Weekly Market Recap: New CFO at Goldman Sachs, Apple’s iOS 6 Full of Kinks

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to the top stories moving markets this week:

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Monday

Markets closed down today on Wall Street: Dow -0.30%, S&P -0.31%, Nasdaq -0.17%, Oil -2.90%, Gold -0.65%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) dropped to $97.62 a barrel. Precious metals also fell, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) dropping to $1,761.20 an ounce, and Silver (NYSE:SLV) falling 1.47 percent to $34.14.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to today’s top stock stories:

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported Monday morning that iPhone 5 pre-orders surpassed 2 million, doubling the record set by the iPhone 4S in 2011. AT&T (NYSE:T) said that it saw a record number of pre-orders on Friday, and both that carrier and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) already sold out of their pre-order supply.

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JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup (NYSE:C), and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) are the target of fresh scrutiny. The banks are being targeted by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency over allegations that they failed to properly monitor cash transactions that could have lead to laundering. Officials — who chose to remain anonymous — have said that federal and state authorities are set to begin an aggressive crackdown. This follows investigations into foreign banks Standard Chartered (LSE:STAN) and HSBC (NYSE:HBC).

The United States Treasury Department turned down a plan from General Motors (NYSE:GM) to buy back 200 million shares of its company. The Treasury has a 26.5 percent stake in GM, but share prices are too low for the Treasury to act. GM shares would need to hit $53 before the Treasury broke even, but the government is likely to sell at a loss.

With its purchase of a 13.3 percent stake in Office Depot (NYSE:ODP) announced today, activist investment fund Starboard Value LP made clear in a letter to management the company’s need to downsize. Starboard CEO Jeffrey Smith wrote to Office Depot’s chief executive Neil Austrian that although the company’s shares are “deeply undervalued,” cutting expenses could improve its performance. Starboard, which is now the largest shareholder in Office Depot, showed concern that the company’s performance lagged behind others in the industry, including Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS) and OfficeMax (NYSE:OMX).

Despite opposition from New York City’s unions, residents, and politicians who say Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) would devastate local businesses, the world’s largest retailer may avoid restrictions by opening smaller-format stores in key neighborhoods. Wal-Mart announced today that it failed to agree on economic terms for the development of the company’s first store in Brooklyn’s East New York neighborhood. Political and grassroots opposition is not new for Wal-Mart; the retailer was was denied locations in Queens and Staten Island in recent years. However, several of its competitors, like Target (NYSE:TGT) and Costco (NASDAQ:COST), already have opened stores the city.

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Tuesday

Markets were mixed today on Wall Street: S&P -0.13%, Nasdaq -0.03%, Dow +0.09%, Oil -1.18%, Gold +0.18%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) drops to $95.44 a barrel. Precious metals were mixed as well, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) climbing ever higher to $1,773.70 per ounce, and Silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) ticking down 0.58% to $34.19.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to today’s top stock stories:

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) is down over 1.5 percent so far today because of cuts to its 2013 profit target. The company has said that earnings could drop up to 6 percent, expecting earnings per share for the fiscal year between $6.20 and $6.60. This is well below its previous projection of $6.90 to $7.40 per share.

Don’t Miss: FedEx Takes a Hit, and UPS Makes Waves.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) has announced that European regulatory officials are moving along in their review of the company’s $6.8 billion acquisition of TNT Express. Standard & Poor’s CreditWatch maintains concern over the company’s multi-employer pension plan, citing potential liability in the face of low interest rates and sub-par asset returns, and warned that it may lower its UPS rating a notch if the merger proceeds. UPS has also claimed the #51 spot in the S&P 500 from Boeing (NYSE:BA) as its market capitalization ticked up to $55.52 billion over Boeing’s meager $55.51 billion.

Motorola has introduced the “powerful Motorola RAZR i with Intel inside.” The phone will ship with Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Ice Cream Sandwich to select European and Latin American markets. The phone boasts a 4.3-inch display and a whopping 2.0 GHz Intel Atom processor.

Judge Thomas Wheeler of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled that the former CEO of American International Group (NYSE:AIG), Hank Greenberg, may pursue his claim that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s purchase of AIG preferred shares in exchange for the insurer’s bailout was illegal.

Back in 2005, Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) sold its China business to the Alibaba Group and picked up a 40 percent stake in the company for $1 billion. Today, Yahoo has announced the completion of the first stage of a $7.6 billion repurchase agreement. Alibaba has repurchased about half of Yahoo’s stake for $6.3 billion cash and $800 million in preferred shares. The arrangement also includes a $550 million technology and intellectual property license. Yahoo will return about $3.65 billion of the proceeds to shareholders.

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Wednesday

Markets closed mostly up today on Wall Street: S&P +0.12%, Nasdaq +0.15%, Dow +0.10%, Oil -3.55%, Gold +0.07%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSEARCA:USO) dropped to $91.70 a barrel. Precious metals were mixed, with Gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) rising to $1,772.60 per ounce, and Silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) falling 0.32% to $34.53.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to today’s top stock stories:

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has released its much-awaited new mobile operating system that was first announced at the company’s developers’ conference in June and adds over 200 new features. Apple is making the update available to existing users of its mobile devices in a staggered release on Wednesday. The new software is compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, the iPad 2, the new iPad, and the fourth- and fifth-generation iPod touch.

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Harvey Schwartz will take over the role of chief financial officer at Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) in January. He will be filling a spot vacated by David Viniar, who is the longest-serving chief financial officer on Wall Street, and has been with Goldman since its IPO in 1999.

In a statement released this morning, investment firm Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) announced it will purchase one of the largest providers of home security services in North America, Vivint, for $2 billion. A fund managed by the New-York based investment firm will acquire Vivint from its shareholders, Goldman Sachs, Peterson Partners, and Jupiter Partners, on behalf of its equity investors. After the deal closes, Blackstone will own more than 50 percent of the company.

S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) component General Mills Inc. (NYSE:GIS) reported its results for the first quarter. General Mills is a manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. It also supplies branded and unbranded food products to the food service and commercial baking industries. See our General Mills Earnings Cheat Sheet.

Catalysts are critical to discovering winning stocks. Check out our newest CHEAT SHEET stock picks now.

Thursday

Markets were mixed today on Wall Street: S&P -0.15%, Nasdaq -0.21%, Dow +0.14%, Oil +0.12%, Gold -0.06%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USD) dropped to $91.87 a barrel. Precious metals were mixed with Gold (NYSE:GLD) dropping to $1,770.70 per ounce, and  Silver (NYSE:SLV) climbing 0.29 percent to $34.69.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to today’s top stock stories:

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) wasn’t shown off to much advantage on Wednesday as the company launched a glitch-laden new operating system for its mobile devices. Fans rushing to install iOS 6 in the hours after its launch yesterday were not just disappointed by long download times, but found that once their iDevices had updated, they encountered a whole different problem: the WiFi didn’t work.

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In the face of scathing opposition, Nasdaq OMX Group (NASDAQ:NDAQ) defends its proposed $62 million plan to compensate firms who lost money in Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) mismanaged $16 billion initial public offering on May 18. Because of technical glitches during the social network’s stock market debut, major investors and brokerages said they lost approximately $500 million. The rush of cancellations and changes to standing orders caused Nasdaq’s systems to re-enter orders multiple times; UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) claimed it lost $356 million in the confusion, Knight Capital Group (NYSE:KCG) said its losses amounted to $35 million, and Citigroup (NYSE:C) said its Automated Trading Desk lost $20 million.

Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) will stop selling Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle line of products soon, mirroring rival Target’s (NYSE:TGT) decision last month to drop the online retailer’s electronic devices. A Wal-Mart spokeswoman confirmed the company’s decision to Reuters, which had earlier received information of an internal Wal-Mart memo notifying employees of the same. Amazon unveiled a refreshed line of Kindle e-readers and four Kindle Fire HD tablets earlier this month.

With New York Fashion Week and London Fashion Week just wrapping up, and Milan Fashion Week gearing up at full speed, it’s hard not to notice some of the standout companies hitting trends head on and making bold fashion statements for their Spring 2013 shows. Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL), Michael Kors (NYSE:KORS), and Burberry (LSE:BRBY.L), among others, are all fighting to produce fiscal runway hits.

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Friday

Markets were mixed today on Wall Street: S&P 500 -0.01%, Nasdaq +0.13%, Dow -0.13%, Oil +0.78%, Gold +0.32%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) moved up to $93.14 a barrel. Precious metals were mixed, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) climbing to $1,776.00 per ounce, and Silver (NYSE:SLV) dropped 0.24 percent to $34.6 per ounce.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to today’s top stock stories:

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) climbed to a profit in the third quarter and beat Wall Street’s expectations in the process. KB Home constructs and sells homes through its operating divisions across the United States under the name KB Home. It operates a home-building and financial services business serving homebuyers in markets nationwide. Read our full KB Home Earnings Cheat Sheet.

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Falling revenue did not prevent S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) component Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) from reporting a profit boost in the first quarter. Oracle develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and services software designed to help its customers manage and grow their businesses. Read our full Oracle Earnings Cheat Sheet.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) reached a tentative, four-year agreement with the Canadian Auto Workers on September 20, securing 1,750 jobs and $692 million for Canadian plants. This is the second in a series of automaker negotiations with the CAW union that also involves Ford (NYSE:F) and Chrysler.

It seems negative reviews of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) new mapping application didn’t discourage iDevice users from upgrading to iOS 6, which launched on Wednesday. Within 24 hours of its release, about 15 percent of iOS data traffic was coming from devices running on iOS 6. Compare that to Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android 4.0, which took toughly 8 months to reach a similar ratio, or iOS 5, which took about 5 days to hit 20 percent.

Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) is “currently experiencing a BlackBerry service issue impacting some users in Europe, Middle East & Africa,” according to their Facebook page. The company is scrambling to get its email services back online while Apple sells out of the iPhone 5 on the device’s first day in stores. It’s unclear whether or not this outage has anything to do with the BlackBerry Mobile Fusion update released today.

Catalysts are critical to discovering winning stocks. Check out our newest CHEAT SHEET stock picks now.