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 SHINES
Apple hit a market value of $3 trillion and became the first company ever to close out the day at that sky-high benchmark. Citi gave the stock a Buy rating on Thursday and Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities says the tech giant has potential to bump that up to $4 trillion in two years as consumers upgrade their iPhones. Apple was the first company ever to hit $3 trillion back in January 2022, but dropped below that before the end of the trading day and took more than a year to regain that position. Apple ended the week up 3 percent.
OVERSTOCK BECOMES BBB
Bed Bath & Beyond is back…sort of. Overstock.com bought bankrupt company's intellectual property and has decided to change its own name to Bed Bath & Beyond. But why? Overstock.com CEO Jonathan Johnson told Cheddar News, "We've morphed over the last couple years to be 100% home company. The name Overstock, I think, was creating some headwind as people associated us with liquidation goods or something else. This I think will be a better name to truly represent what we are: we're an online home furnishings and furniture company and Bed Bath & Beyond says just that." Overstock stock ended the week up a whopping 35 percent.
TESLA DOWNGRADES
For the second week in a row, Tesla stock faced downgrades from Wall Street bigwigs. On Monday, Goldman Sachs said it expects the EV leader to start falling from its pedestal as competitors step up their electric game…and at much lower prices. Still, the automaker stayed strong and pulled off a recovery on Wall Street by the end of the week, landing up about 5 percent (and 26 percent over the last month).
SAVERS VALUE VILLAGE
The IPO craze has been on ice since the pandemic, but that didn't stop discount chain Savers Value Village from shooting its shot on Wall Street. And boy, did it work out for them. The stock opened Thursday 38 percent higher than its IPO price, landing the company a $4 billion market cap. From the floor of NYSE, CEO Mark Walsh told Cheddar News the raise will largely go to paying off debt, noting the business has strong cash flow that it will use to grow.
AIRLINES FLYING HIGH
Airlines stocks had a good week as we hit the summer travel season in earnest. Fuel prices are low, ticket sales are high, and this is spelling big money. The good news for investors comes even as some airlines race to hit a July 1 deadline to make all planes 5G compliant or risk the chance that non-compliant planes will no longer be allowed to land in risky weather. Since the beginning of the year, United is up 47 percent, Delta is up 45 percent, American is up 40 percent, JetBlue is up 36 percent…need I go on?
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
Starbucks’ AI barista aims to speed service and improve experience. Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune Business Editor, explains its impact on workers and customers.
As Big Tech reports Q3 earnings, investors await proof that massive AI and cloud investments from Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet are driving real growth.
Eric Trump joins us to discuss American Bitcoin’s mission, market strategy, and why he believes the U.S. must lead the next era of digital currency innovation.
