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.

S&P 500 Spites Inflation

Inflation worries have been gnawing at the markets in recent weeks, along with how Fed policy might proceed based on its rise. The sticker shock on consumer prices in May ranged from household furnishings to food costs. However, news that inflation jumped to 5 percent in May, coupled with a slight miss on the downward trending jobless claims, seemed to bounce off of the major indexes to some degree. While the Dow Jones Industrial dipped, the Nasdaq hit positive territory for the week, and the S&P 500 closed with its third straight weekly gain at/above records.

Game Stopped

The meme stock roller coaster for the now household name GameStop climbed high once again — and then plunged sharply from its Wednesday high. Counterintuitively, the video game retailer posted earnings beats before the decline. Naming former Amazon execs Matt Furlong and Mike Recupero as its new CEO and CFO respectively also didn't stave off the fall. Largely, this was attributed to the announcements that the company filed to sell five million more of its shares and had received a request on May 26 for documents and information from the Securities and Exchange Commission related to a probe into GameStop trading activity. The other Reddit darling, AMC, dropped this week, and a surprising array of meme stocks from Clover Health to Wendy's were a mixed bag.

El Salvador's All-In on Bitcoin

After making headlines at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele made good on his promise to send a bill to Congress that would make bitcoin legal tender alongside the U.S. Dollar in the Central American country. The bill went further than many expected, however. In addition to allowing citizens to pay debts in bitcoin, they can express prices in bitcoin, pay taxes in bitcoin, and use bitcoin as a form of payment at any merchant in El Salvador. Now countries across Latin America are going forward with their own proposals in what's shaping up to be a region-wide race to embrace the leading cryptocurrency. 

IPO Blockbusters

Chinese ride-hailing giant Chuxing Technology Co. released its IPO papers this week in preparation for an offering in July that could fetch as much as $70 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. This would make it the largest IPO of all time, in a market where investors are already ravenous for new offerings. The news came after a busy week for IPOs of all stripes. 1stDibs.com, an online marketplace for furniture, started trading Thursday and ended the day with a market value of $7.8 billion. Katapult, a fintech company in the "buy now, pay later" space, hit markets via a special purpose acquisition company; and Monday.com, a work-management software maker, popped 15 percent from its offer price.

Biogen's Alzheimer's Drug Approved

However it's pronounced, aducanumab (branded as Aduhelm), an Alzheimer's drug developed by Biogen in partnership with Japan’s Eisai Co., broke through the FDA's drug approval program — to the surprise of the independent advisory body who had warned against doing so. The panel noted that data showing efficacy for treating the degenerative brain disease was debatable, and three of its members resigned following the approval notification. Trading of Biogen shares had halted last Friday prior to the news, and the stock climbed abruptly on Monday staying near $400 a share for the rest of the week. The treatment, the first new Alzheimer's drug in nearly two decades, also comes with an eye-popping annual list price of $56,000.

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‘Chainsaw Man’ anime film topples Springsteen biopic at the box office
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.
Flights to LAX halted due to air traffic controller shortage
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 defense workers on strike in the Midwest turn down latest offer
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.
FBI’s NBA probe puts sports betting businesses in the spotlight
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.
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