The Week's Top Stories: Crypto, Roku & Hong Kong Exod

From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that rocked the markets and had investors, business leaders and entrepreneurs talking about Cheddar this week.

CRYPTO FIGHT

Another week, another wild ride for the biggest cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin's price continued to decline on Monday, trading below $ 49,000 after a big loss weekend. The leading cryptocurrency pulled back mid-week, but has since dropped back to $ 48,000. Ether and other altcoins also slipped, along with major meme currencies such as Dogecoin and Shiba Inu. At first, the cryptocurrency selloff seemed to be following a broader downturn in the stock market, but the major indices have since rebounded from what looks like an omicron-induced wobble. The latest CPI figures showed a 6.8 percent jump on inflation from a year ago, but since the numbers were close to expectations, markets went ahead with earnings for the week on Friday.

HONG KONG EXODUS

Several China-based publicly traded companies have announced plans to list on the Hong Kong stock market, as the Securities and Exchange Commission moves forward with new rules that allow it to exclude foreign companies that do not comply with the audit requirements. But the transition is proving painful for some outgoing companies. Social media giant Weibo saw its shares drop 7 percent during its Hong Kong debut this week. The drop came immediately after shares in ride-sharing company Didi fell 20 percent after it announced. plans to remove from list in the US and moving to Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Alibaba, which is already listed on both markets, had one of its best days in months after announcing plans to reorganize its trading division.

EUROPE VS GREAT TECHNOLOGY

Europe is on the path of antitrust warfare. Just a week after a UK regulator ordered Meta (formerly Facebook) sell the Giphy GIF database, arguing that the acquisition hurt consumers, Italy's antitrust authority on Thursday fined Amazon a whopping $ 1.3 billion for leveraging their dominance of the market versus independent sellers. Despite coming on the heels of a massive cut At Amazon Web Services, however, technology stocks, valued at nearly $ 3,500, held up.

ROKU + GOOGLE MAKES AMENDMENTS

In a last-ditch effort to repair their relationship before a major breakup, Google and Roku struck a multi-year agreement to keep the YouTube and YouTube TV apps on the streaming platform. The problem started when Roku complained that Google's distribution terms were anti-competitive. Google responded by saying the claims were unfounded. It's unclear at the moment if either party got away with it, but apparently someone decided it was worth burying the ax to keep customers happy. Shares of Roku appeared 18 percent in the news on Wednesday and closed nearly 14 percent for the week.

PORTABLE GAMES

GameStop, everyone's favorite video game / meme retailer, is struggling to execute the turnaround strategy promised by its newly hired executives. The company's shares fell 4 percent on Wednesday after a third-quarter earnings report showed its losses rose to $ 105.4 million from $ 18.8 million a year earlier. Mediocre earnings aside, the retailer beefed up its inventory last quarter to avoid supply chain issues this holiday season. The stock was low on Friday.

CLEAR LOSSES

Lucid Motors, which is considered by many to be the most viable challenger for Tesla in the electric vehicle market, had a rough start to the week as shares plunged nearly 20 percent on news that the SEC had subpoenaed the company as part of an investigation. in the SPAC agreement that made it public earlier this year. The luxury electric vehicle maker said it is cooperating with the agency, but investors were still spooked by the stock's fall of nearly 6 percent for the week. This is not the first time the SEC has investigated an electric vehicle company for its transactions with SPAC. Others include Nikola, Canoo, and Lordstown Motors.

The Week’s Top Stories: Crypto, Roku & Hong Kong Exod