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.
Jobs Bust
The August jobs report turned out to be a total fail. Economists were expecting 725,000 but the actual number of jobs added last month was just 235,000. President Joe Biden blamed the COVID-19 delta variant outbreak for the blow to job growth, hitting sectors like travel and hospitality that tend to shut down when the pandemic flares up. Biden urged Congress to pass his economic plan, saying "Our country needs these investments." Markets opened slightly lower after the report came out and stayed that way to end the week.
Carnival Anchored
Speaking of hits to the travel market, Carnival had a particularly tough week. The cruise line sank to be the worst performer in the S&P 500 Friday after the jobs report was released. A day earlier it had to cancel the first four sailings on the iconic Queen Mary 2 flagship of the Cunard brand because it wants to keep trips closer to home when starting back up nearly two years after the pandemic began. Now the first sailing is scheduled for late November, and the first trips from U.S. shores will take off right before Christmas. Carnival ended the week down 6.8 percent.
Zoom Gloom
Zoom stock fell off a cliff after releasing its quarterly earnings report Monday. Not only is growth slowing as people return to real, live actual offices, but it's facing tougher competition from the likes of Microsoft and Google. Don't count the stock out yet, though. It's not like the video conferencing behemoth is losing money — revenue was still up 54 percent year-over-year. It's just a far cry from the triple-digit jumps investors got used to seeing. ARK Invest CEO Kathie Wood still appears to be a believer, buying more than $50 million worth of Zoom stock after it plunged.
Amazon-Affirm Boost
Affirm announced late last week that it is bringing its buy-now-pay-later Amazon. As you can imagine, placement on the world's largest ecommerce site sent Affirm's stock soaring more than 40 percent when markets opened on Monday, though the gains trailed off by the end of this week. Amazon also got a 2 percent bump on the news.
GameStop to the S&P 500?
Could GameStop — the original memestock — be headed back to the S&P 500? By value, it would make the grade, but it's unclear whether or not the anonymous committee that decides on how to rebalance the index will agree it deserves a place among the corporate elite. According to the Wall Street Journal, the committee has quite a bit of leeway in making these decisions, and some requirements, which GameStop may or may not meet, including positive earnings over the past four quarters. The video game retailer was dropped from the 500 back in 2016.
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.
U.S. sports betting is booming as NFL and college football fuel massive activity. BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt breaks down trends, growth, and what’s next.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
Disney's changes to a program for disabled visitors are facing challenges in federal court and through a shareholder proposal. The Disability Access Service program, which allows disabled visitors to skip long lines, was overhauled last year. Disney now mostly limits the program to those with developmental disabilities like autism who have difficulty waiting in lines. The changes have sparked criticism from some disability advocates. A shareholder proposal submitted by disability advocates calls for an independent review of Disney's disability policies. Disney plans to block this proposal, claiming it's misleading. It's the latest struggle by Disney to accommodate disabled visitors while stopping past abuses by some theme park guests.
With a merger this big, creators, studios, and theaters all face uncertain futures. Here’s what experts are worried about and what good could come from it.
With disengagement rising and hybrid work shifting, 'Everybody Matters' author Bob Chapman explains why treating people well could define the future of work.
We sat down with Ali Furman, U.S. Consumer Markets Industry Leader at consulting firm PwC to ask what trends she garnered from the initial data this year.
