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Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line on Wednesday canceled sailings amid rising fears of Omicron-related coronavirus infections that have dampened the nascent recovery of the pandemic-ravaged cruise industry, Reuters reported. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd called off its Spectrum of the Seas cruise for Jan. 6 after nine guests on its Jan. 2 trip were identified as close contacts to a local Hong Kong COVID-19 case. The contacts have tested negative but the cruise ship will return to Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong on Jan. 5 to test all guests and crew who must take a second test on Jan. 8, the company said. A similar decision to cancel trips by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd was made against the backdrop of the U.S. reporting the highest daily tally of any country for new coronavirus infections on Monday.

Growth in U.S. manufacturing slowed in December to an 11-month low with companies still combating supply chain problems, the Associated Press reported. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, reported Tuesday that its index of manufacturing activity fell to a reading of 58.7 in December, 2.4 percentage points below the November reading of 61.1. Any reading above 50 indicates growth in the manufacturing sector which has recorded 19 straight months of growth going back to the spring of 2020 when the pandemic hit. The December reading was the lowest since a matching 58.7 in January 2021. The slowdown in December reflected a decline in both new orders and in production. While the December performance still reflected strength in manufacturing, there were concerns that the current global surge in COVID-19 cases, largely the highly infectious omicron variant, could further depress manufacturing in coming months.

Companies will test whether the U.S. can regain some of the manufacturing output it ceded in recent decades to China and other countries, the New York Times reported. That question has been contentious among workers whose jobs were lost to globalization. But with the supply-chain snarls resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, it has become intensely tangible from the consumer viewpoint as well. Some corporate giants are keen on testing that premise, if not for finished goods then certainly for essential parts. General Motors disclosed in December that it was considering spending upward of $4 billion to expand electric vehicle and battery production in Michigan. Just days later, Toyota announced plans for a $1.3 billion battery plant in North Carolina that will employ 1,750 people.

A record 4.5 million American workers quit their jobs in November, a sign of confidence and more evidence that the U.S. job market is bouncing back strongly from last year’s coronavirus recession, the Associated Press reported. The Labor Department also reported Tuesday that employers posted 10.6 million job openings in November, down from 11.1 million in October but still high by historical standards. Employers hired 6.7 million people in November, up from 6.5 million in October, the Labor Department reported Tuesday in its monthly Jobs Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Nick Bunker, research director at the Indeed Hiring Lab, noted that quits were high in the low-wage hotel and restaurant industries. “Lots of quits means stronger worker bargaining power which will likely feed into strong wage gains,″ he said. “Wage growth was very strong in 2021, and ... we might see more of the same in 2022.″ Still, the Labor Department collected the numbers before COVID-19′s omicron variant had spread widely in the United States. “While each successive wave of the pandemic caused less economic damage, there is still a risk to the labor market from the current surge of cases,″ Bunker said. The job market is rebounding from last year’s brief but intense coronavirus recession. When COVID hit, governments ordered lockdowns, consumers stayed home and many businesses closed or cut hours. Employers slashed more than 22 million jobs in March and April 2020, and the unemployment rate rocketed to 14.8%.

Bowlski’s in El Jebel, Colo., declared bankruptcy on Sunday but will keep its lanes open and the beer flowing as it works to reorganize its debts under chapter 11, according to co-owner and operator Craig Spivey, the Aspen Times reported. “It really comes down to the back rent we owe from during COVID” Spivey said Tuesday. “We’re current with everybody else, but we’re behind on our rent for when we closed during COVID.” Spivey was yesterday about the future of the bowling alley, which opened in 1992 under the ownership of the Stecklein family. Spivey and other investors acquired the El Jebowl business — but not the building — in 2016. While they changed the alley’s name to Bowlski’s, El Jebowl LLC is the corporate name for the business. The bankruptcy case is in its early stages, and a telephonic meeting of creditors is scheduled Feb. 7, according to court documents. The company’s bankruptcy petition lists Bowlski’s assets between $50,001 and $100,000 and its liabilities (the amount it owes to creditors) between $100,001 and $500,000. A summary of those liabilities, which identifies the creditors and the amount owed to them, had not been filed as of 5 p.m. Tuesday.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Adam Aron made his New Year’s resolution public Monday: he’d like to see the movie theater chain cut burdensome interest costs his company racked up during its dramatic pandemic rescue, Bloomberg News reported. “In 2020 and early 2021, AMC took on debt at high interest rates to survive,” Aron tweeted Monday. “I’d like to refinance some of our debt to reduce our interest expense, push out some debt maturities by several years and loosen covenants.” AMC paid more than $320 million in interest on its borrowings in the nine months through Sept. 30, according to company regulatory filings, up from about $219 million in the same period in 2019. Like other companies hit hard by Covid, the theater operator nabbed several rounds of emergency financing to help stave off bankruptcy after the pandemic took hold in the U.S. The company later caught the attention of fanatical equity bulls on Twitter and Reddit, who sent the stock surging to closing levels as high as $62.55 last year. The dramatic equity comeback allowed the company to cut borrowings and shore up liquidity by selling shares. But the company still has debt with double-digit coupons outstanding. Aron didn’t elaborate on how AMC would look to refinance its debt, tweeting only that “There is no guarantee of success, but we will try very hard to get this done. We are always thinking of creative ways to make AMC’s future more secure.”

Philippine Airlines Inc. received approval to tap $150 million in additional financing and plans to cut its debt by $2 billion, after winning approval last month from a U.S. court for its reorganization plan, Bloomberg News reported. “There are immense challenges ahead, but we look forward to tackling them as a reinvigorated Philippine Airlines, better positioned for strategic growth to continue serving our customers,” President Gilbert Santa Maria said in an emailed statement Friday. The flagship carrier, majority owned by billionaire Lucio Tan, is one of several to enter debt restructuring in the U.S. Aeromexico and Colombia’s Avianca Holdings have both sought court protection in New York. Philippine Airlines received the go-ahead from the court after its reorganization plan didn’t face any major opposition from debt holders. The airline has the option to obtain up to $150 million in additional financing from new investors, it said in the statement. It had already been given permission to access $505 million worth of equity and debt financing to help it meet obligations.