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.
Sinead O’Sullivan breaks down Taylor Swift’s genius marketing for The Life of a Showgirl, which just set the record for most albums sold in a single week.
Markets are emerging from a turbulent Q3. Horizon’s Mike Dickson shares insights on interest rates, small caps, and where investors should look in Q4 and beyond
Bambu Ventures's Kyle Pretsch dives into Lemonaid’s $10M buyout, down from 23andMe’s $400M price tag, and what’s next after Chrome Co.’s dramatic pivot.
Former Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers learned all about technology’s volatile highs and lows as a veteran of the internet’s early boom days during the late 1990s and the ensuing meltdown that followed the mania. And now he is seeing potential signs of the cycle repeating with another transformative technology in artificial intelligence. Chambers is trying take some of the lessons he learned while riding a wave that turned Cisco into the world's most valuable company in 2000 before a crash hammered its stock price and apply them as an investor in AI startups. He recently discussed AI's promise and perils during an interview with The Associated Press.
Grove Collaborative’s CEO shares how the company is reinventing everyday goods with sustainability at the core and working toward a plastic-free future.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens shares plans for affordable housing, community-led growth, and why private and public grocery stores could be key to food equity.
Tesla reported a surprise increase in sales in the third quarter as the electric car maker likely benefited from a rush by consumers to take advantage of a $7,500 credit before it expired on Sept. 30. The company reported Thursday that sales in the three months through September rose 7% compared to the same period a year ago. The gain follows two quarters of steep declines as people turned off by CEO Elon Musk’s foray into right-wing politics avoided buying his company’s cars and even protested at some dealerships. Sales rose to 497,099 vehicles, compared with 462,890 in the same period last year.
