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.
Nvidia reported a 56% increase in second-quarter revenue and a 59% rise in net income compared to a year ago.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claims audiences don't want to watch Netflix movies in theaters, but that seems not to be the case recently.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
