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.
BLOOMIN' BOOMING
Stock of Bloomin' Brands jumped on Friday when activist investor Starboard Value acquired a 10 percent stake in the company. Bloomin' Brands, the parent company of chains like Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, and Bonefish Grill, hit a profit in Q2, and investors are clearly interested in what Starboard has to offer. Previously it helped overhaul Papa Johns and Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden, among other brands. Bloomin' Brands ended the week up 11 percent.
WEWORK REVERSE STOCK SPLIT
Last week we told you WeWork is again on the brink of bankruptcy. This Friday the company announced it will do a 1-for-40 reverse stock split after the New York Stock Exchange issued a notice on its low trading. The stock had an average close below a dollar over a 30-day stretch. WeWork stock closed the week down 38 percent.
NEW PAYPAL CEO
On Monday, PayPal announced its new president and CEO. Alex Chriss of Intuit will join the board in September and will take over the digital payments giant at the end of the year after CEO Dan Schuman retires. PayPal ends the week down 4 percent.
AUTO WORKERS VOTE
Next week nearly 150,000 auto workers will vote on whether to authorize a strike. United Auto Workers is pushing to negotiate a new contract with automakers, but the union says it's slow-going with less than a month before the current deals with GM, Ford and Stellanis expire.
COINBASE CRYPTO FUTURES
Coinbase says it has received the go-ahead to trade crypto futures. Earlier this summer, it was sued by the SEC, which alleged it was operating like an unregistered securities exchange. Now Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., says it has approval from the National Futures Association that will bring it into compliance. It was good news for investors; Coinbase stock shot up after the announcement on Wednesday, but still ended the week down 8 percent. Of course this news comes during a week when the granddaddy of all crypto, Bitcoin, hit the skids, losing 10 percent with a valuation of $26,185.90 for a single bitcoin by the close of the week.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
