Cruise stocks slide after US commerce secretary Lutnick's comment on taxes
20/02/2025 16:45
** Shares of cruise operators fall in early trade, a day
after U.S. commerce secretary Howard Lutnick's comments
** Lutnick in an interview on Fox News on Wednesday said
cruise ships do not pay taxes
** "You ever see a cruise ship with an American flag on the
back? ... None of them pay taxes ... every supertanker. None pay
taxes ...," Lutnick said
** Cruise operators Norwegian Cruise Line NCLH.N , Carnival
CCL.N and Royal Caribbean Group RCL.N down between 6.4% and
8.7%
** Viking Holdings VIK.N down 3.9%
** "These stocks are down sharply because of the impact on
earnings, if they would be paying taxes in the U.S.," says Sam
Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research in New
York
** The commerce secretary also said President Donald Trump
wants to abolish the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
** An IRS executive told staff on call on Thursday that
about 6,000 workers would be fired, a person familiar with the
matter tells Reuters
(Reporting by Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru)
((Nikhil.Sharma@thomsonreuters.com;))