Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast, where we cover the top news for investors every morning.

Good morning. Thanks for being here on this Friday, May 22nd. I'm Julie Morgan.

The unofficial start to summer is here. With Memorial Day just days away, millions are preparing to take advantage of the three-day

weekend by traveling to see loved ones, make new memories, and unwind. AAA says more than 45 million

Americans will travel over Memorial Day, which is the highest total on record. However, the association

says year-over-year growth is less than 1%, which, by the way,

is the smallest year-over-year increase in more than a decade. But after the three-day weekend is over,

what's next? What are you planning to do to keep you busy this summer? Maybe it's something you

can't escape. Everyone from retail to hospitality is

getting in on this action. It hit me that FIFA World Cup 2026 was literally everywhere when I saw

Lego and Costco featuring multiple sets. You can also find the building blocks at places like

Coles and Target, and the most costly of which is the replica trophy,

which will set you back about $200.

The soccer tournaments that will last more than five weeks

kick off in just under 21 days on June 11th.

Three countries, 16 host cities,

48 teams, and 6.5 million fans in stadiums across Canada, Mexico, and the United

States. In the U.S., those cities include Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City,

Los Angeles, Miami, the combined metro of New York and New Jersey, Philadelphia, Seattle,

and the San Francisco Bay Area.

So what kind of return is anticipated for such an event? The American Hotel and Lodging Association noted earlier this month that a new report warned that the World Cup Hotel boom

may fall short of expectations. The FIFA World Cup 2026 Hotel Outlook found that anticipated

...