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.
RECESSION OUTLOOK
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) started the week off on a downbeat with a prediction that global growth will stick to around 3 percent, which would make the weakest medium term growth projection since 1990. It would also come in well below the 3.8 percent average of the past few decades. “With rising geopolitical tensions and still-high inflation, a robust recovery remains elusive,” said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
CINEWORLD CRASHES
Regal parent company Cineworld saw its stock plunge 36 percent earlier this week following the announcement of a reorganization plan that would not benefit shareholders. The movie theater chain previously said shareholders would take the hit from the bankruptcy process, but its latest announcement snuffed out any remaining hopes of being made whole through some kind of sales process. “The proposed restructuring does not provide for any recovery for holders of Cineworld’s existing equity interests,” Cineworld said in a statement.
WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY DROPS
Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery fell nearly 9 percent this week after the entertainment giant announced that it was renaming its streaming service from HBO Max to simply "Max." The new super-streamer will reshuffle the company's offerings under a single umbrella, bringing together programming from Warner Brothers, HBO, Discovery, Food Network, and HGTV. In addition to some misgivings about the rebranding, investors remain skeptical about the prospects for the conglomerate, which formed out of a merger completed in 2021.
BITCOIN RALLIES
Bitcoin is regaining some of its losses from the past year, as much of the crypto economy collapsed due to a combination of fraud, financial mismanagement, and regulatory pressure. The world's biggest cryptocurrency went above $30,000 for the first time in 10 months, a threshold it last crossed in June 2022. Short sellers have lost millions in the run up.
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.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug
The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down the agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal. Russell Vought is the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought directed the CFPB in a Saturday night email to stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalized but not yet effective, and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. The agency has been a target of conservatives since President Barack Obama created it following the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
Jeff Benedict, author of 'The Dynasty,' weighs in on the Kansas City Chiefs being the next big dynasty, who he thinks will win Super Bowl LIX and more. Watch!
