The Week's Top Stories is a guided tour through the biggest market stories of the week, from winning stocks to brutal dips to the facts and forecasts generating buzz on Wall Street.
POWELL ON INFLATION
Hot off a blockbuster jobs report, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during a public appearance this week that inflation still had a long way to go. The comments helped temper hopes that easing inflation might lead the Fed to pull back on rate hikes sooner rather than later, which likely fueled some of the bearish sentiment over the past five days. With that hot jobs report hanging over markets, the next inflation report will be eagerly anticipated to see if the deflationary trend accelerates or prices pick back up, giving credence to the Fed's caution.
UBER PULLS AHEAD
It was a week of contrasts for the two biggest ridesharing companies. Shares of Lyft melted down around 30 percent after an earnings report showed it falling behind rival Uber. Lyft's first quarter outlook showed that it would have to lower profits to keep pace with Uber's fare prices. “This is obviously not the level of growth, profitability we are aiming for or capable of,” Lyft CEO Logan Green told investors. “And we are laser-focused on driving additional growth and managing costs.” Uber, meanwhile, boasted surpassing two billion rides globally.
DISNEY LAYOFFS
Shares of Disney rose and then fell this week after the entertainment giant announced plans to lay off 7,000 workers, cut $5.5 billion in costs, and reorganize the company into three business units, all in a bid to increase profitability. The initial rally came after CEO Bob Iger said Disney was trying to reinstate its dividend, which was suspended during the pandemic. But other headwinds helped knock the share back down into the red. In addition to macroeconomic challenges, the company's Disney+ streaming service lost 2.4 million subscribers — its first-ever drop.
ROBINHOOD REVIVAL
Robinhood's stock is down around 6 percent this week after missing Wall Street estimates on its latest earnings report, even as it showed a 5 percent jump in net revenue. The board also approved the purchase of 55 million shares, or 7.6 percent of the company, from disgraced crypto executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who bought them in 2022. The company is working closely with the Department of Justice, which seized the shares earlier this year, on the transaction.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
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.
