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.
MEMESTOCK: TUPPERWARE
Something funny happened on the way to the kitchen this week. Stock for legacy brand Tupperware, which had been struggling mightily to remain on the New York Stock Exchange as it dipped below a dollar, started to rise. And up it went, climbing more than 260% in the last month. It seems memestock investors have made it the new golden child. Even with the meteoric rise from where it had been, the stock is still down 33 percent since the beginning of the year.
BIG TECH
One of these things is not like the other…Meta and Alphabet stocks shot up after the companies released their earning reports this week. Ad dollars are flowing once again to the biggest tech companies and it's showing in their profits. On the other hand, Microsoft tumbled despite a strong quarter as investors were concerned about a slower ramp-up in artificial intelligence than expected. Next week, we'll round out the Big 4 tech giants when Apple releases its report. At the end of the week Meta was up 10 percent, Alphabet was up 9 percent, and Microsoft was down 2 percent.
HIGH SEAS, LOW SKIES
The dichotomy was also seen in the travel industry. Royal Caribbean stock shot up after crushing expections in its earnings report; investors were expecting earnings of $1.58 per share but the actual number was $1.70 ($1.82 adjusted). The cruise liner says people are turning their spending from goods to experiences, and that has helped the vacation company immensely. Up in the air, worries about domestic air travel hit Alaska Airlines and Southwest with both reporting that travel is slowing, especially within the U.S. Royal Caribbean stock ended the week up 6 percent, but Alaska Air and Southwest were both down almost 9 percent.
FORD SLOWS DOWN
One of the big announcements coming out of Ford's earnings report is that the auto giant is pulling back on plans to crank out 600,000 electric vehicles this year. Now it says 2024 is when it expects to hit that annual number, but that also changes its plan to hit 2 million EVs by the end of 2026. Investors took note, sending the stock 4 percent for the week.
LOWER WAGE INCREASES = GOOD NEWS
A true Catch-22: a new report shows wage growth is slowing, which isn't great if you were hoping for a big raise this year, but is very good news for the economy because it could curb inflation. There was other good news on the inflation front this week (despite the Fed raising rates a quarter of a percent). In June, consumer prices rose at the slowest rate that we've seen in two years. During his press conference on Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said experts at the central bank are no longer forecasting a recession.
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.
