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WestJet Strike Is Over — Here's What Happens to Your Bookings Now

  Published August 4, 2026 If you spent the long weekend refreshing WestJet's flight status page, you can exhale a little. Early Monday morning, WestJet and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 8125 reached a tentative agreement, ending the strike that grounded most of the airline's mainline fleet starting August 2. Both the strike notice and WestJet's lockout notice have been withdrawn. That's genuinely good news if you have an upcoming WestJet booking. But "the strike is over" doesn't mean "everything is back to normal today." Here's what actually changes for your money and your travel plans. What actually happened About 4,400 WestJet cabin crew walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. Mountain Time on August 2, after contract talks broke down over unpaid ground duties and the airline's flight-credit pay system. WestJet responded with a matching lockout notice, and between the two, the airline's normal schedule of roughly 600...
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S&P 500 Inches Closer to Record High Amid Optimism About Fed’s Policy and Year-End Effect

 

The S&P 500 index closed just shy of a new record high on Thursday, with the broad index gaining 0.04%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.03%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%. Markets are ending 2023 on a hot streak, with all three indexes on pace for a ninth consecutive weekly gain. For the S&P 500, that would mark the longest streak since January 2004. The index is now within 0.3% of its all-time high, set in January 2022. With one trading session remaining in 2023, the S&P 500 is up 25%.

Investors are optimistic that the Federal Reserve can successfully cool inflation without inducing a major economic slowdown, which has powered the market’s recent advance. Now, some investors say the looming end of the calendar year is giving markets an extra boost. “Nobody who has caught this rally wants to incur a taxable event,” said Michael Green, chief strategist at Simplify Asset Management. “If nobody wants to sell, prices will push higher on low volume”.

The jobless claims data released by the Labor Department on Thursday indicated a gradual cooling of the economy. Initial jobless claims, considered a proxy for layoffs, were 218,000 in the week ending Dec. 23, slightly more than the 215,000 that economists expected.

Bond yields rose as prices fell, reflecting expectations of higher inflation and interest rates. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.849%, up from 3.7%.

Some investors are increasing their exposure to energy and industrial stocks, which could benefit from a strong economic recovery. Matt Dmytryszyn, chief investment officer at Telemus Capital, said his fund is boosting its position in shares of energy and industrial firms.


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