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.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
