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.
APPLE POWER
The stock market rallied on Friday after Apple reported its quarterly earnings, which showed a decline in revenue but solid iPhone sales. The stock rose 5 percent, buoying the rest of the market, with some help from the latest job report as well. The U.S. economy added 253,000 jobs in April and the unemployment dropped to 3.4 percent, despite reports of layoffs across industries and continued fears of a recession. The rally comes just two days after the Federal Reserve announced a quarter-percent rate hike as expected, with many expecting the central bank to now ease up on tightening. Still, the labor market staying tight could change that.
BANK STOCKS RALLY
Regional bank shares also rebounded at the end of the week. Shares of struggling banks such as PacWest and Western Alliance jumped 81 and 49 percent respectively. Bank stocks had dropped precipitously in recent sessions, as investors braced for more bank failures. Data indicating strength in the economy helped temper those fears, and bank stocks rose accordingly. Shares of First Horizon were also up, despite its recent announcement that a planned merger with TD Bank was collapsing. Relatedly, JPMorgan earlier this week agreed to purchase the ailing First Republic bank.
FORD EARNINGS
Ford, meanwhile, benefitted from the rally, but nonetheless is down for the week due in part to a mixed earnings report. The automaker posted strong first-quarter revenue and profit, as demand for trucks and SUVs remains robust, but had a less optimistic outlook for the year in response to continued losses in its electric vehicle unit. This doesn't bode well for the ongoing EV transition, but Ford has warned previously that the division could see losses for the foreseeable future.
RIDESHARE FIRMS DIVERGE
Shares of Uber are up more than 17 percent for the week after the rideshare giant reported strong earnings and a 29 percent jump in revenue. At the same time, shares of Lyft tanked 16 percent, as investors responded to a dim outlook for the coming year.
Walmart is one of the latest companies looking to adapt to the emerging digital economy by possibly establishing its own cryptocurrency. The retail giant filed at least seven applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, including one for blockchain assets.
Inflation in the U.S. is only getting hotter. The 12-month inflation rate for December 2021 was the highest in nearly 40 years - continuing the trend seen at the close of 2021.
The Consumer Price Index increased 7% in the 12-month period ending in December, marking the fastest increase since 1982. Scott Wren, Senior Global Market Strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, joined Cheddar's Movers for more.
Bitcoin plunged below the $40,000 mark on Monday, hitting its lowest price since September. The world's most valuable cryptocurrency has had months of hot and cold streaks, and the latest drop now has investors wondering just what 2022 will have in store for bitcoin and the crypto space as a whole. Ben McMillan, CIO at IDX Digital Assets, joined Cheddar Movers to discuss.
You could be seeing more electric delivery vans on the road soon. Walmart and FedEx have inked deals with GM's all-electric brand BrightDrop to add thousands of vehicles to their fleets. Walmart has reserved 5,000 vans for the first time, while FedEx is expanding an initial order of 500 vehicles. Michael Zimmerman, partner and head of logistics at Kearney, joined Cheddar to discuss what this means for the electric vehicle market moving forward.
After nearly a century, General Motors is no longer the top-selling automaker in America. Toyota has dethroned the long-reigning champ to become the leader in U.S. auto sales for the first time, and the first non-domestic automaker to take that title. The Japanese automaker outsold GM by about 114,000 vehicles, or 5% more, in 2021. Al Root, senior writer for Barron's, joined Cheddar to discuss the meaning behind these numbers.
This year's worldwide semiconductor shortage limited the supply of everything from new cars to smart phones.
Looking ahead, several experts in the chip industry expect the shortage to continue deep into 2022, and maybe even 2023. Syed Alam, Accenture's Global Semiconductor Lead, joined Cheddar Movers to discuss.
