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 CEILING FACEOFF
The effort to come to a compromise that would raise the national debt ceiling and avoid a cataclysmic national default appeared to make little headway this week. With a June 1 deadline looming, the Biden administration held a series of meetings aimed at carving out a compromise, but Democrats and Republicans remain at odds. Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office on Friday reiterated that the U.S. government was at a "significant risk" of defaulting in the first two weeks of June if a bill wasn't passed.
AI FRENZY
Shares of Google parent Alphabet got a boost this week after the company announced that it was integrating artificial intelligence features into its search engine. Investors and analysts interpreted the news as a sign that Google would stay at the forefront of the AI race, which is already generating enthusiasm on Wall Street. According to a report from Societe Generale, the AI craze is responsible for all of the gains on the S&P 500 this year.
FEELING BULLISH
Relatedly, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has officially exited bear market territory. Enthusiasm for AI explains part of the gains, but the index was also buoyed by a broader rebound in large-cap tech stocks, such as Microsoft, Apple, and Meta. Whether this bull market has legs, however, is one of the biggest questions facing Wall Street.
WOODSTOCK FOR CAPITALISTS
At Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting, known as "Woodstock for Capitalists," CEO Warren Buffett warned that the "majority of our businesses" would see lower earnings this year and noted that he's offloaded several bank stocks that had been in his portfolio for a quarter century after "spotting red flags." The 90-year-old also emphasized that he wasn't stepping down from Berkshire's board anytime soon.
DISNEY DIPS
Shares of Disney fell 9 percent on Thursday after the entertainment giant reported losing four million subscribers from its Disney+ streaming platform last quarter. Price increases helped offset some of that loss, but investors were actually expecting a gain of one million, and some analysts noted that raising prices is not sustainable long-term. Notably, Disney's streaming segment is still a net loser overall.
TYSON TUMBLES
Tyson Foods' stock plunged around 16 percent earlier this week following an earnings report that showed the meat processor squeezed by high animal and feed costs at the same time that poultry prices are tumbling. “Commodity prices for most fresh chicken cuts are much lower than last year,” CEO Donnie King told investors during an earnings call.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
