The Week's Top Stories is a guided tour through the biggest market stories of the week, from winning stocks to brutal dips to the facts and forecasts generating buzz on Wall Street.
RATE HIKE READY
At the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the U.S. should prepare for more interest rate hikes. The Fed has implemented a pretty steady stream of increases since March 2022 when it was near zero to 5.4 percent, the highest it has been in 22 years. The inflation rate has dropped significantly during that period, from 9.1 percent to 3.2 percent, but it's still too far above the target rate of 2 percent for the Fed. Employment levels have remained strong throughout this period. The real estate seems to have taken the brunt of the impact, with mortgage rates hitting a new 22-year high average of 7.23 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate.
UPS AVOIDS STRIKE
There was good news for online shoppers this week: UPS struck a deal with workers that will avoid a strike. In the five-year deal, the shipping giant has agreed to increase and standardize pay, end forced overtime on drivers' days off, and add air conditioning to more trucks. The same cannot be said for the United Auto Workers union at the moment. This week autoworkers overwhelmingly voted to allow union leaders to call a strike if negotiations with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis don't start making some serious headway before the current contract expires on September 14.
DOLLAR TREE CHALLENGES
Dollar Tree has plenty of work on its hands. Its earnings report released this week beat Wall Street expectations, but the stock sunk as the company reported a difficult economy ahead. The discount store chain, which also owns Family Dollar, cited theft as a major issue. This week, Dollar Tree also received an order from the Labor Department giving it two years to turn around institutional failures that have created safety concerns in stores throughout the country. The company will have to figure out what is causing stores to do things like block emergency exits and stack boxes to dangerously tall heights - and then figure out how to fix it in all locations.
NVIDIA SOARS ON AI
Nvidia revealed an incredible quarter in this week's earnings report. The computer chip giant made nine times more revenue than it did a year ago, largely thanks to the AI companies that are relying on its technology, and it expects to triple sales this quarter. The news sent the stock up 6 percent - just another milestone for the stock which has tripled in value this year.
PELOTON PLUNGES
Peloton stock dropped more than 20 percent on Wednesday after the company admitted it is struggling to keep up with demand for replacement seat posts that were recalled over safety concerns. While riders are without functional bikes, 20,000 of them have paused their subscriptions, which is a critical part of the company's business plan. In a letter to shareholders, President and CEO Barry McCarthy also noted consumers seem to be turning more toward travel and experiences, which is tough for a stay-at-home bike company.
The American Red Cross has declared its first-ever "national blood crisis" in the United States. Since COVID hit the U.S. in March 2020, blood donations have declined by 10 percent. American Red Cross Medical Director, Dr. Baia Lasky joined Cheddar News to discuss the country facing the worst blood shortage in over a decade. Dr. Lasky noted that as much as 40 percent of Americans are eligible to donate blood but only about 4 percent do so. "This is going to be ongoing," she said. "This is not an acute shortage. We really do need the commitment of people to come out and donate and donate again." Appointments to donate can be made by using the Red Cross Donor App, at RedCrossBlood.org, or calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
On this episode of ChedHER: Co-Founder of VC firm CaJE breaks down how she's creating a new era of venture capital and empowering Black women with 'soil' funding to start and grow their businesses; AYO Foods Co-Founder discusses how the brand is bringing West African cuisine to the frozen food industry and building a grocery aisle her daughters can be proud of; Chief Marketing & Customer Experience Officer at Chase Auto talks her experience being a woman of color in the auto industry, and why transportation is so important to financial freedom.
Renée Horne, chief marketing and customer experience officer at Chase Auto, joins ChedHER to discuss her experience being a woman of color in the auto industry and why transportation is so important to financial freedom.
Perteet Spencer, Co-Founder of AYO Foods, joins ChedHER to discuss how the brand is bringing West African cuisine to the frozen food industry and building a grocery aisle her daughters can be proud of.
Crystal Etienne, Founder and CEO of period apparel company Ruby Love and Co-Founder of VC firm CaJE, joins ChedHER to discuss her experience bootstrapping her company to $10 million, and how she's creating a new era of venture capital and empowering Black women with 'soil' funding to start and grow their businesses.
E-commerce platform for construction and building materials RenoRun has raised $142 million in a Series B round, which the company says is the fourth largest Series B round in Canadian history. RenoRun’s platform offers same-day delivery of construction materials to job sites in Canada and the United States. The company aims to revolutionize the construction industry by maximizing productivity and efficiency. RenoRun co-founder and CEO Eamonn O’Rourke joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Like so many other cities, Miami experienced a tourism boom over the summer after vaccines were distributed. But, the Omicron variant has thrown the travel industry for a loop. David Whitaker, president and CEO of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, joined Cheddar to discuss the city as a tourist destination, and how it has handled headwinds from the pandemic.
Rockstar Energy, a subsidiary of Pepsico, unveiled its new beverage brand, Rockstar Unplugged, changing up the energy drink formula with hemp seed oil as an ingredient. PepsiCo Energy CMO Fabiola Torres joined Cheddar News to talk about how the product promotes “good vibes” and allows consumers to unwind and discuss partnering with "MTV Unplugged" for a concert series. "We couldn't find a better partnership that MTV," she said. "MTV Unplugged has been such an iconic proposition … and we believe that we're the right partners because the insight of our proposition for Rockstar Unplugged comes from music.
Eight months after the National Football League announced $1 million in research into cannabinoids, the NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee has awarded the funding to two teams of medical researchers at the University of California San Diego and the University of Regina. The NFL says the studies will investigate the effects of cannabinoids on pain management and neuroprotection from concussion in elite football players, respectively. Cheddar correspondent Chloe Ailello spoke with Jeff Miller, the executive vice president of communications, public affairs, and policy for the NFL, about the studies, as well as the recent lawsuit filed against the NFL by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. "Maybe we can learn things from other alternative pain approaches that are going to benefit our player population and then sports medicine as a whole," Miller said.
