*From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.* * **Best January in 30 Years:** It was the best January for stocks in 30 years. After ending 2018 on a drastically down note, markets rebounded in the first month of 2019, with the Dow Industrials and S&P both rising more than 7 percent. The last time Wall Street saw gains like that in January was in 1989. Investors can largely thank the Fed. Just after the new year, Fed Chair Jerome Powell changed his tone on interest rate hikes to a more "wait and see" approach. He followed that up by keeping rates unchanged at Wednesday's meeting, in which the central bank also reiterated its new "patient" mantra. [Read more] (https://www.cheddar.com/videos/markets-surge-after-fed-leaves-interest-rates-unchanged). * **Jobs Blockbuster:** What government shutdown? Employers added 304,000 new jobs in January, handily beatings estimates of 172,000, despite the month being hampered by the partial government shutdown. Many economists believed the funding impasse would have caused a material impact on hiring, though it appeared to only affect the unemployment rate, which ticked up slightly to 4 percent as some of those furloughed government workers applied for unemployment benefits. January marked the 100th straight month of job growth. [Read more](https://www.cheddar.com/videos/blockbuster-jobs-report-shows-tax-cuts-are-working-stephen-moore). * **Facebook Beats:** Despite its long list of privacy scandals, Facebook ($FB) keeps growing. The social network reported an increase in daily and monthly active users that topped estimates, but it's the company's ability to continually beat revenue projections and grow nearly all user metrics in the face of negative press that most impressed investors. Facebook shares soared after it reported EPS of $2.38, blowing past the $2.18 estimate. Average revenue per user grew 19 percent from a year ago, and some-2.7 billion people worldwide now use at least one of the company's three platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. [Read more](https://www.cheddar.com/videos/facebook-shrugs-off-scandals-to-post-record-profit). * **Apple Worst Over?** That sound you heard this week was a collective sigh of relief from Apple ($AAPL) investors. The tech giant's earnings report was highly anticipated since CEO Tim Cook lowered revenue guidance just after the holidays, citing a slowdown in iPhone sales and blaming China for the slump. Cook did enough to lower expectations so that when the company slightly beat on earnings and revenue, investors responded favorably. EPS came in one cent above estimates, at $4.18, and revenue beat the revised target by a hair. Still, there were some areas for concern: Apple said iPhone revenue declined 15 percent over a year earlier, as more people hold onto their phones for longer, and sales in China plunged more than 25 percent. [Read more](https://www.cheddar.com/videos/apple-jumps-after-beating-revised-first-quarter-earnings-forecast). * **Amazon Fails to Impress:** The tech earnings didn't stop there. It was a gangbusters quarter for Amazon ($AMZN), which blew past expectations on EPS and revenue for the holiday quarter. But that wasn't enough to keep investors from focusing on the negative: it was the slowest quarterly growth for Amazon in three years. The e-commerce behemoth also lowered guidance for the current quarter and sounded an alarm over new regulations that just took effect in India, which are putting Amazon's operations in that country in flux. Amazon shares dipped back into bear market territory on Friday. [Read more](https://www.cheddar.com/videos/amazon-beats-earnings-and-revenue-estimates). *ーCarlo Versano*
