Power lines are shown Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Houston. More than 4 million people in Texas still had no power a full day after historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures created a surge of demand for electricity to warm up homes unaccustomed to such extreme lows, buckling the state's power grid and causing widespread blackouts. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
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.
RALLY CHECK
A year ago this week, U.S. equities reached the top of their longest-ever bull run… just before the gathering coronavirus crisis spilled over into global markets. Markets have again been reaching new highs, fueled by cheap money, but the stocks ended the week mixed on Friday with the Dow up less than a point and the S&P dropping 0.2 percent, its first losing week in the last three. This was all despite optimism that more government stimulus is on the way and COVID cases in the U.S. keep plummeting, down some 75 percent in the last six weeks. On the negative side, atrocious weekly jobless claims showed another 861,000 workers filed for unemployment in the week prior.
TEXAS ENERGY CRISIS
Investors mostly shrugged off the deepening energy crisis in Texas after blackouts caused by the historic deep freeze that shut refineries across the state. The commodity analytics firm Kpler estimates as much as 40 percent of U.S. crude output may have been forced offline due to the storm. Gas prices, already on the rise, are forecast to spike 10 to 20 cents in the next two weeks, though crude prices had started falling by Friday as more production came back online. The price of natural gas and propane has skyrocketed in the last week, and that will soon be felt in the form of higher home heating costs.
GAMESTOP HEARING
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev apologized during congressional testimony for the decision to pause trading in stocks like GameStop, calling the extreme volatility in that stock a black swan event that was impossible to prepare for. Keith “Roaring Kitty” Gill of Reddit fame also testified and made a bullish case for why he and other day traders rallied behind that stock. (His testimony actually had the effect of sending $GME shares higher in real-time, before they pared those gains). On the other side, the founder of Melvin Capital, the hedge fund that bet against GameStop, defended his firm’s short position. No immediate policy outcomes resulted from the marathon hearing, and more testimony is expected in the coming weeks.
PAYING FOR NEWS
The standoff between Big Tech and news publishers took one major step toward conciliation and then one major step back in the span of just a few hours. Google and News Corp announced a landmark deal in which Google will make a “significant payment” to the parent company of Fox News, the NY Post, and the WSJ to license its journalism on Google’s platforms in the U.S., UK, and Australia. That’s widely considered to be a win for media companies that have long said they’re giving away their content for free on the search engine. Then Facebook said it would start restricting users and publishers in Australia from sharing links to news articles in response to a proposed law that would require tech giants to pay publishers to link to their stories. Facebook has said that law is simply unworkable on the open internet and acted accordingly — though conversations between the company and Australian lawmakers are set to continue as other countries prep for similar legislation.
BITCOIN BULLS
The price of Bitcoin soared past $50,000 for the first time, and it hasn’t stopped. The digital coin is up 80 percent so far this year. The rally has been helped along by new institutional interest in crypto — big names like Mastercard and Morgan Stanley warming to the idea of digital currencies not backed by governments — but the sustained rally also suggests that some of the same retail investors that powered Bitcoin’s last bull run in 2017 are coming back, buying and holding the asset for the long run.
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.
