Top 10 Stock Market Moving Headlines From Last Week: Zynga Deal, Tesla Accepts Dogecoin, Nancy Pelosi ETF, Inflation And More

Benzinga debuted a new show on its YouTube channel one week ago. The show features the top ten events of the previous trading week.

Here are the top ten stock market moving headlines of the past week.

10. Retail Sales Dip: The markets traded lower on the week on the heels of retail sales dropping 1.9% in December. Sales excluding automobiles and gas fell 2.5% in the final month of last year, which is the largest decrease since February 2021.

9. Big Banks Report: Friday marked an important day for quarterly earnings in the world of banking with JPMorgan Chase JPM, Wells Fargo WFC and Citigroup Inc C all reporting. The three large banks turned in revenue figures that beat analysts’ estimates. Banking giant Bank of America BAC reports quarterly earnings next week, which could continue to draw attention to bank stocks.

8. Virgin Galactic Shares Fall: Space tourist company Virgin Galactic SPCE saw its shares fall on news of a proposed convertible senior notes offering. The company announced it intends to offer $425 million in convertible senior notes due in 2027. The private offering will raise funds to help with the company’s working capital as it accelerates its spacecraft fleet.

7. AMC CEO Sells Shares: A widely covered news item of the week was the sale of AMC Entertainment Holdings AMC shares by CEO Adam Aron. The sale comes with an asterisk as it was part of a 10b5-1 pre-approved trading plan.

6. Risks are Rising: CPI (consumer price index) Inflation was announced at 7% this week. This marked the highest CPI inflation since 1982 and continued a discussion of what could be done to combat the high inflation the U.S. is experiencing.

5. Nancy Pelosi ETF: While it’s not an official ETF that investors can buy and sell on the market, there is now a Nancy Pelosi ETF. Created by popular fintwit account Unusual Whales, the Nancy Pelosi ETF tracks the transactions of one of the most prominent members of U.S. Congress. Find out more about why Unusual Whales created the ETF and how Pelosi’s picks have performed in an exclusive interview with Benzinga.

4. Tesla Accepts Dogecoin: In a move that has been widely anticipated and begged for by the community, Tesla Inc TSLA began accepting Dogecoin DOGE/USD as a form of payment for merchandise on its website. Items listed include a Giga Texas Belt Buckle, Cyberquad for Kids and a Cyberwhistle. The items quickly sold out and DOGE shot higher Friday.

Related Link: How To Buy Dogecoin

3. Tilray Earnings: Cannabis company Tilray Brands Inc TLRY reported second quarter earnings during the week. The company saw revenue of $155 million for the quarter, up 20% year-over-year. Tilray reported it would change its name to Tilray Brands to reflect a transition into a portfolio of cannabis and lifestyle brands. For more on Tilray’s earnings, check out Benzinga’s exclusive interview with Tilray CEO Irwin Simon.

2. Bitcoin Drops: One of the big stories to kick off the week was the price of Bitcoin BTC/USD falling below the $40,000 level on Monday. Bitcoin charged higher later in the week and trades at $42,930.88 at the time of writing.

1. Zynga Acquired by Take-Two: The largest video game deal of all-time was announced Monday, with Take-Two Interactive TTWO announcing it was acquiring mobile gaming company Zynga Inc ZNGA. Take-Two will pay $12.7 billion for Zynga, with the transaction made up of $6.36 in TTWO shares and $3.50 in cash. The deal will make Take-Two one of the largest video game companies in the world, with net bookings expected to grow 14% annually over the next three years.

Disclosure: Author is long shares SPCE.