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.
MARKETS
Wall Street is seeing a record-setting run — although it sometimes didn’t look like it from day to day. The Nasdaq hit a fresh record on Tuesday, spurred by tech stocks. After days of will-they-won't they, markets received a boost by the end of the week, driven by comments from President Trump that both sides were once more very close to a deal, saying "We have a very good chance to make the deal." But a word of caution to eager investors: this is the same line the Trump Administration has been repeating for weeks ー and comes as the House prepares to draft articles of impeachment against the president.
TRUMP'S APPLE FACTORY TOUR
President Trump took a tour of an Apple Mac Pro manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas, personally guided by none other than Apple CEO Tim Cook. On its face, the meeting was part of a Trump Administration showcase of companies manufacturing in the U.S. ー but between the lines, presented a good chance for Cook, who has become a de facto envoy to the White House on trade issues, to personally lobby for an exemption from crushing U.S tariffs on Chinese goods. Those efforts were not wasted ー at the end of the meeting Trump said, "We'll look into it."
On the trade war front, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China wants to work out an initial trade deal with the U.S. and hopes to avoid a trade war. Xi also added that China is not afraid to retaliate when necessary.
RETAILERS REPORT EARNINGS
A big week of earnings provided another picture of what is becoming a tale of two retail sectors. Target shares skyrocketed after the big-box retailer reported earnings that blew past expectations ahead of the critical holiday shopping season and came on the heels of a strong quarter from rival Walmart. Target beat on the top and bottom lines and showed eye-popping same-store sales growth of 4.5 percent. The company has been in the midst of a transformation of sorts, spending heavily on e-commerce, delivery logistics, and store renovations. And it's clearly paying off. Target CEO Brian Cornell said in a conference call that the quarterly earnings show "further proof of the durability" of that investment decision. On the other side of the ledger, perennially struggling department stores Macy's and Kohl's both cut their profit projections, while Nordstrom beat its estimates. Now all eyes turn to the end-of-year push that will begin in earnest with Black Friday. The market research firm eMarketer is predicting this could be the first trillion-dollar U.S. holiday shopping season.
STADIA'S MUTED LAUNCH
Google launched its new, highly anticipated Stadia game streaming service this week. It was a strangely muted launch ー but then again tsunamis also look like ripples in the middle of the ocean. The concept behind it is simple: Stadia streams the video game to a TV, smartphone, or even a Chrome browser. Your controller commands are sent back through the internet to a Google Stadia server in the cloud, which acts as your console and does all the heavy lifting. All this means console-quality gamingーwithout a console, disc or cartridge.
Other companies have taken a shot at game streaming, but with largely dismal results. The problem is twofold: game streaming needs powerful and ubiquitous servers to run the games and users with fast internet connections at home. Still, the early reviews of Stadia were mixed, with some complaining that Stadia only works well with a super-fast internet connection and others noting various glitches and reports of the service going down intermittently. Stadia launches with a limited library of 22 games and a price tag of $130 for a “starter kit”, three months of free service, and then $10 a month after that ー and most games will be extra.
TESLA KEEPS ON TRUCKIN'
The Tesla Cybertruck is finally hereーand it's even weirder than expected. The wedge-shaped, all-electric pickup was revealed by CEO Elon Musk late Thursday evening, instantly polarizing opinions around the Cheddar newsroomーand throughout the world. It even boasts what Tesla calls an armor-grade exoskeleton, even capable of withstanding small arms fire right out of the factory. A note on that durability: Musk goaded Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen into an impromptu on-stage test ー one that ended with two smashed windows on the truck. "We'll fix it in post," said Musk.
But looking beyond the angular, "ultra-hard" exterior, the Cybertruck packs real power under the hood (or is that under the chassis?), at least according to Musks's presentation. He claims it is both faster off the line and has more towing power than the Ford F-150, the market leader in a segment of the auto industry that has become a profit engine for Detroit. The Cybertruck will be priced at just a hair under $40,000, with a higher-end model expected that can reportedly hit 60 mph in 2.9 seconds, tow 14,000 pounds, and go an unprecedented 500 miles on a single charge. Of course, whether Tesla can deliver on all these claims is another question. The Cybertruck won't start production until 2021.
