2022

(Reuters) -Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd forecast operating cash flow to be positive for the current quarter on Tuesday, as the U.S. cruise operator benefits from higher on-board spending and prices with its full fleet back in service.

Shares of the company rose about 3% in early trade, as the company also said that booking trends remained strong despite a hit from Omicron variant of the coronavirus and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“We are seeing an explosive showing by consumers, particularly American consumers. Consumer spend is strong, snapping back and even exceeding where we left off in 2019,” Chief Executive Officer Frank Del Rio said on a post-earnings call.

Norwegian Cruise, which saw about 60 cancellations or modifications to sailing due to the Russia-Ukraine war, said its booking momentum was temporarily disrupted due to the crisis, but added that the impact was “short-lived.” It has also decided to remove all sailings to ports in Russia from its itineraries in 2023.

Over the past two years, cruise operators have been burning through their cash piles, as the pandemic brought the industry to a standstill. The company reported negative operating cash flow in the last few quarters, which turned slightly positive only in March.

Norwegian, which completed its phased restart of operations earlier this week with all of its ships returning to sail, said higher ticket prices and onboard revenue also helped the company see improved cash flow in the first quarter ended March 31.

However, the company still expects to post a net loss in the current quarter, as it accounted for higher costs including fuel expenses. Norwegian reported a fuel expense of $135.5 million for the first quarter.

The cruise operator also posted a bigger-than-expected loss of $1.82 per share for the reported quarter.

(Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Rashmi Aich)

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By Medha Singh

(Reuters) – Crypto assets bled nearly $800 billion in market value over the past month, touching a low of $1.4 trillion on Tuesday, according to data site CoinMarketCap, as the end of easy monetary policy diminishes appetite for risk assets.

Bitcoin, which makes up for nearly 40% of the crypto market, hit a 10-month low earlier on Tuesday, before rebounding to $31,450, just six days after touching $40,000. It was more than 54% below its Nov. 10 all-time high of $69,000.

Digital asset prices have slumped, mirroring a plunge in equities on fears of aggressive interest rate hikes across the globe to stave off decades-high inflation. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 28% from its November 2021 record high.

Total crypto market value was at $2.2 trillion on April 2, well off of its all-time peak of $2.9 trillion in early November, as per CoinMarketCap.

“Bitcoin remains highly correlated to the broader economic conditions, which suggest the road ahead may unfortunately be a rocky one, at least for the time being,” blockchain data provider Glassnode said in a note.

Signs of weakness in stablecoins, typically a safer crypto currency, further spooked investors. TerraUSD, the world’s fourth-largest stablecoin, lost a third of its value on Tuesday as it lost its peg to the dollar.

Despite bitcoin’s price slump, funds and products linked to it posted inflows of $45 million last week as investors took advantage of price weakness, according to digital asset manager Coinshares in a report released on Monday.

“Enormous amount of liquidity that has inflated some of these cryptocurrencies,” said Sebastien Galy, senior macro strategist at Nordea Asset Management. He expects crypto, also correlated to high-growth stocks, to come under pressure as several central banks tighten their monetary policy.

(Reporting by Medha Singh and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

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