Walmart, Goldman Sachs, Amazon.com: Stocks That Defined the Week
February 19 2021 - 6:55PM
Dow Jones News
By Francesca Fontana
Walmart Inc.
Walmart hopes to put a smiley face on more than 400,000 of its
workers. On Thursday, America's largest private employer promised
to raise hourly wages to an average above $15 for its U.S. workers
in digital and stocking roles. Its minimum starting wage for those
workers remains $11 an hour, while rivals Amazon.com Inc., Target
Corp. and Best Buy Co. pay U.S. workers a starting hourly wage of
$15. Walmart shares lost 6.5% Thursday.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Goldman Sachs is bringing its investing expertise to the masses.
The elite Wall Street firm is set to unveil Marcus Invest, a
low-cost digital platform that allocates and automatically
rebalances individuals' wealth across portfolios of stocks and
bonds based on the models developed by its investment-strategy
committee. Goldman has historically targeted wealthy clients with
more than $10 million in assets for its wealth-management services,
while the account minimum for Marcus Invest customers is just
$1,000. The new platform will be tucked into Goldman's existing
Marcus consumer-banking app and website, which also offers savings
accounts, unsecured personal loans and budgeting software. Goldman
Sachs shares gained 1.8% Tuesday.
Marriott International Inc.
The man who built Marriott into a global colossus died Monday.
Arne Sorenson was the first person outside the founding family to
head the hotel company. A Lutheran missionary's son who was born in
Japan and grew up in Minnesota, Mr. Sorenson became CEO of Marriott
in 2012 and continued to serve in the role after he was diagnosed
with stage 2 pancreatic cancer in May 2019. Marriott prevailed over
rival bidders in 2016 with its $13 billion acquisition of Starwood
Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., creating a giant with 30
brands including Ritz-Carlton and Sheraton. Marriott shares added
0.7% Tuesday.
Verizon Communications Inc.
Warren Buffett is making a big new bet on the telecommunications
industry. The billionaire's conglomerate purchased $8.6 billion in
stock in Verizon Communications Inc., the largest U.S. mobile
carrier. Berkshire Hathaway also purchased $4.1 billion in the oil
company Chevron Corp. The investments show Berkshire's confidence
in the long-term value of these traditional U.S. corporations and
their respective industries, despite short-term struggles. In 2020,
Chevron had its worst year since 2016, and Verizon's fourth-quarter
profit fell after it reported higher costs and added fewer new
customers than usual. Verizon shares gained 5.2% Wednesday.
Amazon.com Inc.
New York state is taking Amazon to court. State Attorney General
Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the online retail giant on
Tuesday, accusing the company of not doing enough to protect its
New York workers from the coronavirus. Ms. James's suit claims that
Amazon failed to comply with state cleaning and disinfection
requirements at its facilities, nor did it adequately notify
employees of infected co-workers. Last week, Amazon sued Ms. James
in an attempt to stop New York from taking legal action against the
company over its handling of worker safety during the pandemic and
the firing of one of its warehouse workers last year. Amazon.com
shares rose 1.2% Wednesday.
NXP Semiconductors NV
Chip makers are powering down their Texas factories due to the
winter storm. The state has asked semiconductor companies such as
NXP Semiconductors and Samsung Electronics Co. to shut down
operations in Austin to help conserve energy during the
catastrophic weather hitting parts of the South. The conditions
left millions of Texans without power for days, and the outages
prompted local officials to ask companies to reduce operations to
minimize demand on the region's power grid. The factory disruptions
come at a critical time for the chip industry, which already faces
a shortage due to surging demand during the pandemic. NXP shares
fell 2% Thursday.
GameStop Corp.
Lawmakers want answers on what drove the wild rally in
GameStop's shares last month. On Thursday, top executives of
Robinhood Markets Inc., Reddit Inc. and others faced questions from
the House Financial Services Committee about their roles in the
saga. The short squeeze, during which a group of online traders
helped send shares of the videogame retailer surging before the
stock crashed, led to questions about the market's integrity and
set off federal probes into possible market manipulation. Robinhood
Chief Executive Vlad Tenev used his oral testimony to apologize to
customers for suspending GameStop trading during the frenzy, and
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said that activity on his company's
social-media platform during last month's trading craze was "well
within normal parameters." GameStop shares fell 11% Thursday.
Write to Francesca Fontana at francesca.fontana@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 19, 2021 19:40 ET (00:40 GMT)
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