What's News in Markets: Warner Bros. Discovery Breakup, Smucker Sinks, Boeing Woes - What's News
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Francesca Fontana: Hey listeners, it's Saturday, June 14th. I'm Francesca Fontana for The Wall Street Journal, and this is What's News in Markets. Our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Let's get to it. The stock market started the week on a high note as trade talk optimism fueled gains in the S&P 500. And midweek, investors were digesting data suggesting that the US economy may be getting closer to an interest rate cut. Friday was a different story, Israel's attack on Iran and Iran's retaliation sent stocks dropping on fears of a wider conflict. While the broader indexes were down, there were sectors that rallied, energy stocks followed oil prices higher, and defense stocks like Lockheed Martin gained. On a weekly basis, all three major indexes ended lower. The Dow fell 1.3%, the S&P 500 lost 0.4%, and the Nasdaq ended down 0.6%. If you are familiar with the big TV streamers, you probably have gotten a good chuckle at all of the jokes and memes that came out after HBO Max's latest renaming. Now it's Max. Nope, now it's HBO Max, back and forth. Now it's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery through another curve ball our way. A few years after AT&T's Warner Media Division and Discovery combined forces, the resulting entertainment giant is now splitting up. On Monday, the company announced that it plans to separate into two publicly traded companies. One will house its cable networks like CNN and Discovery, and the other will contain its HBO Max streaming service, its movie studio and its television production business. This split undoes much of that 2022 merger, which ended up being pretty tumultuous. Several 1000 employees have been laid off over the last three years, and the company has worked to cut costs and manage the staggering debt that it took on to close the deal. So how did investors react to the breakup? Well, Warner Shares ended 3% lower on Monday, but still ended the week up 2.1%. Next up, J.M. Smucker, you may know it for its jellies and Jams, didn't have a very sweet quarter. In its latest earnings report, the company which also makes products like Folgers Coffee and Jif Peanut Butter, posted lower fourth quarter sales and swung to a loss. Its fiscal year outlook also missed Wall Street's forecast. The company has been struggling with coffee inflation and shoppers weak appetite for snacks. We're talking about my two major food groups here today, coffee and treats. Anyway, the company said that while coffee sales increased in the fourth quarter, its business is contending with record costs. And its Hostess brand is on weak footing as shoppers spend less on snacks and tighten their budgets. Smucker said it plans to raise prices for coffee again in August, following an increase back in May. And the company aims to boost Hostess's performance through simplifying the product lineup and reducing costs. Smucker shares ended up plummeting 16% on Tuesday, and the stock notched a weekly loss of about 14%. Finally, let's talk about Boeing, the jet maker has been recovering from a spate of recent crises, including when a fuselage panel blew off an Alaska Airlines plane mid-flight early last year. And then on Thursday there was the deadly crash in India, the Boeing 787-8 carrying 242 people on an Air India flight to London crashed shortly after takeoff killing all but one passenger as well as people on the ground. As of Friday, more than 260 people were confirmed dead. This accident marred the safety record of one of Boeing's best-selling jets. Amid its recent struggles, Boeing has faced massive financial losses, production delays, and regulatory scrutiny. Boeing shares fell 4.8% on Thursday and ended the week down 5%. And now you know what's news in markets. This week you can read about more stocks that moved on the week's news in The Score, my column in The Wall Street Journal's Exchange section. Today's show was produced by Zoe Kuhlkin, with supervising producer Tali Arbel. I'm Francesca Fontana. Have a great weekend and I'll see you next Saturday.
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