The cyclosporiasis outbreak linked to lettuce at some Taco Bell locations may not have a significant long-term impact on the chain and other restaurant companies, according to analysts.

The outbreak has currently affected more than 1,600 people across five states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The infection resembles a serious stomach bug and often begins showing up two to three weeks after people become infected by the parasite, according to the CDC. No deaths have been reported.

On Thursday, the agency said its investigation into the source linked the outbreak to shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is working with the supplier to determine if the lettuce was sent elsewhere, as well.

Taco Bell’s parent company, Yum Brands, saw its stock sink nearly 7% over the past five days as the company grappled with the health scare. Other food companies that sell fresh lettuce also saw their shares drop, like salad chain Sweetgreen, which plunged nearly 13% this week, and fast casual chain Cava, which sank more than 3%. Shares of Sweetgreen and Cava rose more than 17% and about 2% on Friday, respectively, due to apparent relief that the CDC did not identify their ingredients as potential sources of cyclosporiasis.

While Taco Bell or other restaurant chains may take a temporary sales hit as headlines about the outbreak swirl, particularly in the states most affected by it, analysts said any dips in revenue or stock prices likely will not be prolonged. Even so, it remains to be seen whether the CDC identifies any other restaurant chains as possible sources of the outbreak.

According to reports, the affected lettuce at Taco Bell may be traced back to supplier Taylor Farms, which distributes the product to many restaurant chains and sells directly in most grocery stores. Other media reports noted the company was preparing to issue a recall of ingredients on Friday.

Taylor Farms, the same company linked to the McDonald’s E. Coli outbreak in 2024, said in a Friday statement that it has removed all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico. The company added that none of its branded salads or kits are associated with the outbreak.

“While the FDA traceback is indicating a specific independent farm, which represents less than 1% of the U.S.’s iceberg lettuce supply, as the potential source of the outbreak, we have removed all iceberg lettuce from the region indefinitely,” the company said.

Taco Bell said in a Thursday statement that the fast food chain is actively working to “voluntarily remove potentially impacted lettuce from a supplier in select states.”

“The affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in…

President Donald Trump on Monday morning rang the opening bell of the stock market from the White House Oval Office in a first-of-its-kind joint ceremony with the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq.

The event marking the launch of “Trump Accounts,” the administration’s new tax-advantaged investment vehicles for U.S. kids, was attended by an array of CEOs and other officials who are supporting the new accounts.

They include: Dell chief Michael Dell and his wife, Susan Dell, who together pledged to donate more than $6 billion to the program; Brad Gerstner, Altimeter Capital and CEO and founder of the Invest America charitable foundation, which pushed for the accounts; Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeffrey Sprecher; Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins; and NYSE President Lynn Martin.

“This makes real the promise of the American dream, not for some but for everybody,” Gerstner, a major proponent of the accounts, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” before the event.

The Trump Accounts, which are available for all children age 18 or younger, include a one-time $1,000 pilot program contribution from the U.S. Treasury Department for babies born from 2025 through 2028.  

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, arriving at the White House before the opening bell, called the accounts potentially “life changing.”

This is developing news. Please check back for updates.

As people around the world tune into this summer’s World Cup, some of the brands generating the most buzz aren’t even official sponsors of the tournament.

The list of official sponsors for this year’s World Cup, hosted in cities across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, include global household names like Adidas, Coca-Cola and Qatar Airways.

But even before the tournament began, the spotlight fell on companies like Levi Strauss & Co., Taco Bell and Texas-based convenience store chain Buc-ee’s. Some have garnered traction on social media for their creative marketing strategies, while others have benefited from organic customer response with the influx of international players and fans.

McDonald’s celebrated the tournament with limited-time menu items and cups. Taco Bell leaned into a new campaign to support fans in celebration or support depending on the outcome of a match.

According to marketing research firm WARC Media, advertising spending on this year’s World Cup tournament is expected to reach $10.5 billion. That’s just below spending for the 2018 World Cup, hosted by Russia, which totaled roughly $12.6 billion.

Market intelligence firm Sensor Tower told CNBC that World Cup advertising spend increased 42% week over week in the days leading up to the first game. The firm tracked that Taco Bell and Duracell have both increased their advertising spend in the past few weeks, though the top 10 World Cup advertisers by spend over the past three months have been sponsors or broadcast partners of the event.

According to market research firm Meltwater, in the ramp-up to the World Cup, non-sponsor brand collaborations generated nearly double the engagement of official sponsors, reaching roughly 61 million engagements versus just 33 million.

The firm told CNBC that while sponsored advertisements led in volume, distribution and creative quality helped propel non-sponsors to higher engagement, with the most social media engagement coming from TikTok.

Since the tournament began, non-sponsor brands have surpassed 57,000 mentions on social media versus just over 43,000 for official sponsors, the company said.

“A big takeaway from this World Cup is that you don’t need an official sponsorship to own the cultural moment anymore,” Meltwater CEO John Box told CNBC. “The brands that will win the next tournament aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets, but instead the ones who are set up to see what’s trending in real time, the creativity to connect it back to your brand, and the speed to act before the moment passes.”

Shares in Broadcom rose 3.7% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the chip designer announced it would produce future versions of artificial intelligence chips for Google, and signed an expanded deal with Anthropic.

The latter deal will give the AI startup access to about 3.5 gigawatts worth of computing capacity, drawing on Google’s AI processors and providing some relief for the share price.

Broadcom stock has endured a tough start to 2025, falling almost 10% year-to-date as investors have become increasingly jittery around the bull case for technology stocks. It has also been caught up in the maelstrom of the wider market caused by the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran that began on February 28. 

The drift downwards comes despite a blowout earnings report in March, during which CEO Hock Tan touted strong future demand for the company’s chips.

He told analysts last month that he anticipates AI chip revenue in 2027 that’s “significantly in excess of $100 billion” as demand mounts for designing custom silicon.

Analysts remain bullish following Monday’s announcements. 

“The deal includes revenue commitments across that timeline, which should help ease some of the recent nervousness around TPU competition and give a clearer signal that its largest customer sees meaningful demand visibility well into the future,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. 

“We already saw upside to medium-term revenue and profit expectations off the back of recent results; these new deals help underpin that idea if deployment ramps as planned.”

Citi analysts maintained their ‘Buy’ rating for the stock, backing Broadcom to surpass its $100 billion revenue target to more than $130 billion off the back of the Google deal. 

— CNBC’s Jordan Novet also contributed to this report.

“Value” was the buzzword du jour for restaurant executives that lasted all year — and it will likely stick around in 2026, too.

Over the last year and a half, diners, particularly those who make less than $40,000 a year, have been eating out less frequently and spending less money when they do. Higher costs, like rent and child care, have put pressure on consumers’ wallets. Plus, uncertainty about the economy, President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs, layoff fears and immigration crackdowns have all hurt their willingness to spend.

As diners strain under pressures on their wallets, restaurants, takeout and food delivery is the category where discretionary spending is most likely to fall, according to the EY-Parthenon U.S. Consumer Sentiment Survey. Nearly a quarter of respondents said that they would first cut spending on eating out, ahead of entertainment, travel and home maintenance.

It’s no surprise, then, that data from Black Box Intelligence shows that traffic to restaurants open at least a year fell every month this year through November, with one exception: July. That month, guest count ticked up 0.1%.

To win back a shrinking pool of diners, restaurants have responded by doubling down on efforts to offer diners more “value.” In the fast-food segment, that means combo meals and value menus.

For casual-dining chains, value has translated into appetizer deals, marketing that compares the narrowing price gap with fast food, and a focus on the in-restaurant experience. And fast-casual chains have responded by emphasizing their quality while trying to stay away from the so-called value wars.

“This is the most intense discount environment since the Great Recession,” Cava co-founder and CEO Brett Schulman said on the company’s earnings conference call in November.

To understand the industry’s evolving value strategy, look no further than McDonald’s, the largest U.S. restaurant chain by sales and often a bellwether for the consumer economy.

The burger giant briefly became the poster child for higher fast-food prices in 2024, leading the company to make a rare public rebuttal against social media posts claiming that its prices had more than doubled since 2019. But that didn’t stop consumers from viewing its prices as too high, which put the company on the defensive. In 2024, it launched a $5 value meal in the U.S. in a bid to attract the low-income consumers who had been cutting back on their visits.

As the value gap closed between casual-dining chains like Chili’s and fast-food restaurants, McDonald’s and its peers haven’t benefitted from the spending pullback the way they typically would when consumer spending falls, according to Moody’s analyst Michael Zuccaro.

This year, McDonald’s further stepped up its emphasis on value. It extended the $5 value meal months longer than expected and added a buy one, get one for $1 deal for select…