What’s News in Markets: The War Trade, Megadeals and a Sneaker Slowdown

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Imani Moise (0:31)

Hey listeners, it's Saturday, April 4th. I'm Imani Moise for the Wall Street Journal and this is What's News in Markets, our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Let's dive in. It was a short week for markets. Major stock exchanges were closed for Good Friday. Stocks seesawed throughout the week as they digested mixed signals about the conflict in Iran. In the end, all three major stock indexes finished the week higher. The NASDAQ led the way, closing up 4.4% on Thursday. Both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were also up about 3% for the week. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, surged nearly 8% this week to finish at $109 a barrel as hopes for a quick end to the Iran conflict faded. But higher commodity prices didn't translate to gains for oil stocks. Energy was the only sector in the S&P 500 to finish the week lower, falling more than 5% as investors worried about long-term supply. Bond markets also closed early this week, but not before the latest jobs report gave bond yields a small boost. The 10-year treasury recently traded at 4.35% up from 4.32% before the Friday report. Stock futures moved slightly lower after the report. Turbulent markets are usually a deterrent for mergers and acquisitions, but 2026 is off to a historic start for deal making. Corporations announced 22 M&A transactions worth $10 billion or more in the quarter that wrapped up this week. That marks the strongest start to the year for mega deals on record. While that's good news for bankers, shareholders appear to have buyer's remorse. Some of the companies announcing these massive acquisitions were among the week's biggest losers. McCormick shares tumbled 8% this week after announcing it was taking on debt as part of a $65 billion deal to combine its food business with Unilever. Similarly, Cisco shares were down 13% on the week as investors weighed the mountain of new debt tied to its $29 billion acquisition of Jetro Restaurant Depot. But investors rewarded at least one company for writing a multi-billion dollar check. Intel shares jumped nearly 17% this week after announcing it would spend $14.2 billion to buy out Apollo Global Management's 49% stake in their Irish chip plant. Executives positioned the move as proof of the company's stronger balance sheet and more focused corporate strategy.

Market momentum was good to tech stocks this week. Facebook Parent Meta and Google Parent Alphabet both rebounded to finish near the top of the leaderboard, gaining roughly 8 to 9% each. Their rally is somewhat of a return to normal. Both companies led losses last week after courts found their social media platforms liable for failing to protect young people from online danger. Nike was the biggest loser in the S&P 500 for the week. Shares plunged nearly 14% after the sportswear brand warned investors at sales in China. Its second largest market after the US could fall by as much as 20% this quarter. The company has now experienced sales declines in China for seven straight quarters, and the current one, ending on May 31, could be even worse. Looking ahead, investors are getting their bids ready for what could be the biggest IPO of all time. Elon Musk's SpaceX filed confidential paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, setting the stage for an initial public offering that could raise as much as $80 billion. SpaceX, which merged with XAI in February, is the first of three mega IPOs anticipated in 2026 Investors are also eager to claim stakes in AI rivals OpenAI and Anthropic. And now you know What's News in Markets this week. You can read more about the stocks that moved on the week's news in our live markets coverage on wsj.com. Today's show was produced by Alexis Moore and Julie Chang with supervising producer Melanie Roy. I'm Imani Moise. Have a great weekend and catch you next Saturday.

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