The Toyota bZ4X displayed at the Philadelphia Auto Show, Friday, Jan. 27, 2023, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
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.
FED PAUSE
It was a jam-packed week for macro-economic developments. First, the consumer price index showed inflation continuing to slow, rising a meager 0.1 percent month-over-month and 4 percent from 12 months ago. Also, the Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at about 5 percent, pausing a tightening cycle that began in early 2022 — even as it said that at least two more rate increases are in store for this year.
HEALTH SHOCK
UnitedHealth Group's stock plunged on Wednesday after the health insurer revealed that a spike in surgeries was pushing up costs. The stock fell 6.4 percent, one of its biggest decline ever. Chief Financial Officer John Rex blamed the cost increases on "pent-up demand" from the elderly, who put off surgeries, such as knee replacements, during the pandemic. The sell-off was a drag on the rest of the stock market, though the major indexes bounced back before the end of the trading week.
CAVA SOARS
The IPO market has been relatively quiet since the most recent bull market took hold, but the Mediterranean restaurant chain Cava breathed some life back into it this week with a blockbuster debut. The stock skyrocketed 117 percent on Thursday, closing above $43 per share and giving the company a market cap of nearly $5 billion. The chain started in 2006 and entered the emerging fast casual market in 2011, bolstered by other brands such as Chipotle Mexican Grill. Cava's sales shot up nearly 13 percent in 2022.
TOYOTA TOPS OUT
Toyota Motor's stock shot up 10 percent this week, marking the automaker's best week on Wall Street since 2009, after it disclosed plans for a next generation of electric vehicles. The stock usually doesn't make such large moves, but the latest news restored confidence in the company's EV strategy, which was previously criticized for lacking ambition compared to rival firms. The first line-up of new EVs will launch in 2026.
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
Climate change doesn’t just mean more extreme weather – it also leads to billions of dollars in lost productivity, tourism, and stresses infrastructure.
It’s an annual tradition: the Fed’s banking ‘stress test.’ A year after the regional banking crisis, there are good reasons to make sure they’re prepped.
Summer is upon us, which means weddings, trips overseas, and trips to see Taylor Swift. Avoid a “Cruel Summer” with these budget-friendly tips and tricks.
While Nvidia's meteoric rise led it to briefly dethrone Microsoft as the world's biggest public company, there's a lot more going on in this market than A.I.
