What’s News in Markets: Meme Stock Frenzy, Chipotle Stumbles, Toyota Rises

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News

4 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 July 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Which companies’ shares are under the sway of meme traders this summer? And why did Chipotle’s sales alarm investors? Plus, why did a trade-war development boost shares of Japanese automaker Toyota? 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

Transcript

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0:00.0	Get out of the headlines and into real conversations happening inside global organizations with the Executive Insights podcast, brought to by AWS.
0:08.9	Listen in on the Executive Insights podcast, available on all major podcast platforms.
0:17.7	Hey listeners, it's Saturday, July 26th. I'm Francesca Fontana for the Wall Street Journal,
0:24.5	and this is What's News and Markets, our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news
0:29.4	that drove them. Let's get to it. Earnings and meme stocks. That is what comes to my mind when I think
0:36.4	about this past week, as investors digested a slate
0:40.3	of quarterly reports from tech giants, airlines, restaurants, and more. And yes, you heard me right,
0:47.6	the market has fully debuted meme stock season two. The first season, I'm sure you'll recall,
0:53.6	being the frenzy that surrounded
0:55.5	stocks such as GameStop and Bedbath and Beyond. So what stocks are getting
1:00.7	memefied this time around? Well I'm going to leave you in suspense for a few
1:04.5	minutes. First, let's zoom out. How the index is due? Well this week started strong
1:09.9	with Verizon's earnings helping boost the SMP 500 to a new
1:13.6	high on Monday, and the index just kept on rallying.
1:18.6	On Friday, the S&P notched its 14th record close of 2025, and the NASDAQ notched its 15th.
1:27.3	And on a weekly basis, the Dow rose 1.3%, the SMP rose 1.5%.
1:33.8	And the NASDAQ rose 1%.
1:36.6	All right. Where was I?
1:42.5	Meme stocks.
1:43.6	You guys, the Reditors are so back. This time around, they have dialed in on stocks like retailer coals, donut chain Krispy Kreme, and online house flipper open door. Some of them may seem a little goofy, but they all have some common ground, right?
2:05.9	Meme traders are seeking out the cheap, beaten down, heavily shorted stocks.
2:10.3	And, just like we saw last time, we saw some big jumps this week.
	...

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