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.
This November, Philips Norelco is partnering with Movember® in the United States and Canada to urge men to tackle health issues that are right under their noses. Brett Bardsley, Category Leader, Philips Grooming & Beauty, and Dr. Jake Taylor MD, MPH, Chief Urology Resident at NYU Langone Health, join None of the Above to break down how this partnership is more than just growing & grooming a Mo all month long, what men should know about their own mental and physical well-being, and the impact Philips continues to have as a global health technology company supporting men’s health programming and delivering meaningful innovations.
Learn more about how to get involved at Philips.com/Movember
Stocks fell into the red on Wednesday after new data heightened fears over inflation. Vince Lorusso, Co-Founder and portfolio manager at Changebridge Capital, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell where he says recent history suggests investors to buy the dips.
Food delivery giant DoorDash is acquiring European food delivery company Wolt. The all-stock deal is valued at $8.1 billion and is expected to close in the first half of 2022. The companies say they share a mission to build a global delivery platform. Gerber Kawasaki investment advisor Eva Agi joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what the deal means for Doordash, as well as its customers and investors.
Identity verification startup Socure recently raised $450 million dollars in a series E round, bringing the company's valuation to $4.5 billion. Socure says it is now the highest-valued private company in the identity verification space, and that the funds will be used to accelerate its mission to verify 100% of good identities and eliminate identity fraud across all industries. Socure Founder and CEO Johnny Ayers joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
On Tuesday, an Oklahoma court overturned a ruling in a case against Johnson & Johnson for liability in the opioid crisis, and on Wednesday a North Carolina judge put a pause on the thousands of lawsuits accusing the company's baby powder product of containing cancer-causing asbestos. Elizabeth Burch, a professor at the University of Georgia school of law, joined Cheddar to break down the legal results that the pharmaceutical giant had long been hoping to get.
