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.
MARKET SLIPS
Stocks overall had a rough week despite a boost on Friday. The S&P managed to end up for the fifth straight week. While there were plenty of earnings beats and the weekly unemployment claims dropped to a new pandemic low, investors seemed to be wary of ongoing COVID-19 news and President Biden's announcement that his administration would pursue a capital gains tax hike to help pay for increased government spending on economic recovery.
CHIPOTLE EARNS
The fast casual Mexican cuisine franchise shook up Wall Street this week, meeting revenue expectations of $1.74 billion but also beating estimates on adjusted earnings per share with $5.36 versus the expected $4.89. Despite the sizzle coming from sales and digital growth, there still seemed to be a lack of heat for the restaurant's stock as it fell for the week.
STREAMING WARS
One would think revenue growth year-over-year of 24 percent would be a cause for some celebration, but in the high stakes streaming wars, the feat couldn't overcome the massive miss on new subscriptions. Instead of the six million customers that were expected to sign up to Netflix, the streaming giant saw just four million new accounts, a miss bad enough to hammer the stock in what was practically a straight line plunge on Wednesday. Meanwhile, streaming rival HBO Max's parent company AT&T had an entirely opposite experience on Thursday with its stock rocketing upwards on strong earnings, revenue, and growing subscription base.
APPLE EVENT
House of Mac unveiled quite a lot during its Spring Loaded event on Tuesday, including new iPad and iMac models that will feature its homegrown M1 processors, the AirTag item trackers that will allow you to use your iPhone to find lost objects you've tagged, and even a new season of Ted Lasso on Apple TV+. Investors certainly didn't hate what they see as the stock kept chugging along, up 0.55% for the week.
AIRLINES TAKE OFF
American and Southwest Airlines both announced that leisure bookings were up and that the carriers are planning on increasing the number of flights this summer in anticipation of air travelers returning as more people get vaccinated. American saw a smaller loss in the past quarter than in the previous four and saw its stock price get a bump on Friday. Southwest saw the first profit for a major airline during the pandemic and got a stock price jump on Friday to boot. Still, both carriers were down for the week overall.
Wealthfront’s CFO Alan Iberman talks the $2.05B IPO and the major moment for robo banking as the company bets on AI, automation, and “self-driving money."
A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction. Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen handled the bidding Thursday. The auction's house website lists the bottle as not sold. It was expected to fetch up to around $93,000. It is one of 12 bottles made to celebrate the royal wedding. Little was revealed about the seller. The auction house says the bids did not receive the desired minimum price.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
OpenAI has appointed Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue. Dresser will oversee global revenue strategy and help businesses integrate AI into daily operations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently emphasized improving ChatGPT, which now has over 800 million weekly users. Despite its success, OpenAI faces competition from companies like Google and concerns about profitability. The company earns money from premium ChatGPT subscriptions but hasn't ventured into advertising. Altman had recently announced delays in developing new products like AI agents and a personal assistant.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
