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.
DEBT DEAL
Congress has reached a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling, news that was well-received on Wall Street. The bill now heads to the desk of President Joe Biden, which raises the odds of the government avoiding a potentially catastrophic default. The good news from Washington, D.C., along with a stronger-than-expected jobs report, gave stocks a boost at the tail-end of the trading week.
AMAZON MOBILE
Telecom stocks dropped on Friday after Bloomberg reported that Amazon is in talks with wireless carriers to launch its own mobile service for Prime members. Amazon is said to be in talks with Verizon, T-Mobile, and Dish Network to potentially resell their mobile services to Prime members at a lower cost and even free in some cases. The report comes as Amazon tries to attract more members to its subscription service. However, it could take months for the companies to seal a deal. This wouldn't be the first time Amazon attempted to get into mobile. The company in 2014 launched its Fire Phone, which it scrapped a year later.
NVIDIA HITS $1 TRILLION
Just weeks after a massive rally, shares of Nvidia rose another 4 percent this week, pushing the chipmaker's market cap past the $1 trillion mark. The company is riding a wave of enthusiasm around the rise of artificial intelligence, and advanced semiconductor manufacturers are positioning themselves to benefit from increased adoption of the technology. Nvidia has also continued to boost investor expectations with a steady clip of announcements around new products and services. The stock was up nearly 4 percent this week.
TROUBLE AT C3
Another beneficiary of the AI boom has been C3.ai, which provides AI-based solutions to businesses. But now the company is facing pressure from a short-seller who is accusing C3 of inflating margins, engaging in "aggressive accounting," and for an overall lack of transparency. Billionaire CEO Tom Siebel is pushing back against the allegations, saying in a statement that it "appears to be a highly creative and transparent attempt by a self-acclaimed short seller to short the stock, publish an inflammatory letter to move the stock price downward, then cover the short and pocket the profits." The stock ended the day Friday down 7 percent but still rose 12 percent for the week.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
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.
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