Big Business This Week 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.
BINANCE BITCOIN FALLOUT
Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, agreed to a nearly $4 billion settlement over violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and apparent sanctions programs violations. On top of that, founder Changpeng Zhao stepped down as CEO after he pleaded guilty to failing to prevent money laundering. The fallout was immediate for Bitcoin, which fell 5 percent on Tuesday. It clawed back the losses by the end of the week, ending the week up nearly 1 percent. Bitcoin is up nearly 128 percent from where it was a year ago.
BIG EGG SCRAMBLED
A jury found this week that some of the biggest U.S. egg producers were engaged in price-fixing that drove up costs for years. While the price of eggs has made headlines since the pandemic, the complaint was actually filed by manufacturers back in 2011 and the jury found the price-fixing was happening from 2004-2008. Companies like Kraft Foods Global and The Kellogg Company had accused the egg companies of limiting supply in order to drive prices up. Damages will be determined next week. While several of the named organizations are not publicly traded, Cal-Maine Foods' stock dropped on the news, ending the week down 4 percent.
BEST BUY
Even though Black Friday sales have been going on for weeks, the holiday shopping season began in earnest on Friday. Shoppers often head to Best Buy to purchase popular electronics for their loved ones, but this year the retailer doesn't expect a banner season. During its earnings call on Monday, it announced shoppers are pulling back, a trend seen in a number of retailers. The stock dropped off on the news, but came back strong, ending the week up 3 percent.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE BIG 3
While the deals struck for autoworkers after a six-week strike will change the lives of thousands of workers, we're beginning to see the repercussions for the companies. GM announced that for the first time in four years it will not advertise during the Super Bowl as it tries to rein in fixed expenses. This week Ford announced it will scale back plans for an electric battery vehicle plant in Michigan due to a change in market conditions. Building was put on hold during the strike.
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.
