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.
Coronavirus Infects Market Mood
The coronavirus outbreak that dominated market headlines all week shows no signs of abating. The death toll continues to climb into the hundreds, with the number of confirmed cases clearly set to pass 10,000 worldwide. The World Health Organization on Thursday declared the outbreak a global emergency, with Britain, Russia, Italy and the UAE the latest countries to report cases of the illness, and the U.S. reporting its first case of person-to-person transmission. The outbreak hit market sentiment, causing the Dow to erase its early-year gains as the developments continued to unfold. Investors fled to safe-haven assets, spurring gold to highs not seen in months. Among the big losers were airline stocks, so heavily dependent on people willing to put up with close proximity to fellow humans in an enclosed environment. Shares of Delta and United both hit their lowest point in weeks, as an ever-growing list of airlines suspend their flights to China. Delta and American Airlines Friday announced will suspend remaining service to and from China.
UK Finalizes Its Divorce
On Friday, the UK took a collective deep breath and stepped away from the EU, finalizing a torturous divorce nearly four years in the making. Still, it's not entirely over yet ー the UK now enters a transition period where Britain will try to negotiate a trade deal with the EU ー as well as charting out a course for deals with other countries like the U.S. and China. In the meantime, nothing changes for travelers flying to or from the UK.
Boeing's Big Bad Quarter
Boeing's blues extended to its quarterly results as the planemaker posted a loss of $636 million, marking its first annual loss since 1997. Boeing continues to grapple with the worldwide grounding of its 737 Max jets following two fatal crashes. About those planes: In a CNBC interview, the company's new CEO, David Calhoun, reiterated the same timetable it notified airlines of last week: the Max could fly again by the middle of this year. Meanwhile, former Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg also resigned from the board of heavy equipment maker Caterpillar, weeks after he was finally fired by Boeing over the Max crisis.
Super Bowl Spending
It's Super Bowl Weekend, and that means the ads are bigger, flashier ー and more expensive than ever. A 30-second ad spot during the big game is running companies upwards of $5.6 million this year. But before you deep-pocketed Cheddar readers get out there and splurge, our own Michelle Castillo points out that you can buy ad spots a little cheaper by negotiating bulk buying deals or settling for a fourth-quarter slot. And you'll be jostling for a spot between two dueling political ads: Both the Bloomberg and Trump campaigns have dropped $11 million ー each ー on 60-seconds of placement.
Altria Needs To Quit Juuling
Altria's investment in Juul may go down as one of the most ill-advised in recent corporate history. The Richmond, Virginia-based cigarette giant is taking another charge on its Juul investment to the tune of $4.1 billion in fourth-quarter writedowns. This comes after a $4.5 billion charge also related to Juul. Meanwhile, rival cigarette maker Philip Morris International shut the door for good on merger talks with Altria.
