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.
KROGER'S CLOSURES
Kroger and Albertson's are moving closer to merging with news that they'll be selling 400 stores and a number of brands to C&S Wholesale Grocers, with several hundred more shops on the table down the line. This deal is worth about $1.9 billion and Kroger will be buying Albertson for $20 billion plus debt. Meanwhile, Kroger also announced in its latest earnings report that it'll take a $1.4 billion charge as part of an opioid settlement. Initially stocks dropped, but quickly rebounded to end Friday up 3 percent and wrap up the week in the black.
APPLE VS. CHINA
Apple stock dropped this week after reports that China banned government officials from using iPhones and phones from foreign brands. China did not confirm the reports, but investors were spooked since the country is a major market for Apple. The company's stock was down 6 percent this week, although fortunes could change in just a few days; Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 15 on Tuesday.
ROKU LAYOFFS
Roku shares are going up, but that isn't enough for about 360 people to keep their jobs. The streaming giant announced it will be cutting about 10 percent of its workforce to try and end a series of quarterly losses. The company began landing in the red after plenty of success during the Covid-era. Investors haven't seemed too concerned this year - the stock has doubled since the beginning of the year.
QANTAS CEO DEPARTS
The head of Qantas Airways announced he will be bumping up his retirement date after a series of damaging revelations about the company came to light. After 22 years with the company - 15 of them at the helm - Chief Executive Alan Joyce stepped down on Tuesday, two months earlier than planned. Among the issues making headlines recently was that the airline sold tickets on more than 8,000 flights after they had already been canceled, and failed to tell passengers in a timely manner that they would have to buy new tickets. We all know that the closer you get to your travel date, the more you have to pay, so customers were clearly outraged. The stock dropped 4 percent on the news Tuesday.
WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY CUTS OUTLOOK
The ongoing Hollywood actors and writers strikes are having an impact. This week Warner Bros. Discovery cut its outlook for the rest of the year and announced it could be on the hook for half a billion dollars because of the walkouts. The media giant owns a lot of household names in the entertainment industry, like HBO, TNT, and DC Comics, so the losses are great. The stock closed the week dow more than 11 percent.
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.
