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.
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A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
