WSJ What’s News - What’s News in Markets: Home Depot Rallies, Target Misses, Meta Pauses

Episode Date: August 23, 2025

How did Home Depot bounce back in spite of a mixed bag of a quarterly report? And what caused a leadership shakeup at Target? Plus, why is Meta pausing hiring in its AI division? Host Francesca Fontana 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

Hey listeners, it's Saturday, August 23rd. I'm Francesca Fontana 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. The summer stock rally was starting to lose some momentum early in the week, which was filled with earnings updates from big-name companies, as well as jitters ahead of a key Federal Reserve speech on Friday. We'll go through some of the key earnings in a bit, but let's focus on Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the annual Jackson Hole Summit in Wyoming.

Now Wall Street was ready to be disappointed going into Friday's speech, with many expecting hawkishness, a.k.a. focus on controlling inflation via high interest rates. However, Powell struck a different, more doveish tone, opening the door for the central bank to cut rates next month, and that sparked big rallies. in the stock market. And as a result, we saw the three major indexes all close higher on Friday, and the Dow notched its first record close of the year. On a weekly basis, the Dow gained 1.5%. The SMP edged about 0.3% higher, while the NASDAQ fell 0.6%. First up, Home Depot shares built up a solid gain on Tuesday, in spite of a mixed bag of a quarterly report. The home improvement chain posted results that missed expectations, including adjusted earnings, and this is a tough time for retailers across the board, but we got a peek at the

specific troubles in the home improvement market. Home Depot said it was seeing consumers delay larger renovations due to economic uncertainty and high interest rates. On the other hand, the company backed its annual outlook, and it posted a rise in same store comparable sales. Now, Home Depot is also rolling back its previous plan to keep prices steady in the face of tariffs and economic turmoil. The company said it plans some modest price increases after saying in May it would keep prices steady. At the end of the day, Home Depot shares rallied 3.2% Tuesday and finished the week with a gain of roughly 3.4%. Next up, will a new CEO be able to stop target's saleslump? We'll see.

On Wednesday, the retail giant posted its 11th quarter of flat or falling sales and announced that lifelong employee, Michael Fidelke, would steer a turnaround effort starting in February. The company said that Brian Cornell, who has held the top job for 11 years, will become executive chairman of the board. This is just the latest of Target struggles, as we've seen. Target's been losing out to rivals such as Walmart and Amazon, and shoppers have been complaining of Target's high prices and its messy understocked stores. So, on Wednesday, Target shares tumbled 6.3%, and the stock notched a weekly decline of about 3.7%. Last but not least, let's talk.

about Facebook parent meta platforms. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that META has frozen hiring in its artificial intelligence division after the tech giant has spent months scooping up AI researchers and engineers. This hiring freeze went into effect the previous week, and it coincides with a broader restructuring of the group. And it also prohibits current workers for moving across teams inside the AI division. And META is not the only one doing this. Meanwhile, weight-loss drug maker Novo Nordisk said Wednesday that it would pause hiring in non-critical areas. Novo is the company behind the blockbuster drugs OZempic and WeGovi, and it's been working to fend off competition from knock-off versions of its medicines. And this appears to be a trend that isn't stopping anytime soon.

A conference board survey indicates that one in five U.S. employers plans to slow hiring in the second half of 2025. So, how do investors react to the news about meta? Well, meta shares fell 1.2% on Thursday, and on the week, the stock lost 3.9%. 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 The Score, my column in the Wall Street Journal's Exchange section. Today's show was produced by Zoe Colkin and Pierre Bienname, with supervising producers. producer Michael Cosmides. I'm Francesca Fontana. Have a great weekend.