulties finding qualified workers, she said. On both the employer and the employee sides, a “post and pray” job application strategy has taken hold that leads to worse outcomes for both, she said. More successful outcomes on both fronts have come from local relationships and face-to-face outreach.

A bright spot has been local government, Price said — something that is reflected in the national data, which shows employment in local government roles has continuously expanded since the Covid-19 pandemic recovery set in.

“It’s a weird market,” she said.

Questions about the health of the labor market now dominate discussions about whether the Federal Reserve should continue to cut interest rates. On Monday, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said a December cut was needed to stem further job-market deterioration.

“My focus is on the labor market, and after months of weakening, it is unlikely that the September jobs report later this week or any other data in the next few weeks would change my view that another cut is in order,” he said.

In his speech last month announcing a 0.25% rate cut, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was more circumspect, saying it appeared that the jobs market was weakening only gradually and signaling he was not ready to guarantee a December rate cut was inevitable.

The Fed’s divisions were laid bare in meeting notes released Wednesday from the October rate-setting meeting that showed a sharp split among policymakers about the risk that lower rates would spur already-elevated inflation by making it easier for consumers and businesses to borrow money.

“Most participants noted that, against a backdrop of elevated inflation readings and a very gradual cooling of labor market conditions, further” interest-rate cuts “could add to the risk of higher inflation becoming entrenched,” the notes said.

So far, many economic analysts have been reluctant to call it a full-blown jobs crisis, pointing to data from state-level claims for unemployment that remain subdued and recent reports from the payrolls processor ADP showing a slight rebound in new hires.

“Fears of a renewed labour market downturn, amid reports of mass layoffs at several large firms, are not reflected in still-muted jobless claims or the pick-up in hiring in the ADP private payrolls report,” Thomas Ryan, North America economist for Capital Economics research group, wrote in a note published last week.

Shoppers are still flocking to Walmart.

The company raised its full-year earnings and sales outlook Thursday, heading into the crucial holiday shopping season.

Walmart also offered fresh signs that it is shedding its original identity as a strictly down-market brick-and-mortar operation by growing its e-commerce business and increasing its market share of higher-income shoppers.

Walmart’s shares closed more than 6% higher Thursday, even as the broader market suffered a dramatic sell-off. The stock is up more than 18% this year.

The biggest retailer and grocer in the United States acknowledged the added financial pressures on lower-income households but said middle-income families are holding up. Walmart saw more sales growth in its grocery and health and wellness product categories than in general merchandise.

‘As pocketbooks have been stretched, you’re seeing more consumer dollars go to necessities versus discretionary items,’ Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said on a call with analysts Thursday morning.

The company reported that same-store sales for Walmart U.S. rose 4.5% in the quarter that ended Oct. 31, exceeding analysts’ expectations.

“The team delivered another strong quarter across the business. eCommerce was a bright spot again this quarter. We’re gaining market share, improving delivery speed, and managing inventory well,” outgoing CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement.

Walmart reported 27% growth in e-commerce sales globally.

Walmart also announced that it will move from trading on the New York Stock Exchange to the tech-heavy Nasdaq next month. It’s the latest sign of America’s largest private employer working to position itself as tech-forward in order to compete with Amazon.

The discounter’s third-quarter earnings come amid growing questions about whether Americans contending with tariffs, corporate layoffs and accelerating inflation are still confidently spending on retail.

As a bellwether for the U.S. economy and consumer confidence, Walmart’s strong earnings and guidance indicate that consumers are still shopping — at least at the lower end of the retail price point.

The company announced last week that McMillon will step down in January. McMillon, 59, started at Walmart as an associate in the 1980s and has helmed the company since 2014.

Under his leadership, Walmart improved pay and benefits for many employees, renovated hundreds of stores and boosted its e-commerce and delivery programs, especially during the Covid pandemic.

John Furner, CEO of Walmart U.S., will take over the top job Feb. 1. Since 2019, Furner has led Walmart’s American operations — by far the largest slice of the company, with around 1.6 million of Walmart’s approximately 2.1 million total associates worldwide.

Walmart is leading the retail race against longtime rival Target, which Wednesday reported a drop in third-quarter sales and cut its full-year profit guidance.

Target’s sales have faltered over the last few years, with some consumers expressing frustration over what they said were disorganized stores and rollbacks of the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

In October, Target said it would cut about 1,800 corporate jobs.

Target is hoping for a fresh start in the new year. Incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke will take over Feb. 1, the same day Furner becomes CEO of Walmart.

The struggling retailer said Wednesday that it plans to increase its investment in stores and technology next year by 25%.

Since January, U.S. businesses have had to contend with ever-changing tariffs under the Trump administration. Walmart has navigated the uncertainty by raising prices on some items, while swallowing some tariff costs on others. In the three months that ended Oct. 31, prices at Walmart U.S. rose around 1% overall, with higher prices on electronics, toys and seasonal items in particular due to tariff pressures.

In the grocery section, Walmart expects egg prices to drop but anticipates the record-breaking beef prices will stay high, in part from cattle herds shrinking over the last few decades.

Prices for other grocery staples are also up, though the Trump administration’s rollback of tariffs on many food items last week could offer some relief.

Despite the rising prices, Walmart is offering its annual Thanksgiving menu deal for 10 at less than $4 per person. It’s less expensive than last year’s package, but it also contains fewer items.

The company is also expanding its use of artificial intelligence, teaming up with OpenAI to allow customers to buy from Walmart within ChatGPT. Walmart has not detailed the terms of the partnership or shared when the new option could be available.

This week, Target announced its own collaboration with OpenAI.

Walmart has lagged behind rival Amazon in AI-driven e-commerce — Amazon debuted its Rufus shopping assistant in February 2024, more than a year before Walmart launched its counterpart, Sparky.

Walmart announced Friday that longtime CEO Doug McMillon will retire at the end of January — which came as a surprise to some given the company’s success in a rapidly evolving retail landscape.

John Furner, Walmart’s U.S. CEO, will assume the role of overall CEO on Feb. 1, the company said. McMillon will continue to serve in an executive and advisory role through January 2027. Furner, 51, began his career at Walmart as an hourly associate.

McMillon, 59, has held the top job since 2014 and is only the fifth person to lead the storied company in its 63-year history.

McMillon has overseen a radical transformation of Walmart’s image in a little over a decade.

In 2014, Walmart had a reputation as a budget retail option and was accused of underpaying its associates. Today, it draws more well-to-do shoppers and has earned credit for adopting innovative personnel policies.

McMillon also built up Walmart’s e-commerce operation into the country’s second-largest, behind only Amazon. Over the course of McMillon’s tenure, the value of Walmart’s shares has increased some 300%.

“Serving as Walmart’s CEO has been a great honor and I’m thankful to our Board and the Walton family for the opportunity,” McMillon said in a statement. “I’ve worked with John for more than 20 years. … He’s uniquely capable of leading the company through this next AI-driven transformation.”

America’s retail landscape continues to rapidly evolve, as consumer spending habits increasingly bifurcate between wealthier households and everyone else.

However, Walmart’s quarterly results have held steady — and the company has been justly rewarded by investors. Just this year, Walmart shares have climbed around 13%. Over the course of McMillon’s tenure, the retailer’s stock price is up some 300%.

On Walmart’s most recent earnings call in August, McMillon indicated the company has been able to withstand the broader pressures facing consumers. Its shoppers’ “behavior has been generally consistent,” he said. “We aren’t seeing dramatic shifts.”

Other retailers have not been so fortunate.

Target’s shares have lost about one-third of their value this year, as the chain works to regain its footing in a more value-conscious environment. In August, longtime CEO Brian Cornell announced plans to step down.

Amazon, meanwhile, has fared slightly better as consumers continue to prioritize the convenience of online shopping. But it recently announced thousands of layoffs affecting corporate employees. Amazon’s share price has climbed about 8% this year.

McMillon has also steered Walmart through a volatile period in U.S. politics, during which elected officials have engaged directly with companies and consumers have proven willing to boycott corporate giants over social issues.

Walmart found itself in President Donald Trump’s crosshairs in May, after it signaled plans to increase some prices in response to his tariffs.

“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”

While subsequent reports indicated that Walmart had indeed increased prices on some items, McMillon said in August that the changes were gradual enough that consumer habits shifted only modestly.

Six months after Trump singled Walmart out over tariffs, he did so again — but for a very different reason.

In recent weeks, the Trump White House has repeatedly touted Walmart’s 2025 Thanksgiving menu package — which costs less overall than the retailer’s similar menu did last year — as a sign that the president’s economic policies have helped drive down grocery prices for consumers.

But there is a flaw in that rationale. This year’s Walmart Thanksgiving menu contains fewer items than last year’s menu did.