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Here are the top 10 stock market moving headlines of the past week.
10. Peloton Earnings, CEO Transition: Peloton Interactive (NASDAQ:PTON) reported second quarter revenue of $1.13 billion, up 6% year-over-year. The company reported it ended the second quarter with 2.77 million connected fitness subscribers, up 66% year-over-year. The connected fitness segment saw revenue drop 8% year-over-year. Fewer unit sales and lower prices on sold items were also reported for the second quarter.
Along with earnings, Peloton made headlines for announcing that CEO John Foley was stepping down and being replaced by Barry McCarthy, the former CFO of Spotify Technology (NYSE:SPOT) and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX). McCarthy got quite the welcome when fired Peloton employees crashed his first company meeting.
Peloton was circulated as a buyout target throughout the week, with rumored companies interested in the interactive fitness platform, including Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE).
9. Disney Earnings: Media giant Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) saw shares shoot higher after reporting first quarter financial results. The company reported first quarter revenue of $21.8 billion, up 34% year-over-year and ahead of a consensus estimate of $18.6 billion.
Disney’s parks, experiences and resorts segment had revenue of $7.2 billion, up over 100% year-over-year. This was the second consecutive quarter of this segment having year-over-year growth of 99% or more.
The company’s Disney+ streaming platform ended the quarter with 129.8 million subscribers, up 37% year-over-year. Overall, Disney had 196.4 million subscribers across its multiple streaming platforms.
8. Twitter Earnings: Social media platform Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) reported fourth quarter revenue of $1.57 billion, up 22% year-over-year. The company ended the fiscal year with 217 million monetizable daily active users, up 13% year-over-year. Analysts were happy to hear the company announcing a share buyback, but have many remaining questions.
7. Uber Earnings: Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) reported quarterly earnings and hosted an investor day during the trading week. The company reported revenue of $5.78 billion, up 83% year-over-year. The total came in ahead of consensus estimate earnings.
Shares of Uber were halted Thursday as the company presented its outlook at its investor day. The company turned a profit for the first time as a public company in the fourth quarter and offered a plan for more growth and profits going forward.
6. Affirm Leaked Earnings: Buy now, pay later company Affirm Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:AFRM) saw shares trade with high volatility and halt after the company accidentally released quarterly earnings early via a tweet from their official Twitter account.
The company reported second quarter revenue of $361 million, up 77% year-over-year. The company reported that it added around seven million active consumers to its network in the last 12 months. The company also reported it has enabled 168,000 merchant partners.
5. Zendesk Earnings: Software company Zendesk Inc (NYSE:ZEN) reported fourth quarter revenue of $375.4 million, up 32% year-over-year. The total came in ahead of street consensus estimates of $369.8 million. The company reported earnings of 16 cents per share in the quarter, missing a street estimate of 18 cents.
The company also rejected a private equity buyout offer and did not share many details on the reason why.
4. Cryptocurrency Ads at Super Bowl LVI: Several cryptocurrency companies are airing commercials during Super Bowl LVI, a first for the sector. Crypto.com, FTX, Bitbuy and Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) will air commercials during the big game. Binance has a Super Bowl themed ad campaign that will give away NFTs. FTX is giving away Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) during the Super Bowl, based on the exact time their Super Bowl commercial airs.
3. Bitcoin Hack: The U.S. Department of Justice is charging Heather Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein for their reported role in the hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016. The pair is said to have stolen $4.5 billion in Bitcoin. The government has seized $3.6 billion of the total.
The story was widely covered by the investing and cryptocurrency industries, with many circulating the past history of the pair, including an aspiring rap career by Morgan. TikTok videos and YouTube videos from Morgan covered Bitcoin, Ethereum and even investing in GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME). Morgan also was a contributor to Forbes Women, writing articles on becoming a successful YouTuber and ironically enough, tips on how to protect your business from cybercriminals.
2. SpaceX Event: An event held Thursday featuring Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk highlighted the space company’s plans for its starship to reach orbit this year. Musk said SpaceX plans to receive approval from the Federal Aviation Administration in March. Musk highlighted the reusability plans by SpaceX and success rate of past missions. Musk also offered his take on what’s to come for Earth.
“Eventually, the sun will expand in a few hundred million years and destroy all life,” Musk said. “It is very important that we become multiplanetary species and ultimately even go beyond the solar system.”
1. January Inflation/CPI Data: The Labor Department reported a 7.5% increase in the Consumer Price Index for the month of January in a report presented on Thursday. This marked the fastest inflation growth since 1982. Analysts had forecasted CPI to rise 7.2%. Core inflation excluding food and energy prices was up 6% in January. U.S. wages were up 5.7% year-over-year in January.