WSJ What’s News - What’s News in Markets: AI Tales, Oracle Woes, Wendy’s Sizzles

Episode Date: June 27, 2026

Why are Micron and Cerebras telling two different AI stories? And why is Oracle one of the worst stocks this week? Plus, who’s behind Wendy’s big rally? Host Jack Pitcher discusses the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Over 500,000 new listings every month based on average new for sale and rental listings, July 24 to June 2025. Hey listeners, it's Saturday, June 27th. I'm Jack Pitcher for the Wall Street Journal, and this is What's News and Markets. Our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Let's get to it. A nasty tech sell-off dragged down the S&P 500 and NASDAQ this week, with chipmakers leading the slide. Both indexes logged five straight days of declines. Doubts over whether the AI boom can sustain its red-hot momentum.

Wintam weighed on investors. It also undermined the broader market because a handful of tech giants have buoyed much of this year's gains. Global indexes closely tied to AI also got clobbered this week. Overall, the NASDAQ ended 4.6% lower, its biggest weekly loss in over a year, while the S&P 500 lost 2%. The Dow, which is less exposed to tech stocks, eeked out a 0.6% gain to close out the week. Where, oil prices dropped 8.7% this week to end under $70 a barrel for the first time since the Iran war started.

That decline helped boost consumer spirits a bit in June. Its prices at the pump moderated. Here's a tale of two AI earnings reports. On Tuesday after the market close, Cerrobras Systems shrunk its quarterly loss and almost doubled revenue in its first earnings release as a public company since raising $5.6 billion in its May IPO. But, and this is key, the chip company projected narrower profit margins, prompting a scare. Its shares fell almost 20% on Wednesday. That same day after the close, memory chip maker Micron reported a more than four-fold increase in its revenue for the latest quarter, and topped analyst expectations in every metric that investors scrutinize.

Micron's operating income in the current quarter is now estimated to surpass the highest full-year revenue it is ever reported. and that's thanks to the ongoing memory shortage plaguing the AI industry. Micron shares jumped nearly 16% on Thursday, while other memory makers saw similar gains in their shares. By week's end, Micron stock finished little changed, while Cerebra shares closed 23% lower. One of the biggest AI losers this week was Oracle. In its latest annual report released this week,

the tech firm reported its headcount shrink by 20, 21,000 jobs, or about 13% from its prior fiscal year. The cuts come as it continues to build out its artificial intelligence infrastructure. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the cloud computing and database company began reducing its workforce in March. Oracle also logged $1.84 billion in severance and other costs under a restructuring plans still in process that could mean further workforce cuts down the road. In the filing, the tech company also hinted it,

risks inherent in an AI-heavy strategy, including the failure to recoup its investments. While last year, Oracle sprung up as an AI darling following deals worth hundreds of billions of dollars, it isn't immune to the overall jitters that investors are feeling lately about their AI bets. This week is Exhibit 1. Oracle ended the week down 19%, making it one of the worst performers in the S&P 500. And Wendy's shares had a wild ride on the meme stock roller coaster this week. Stock jumped on Wednesday after droves of retail traders poured into the struggling fast food chain, using the same playbook they used for GameStop in AMC. Wendy's Bulls defended the restaurant operator on Reddit to spur on a rally. Quote, Our world will not be shaken. Wendy will prosper,

one user wrote. We need to save Wendy's before it's too late, another user posted on Reddit's Wall Street Betts Forum to other individual investors. But on Thursday, the The rally sputtered, with the stock falling 6.7%, while more than 100 million shares changed hands. For reference, the stock's daily volume even exceeded that of Micron after its blockbuster earnings. By Friday, Wendy's stock was still a winner, gaining 15% for the week. And now you know what's news in markets this week. You can read about more stocks that moved on the week's news in our live markets coverage on WSJ.com. Today's show was produced by Anthony Bansy, with Supervisorial.

producer, Jana Heron. I'm Jack Pitcher. Have a great weekend. If you want a $3,000 a month payday for life, what would you feel free to do? Maybe take a long weekend, every weekend, or try a bunch of new hobbies. Would you feel free to upgrade and listen ad-free? Don't worry, we get it. Every $20 ticket could win you $3,000 a month for life and supports life-saving cancer

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