. And they have done well in the here and now, too: all reported respectable second-quarter results in the latest earnings season. But what about the health of the broad swathes of the American economy that are less affected by the tech hype? Here the picture is more complex, but ultimately reassuring.future are suffering in the present, too. Health-care companies look sickly:Health, a chain of chemists , is slashing 5,000 jobs after its earnings sank by 37%.
Even the oil-and-gas giants are doing better than the headline numbers suggest. The largest of them, ExxonMobil , made nearly $8bn in net profit. That is down by 56% year on year but, bar that record-breaking result in 2022, still ExxonMobil’s highest second-quarter figure in nearly a decade. Americans aren’t just spending on sweets and cola. Air travel is recovering rapidly, particularly for international trips. American Airlines , Delta Air Lines and United Airlines collectively reported net profits of $4.2bn last quarter, the most since 2015. Hotels, inundated with leisure and business travellers, enjoy strong pricing power. Hilton, a chain , said that its revenue per available room, a preferred industry measure, was up by 12%, year on year.