By Laine Higgins 

Microsoft Corp. - 0.9% Monday

As fears of a trade war bubbled anew, investors flocked to stocks of tech giants at the start of the week. Shares of Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft each closed at all-time highs Monday, and then repeated the feat Tuesday. Many investors believe tech companies can reliably increase earnings, even if a prolonged fight over trade dents the global economy.

It certainly didn't hurt that Microsoft announced a $7.5 billion deal Monday to buy coding-collaboration platform GitHub Inc., sending its shares up 0.9%.

Among the major tech stocks, Facebook Inc. was the notable outlier after the company admitted to giving users' personal data to over 60 companies, including Chinese telecommunications-equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co. Then, on Thursday, Facebook said that a bug had mistakenly made some private posts by its users viewable to all.

Starbucks Corp. - 2.4% Tuesday

He came, he saw, he changed the way we drink coffee. On Monday evening, Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz, the man credited with growing the Seattle-based coffee shop into a ubiquitous global brand as chief executive from 2008 to 2016, announced he would step down from his post as chairman. There is heavy speculation Mr. Schultz's next act will include a run for political office, and he told employees he plans to write a book about Starbucks's social-impact work and its efforts to redefine the role and responsibility of a public company.

Newell Brands Inc. - 1.6% Tuesday

Newell revealed a $395 million deal Tuesday to sell its Rawlings sporting-goods business to Seidler Equity Partners and Major League Baseball. Rawlings has been MLB's official supplier of game balls since 1977, and its acquisition comes two weeks after the league said its baseballs were unintentionally manufactured to be more aerodynamic during the 2015 season and were partially responsible for the 46% uptick in home runs from 2014 to 2017. The deal gives MLB a chance to provide "even more input and direction on the production" of the league's official ball, said Chris Marinak, MLB's executive vice president for strategy, technology and innovation.

Athenahealth Inc. - 0.7% Tuesday

Athenahealth co-founder Jonathan Bush stepped down as CEO amid pressure from an activist hedge fund and roughly a week after apologizing for domestic abuse involving his then-wife more than a decade ago. The health-software company on Wednesday said that the departure of Mr. Bush was effective immediately and that the firm had begun exploring strategic alternatives, a move that could lead to a sale or other changes. Former General Electric Co. CEO Jeff Immelt was named executive chairman to guide Athenahealth as it weighs its options.

Allergan PLC - 0.7% Tuesday

Activist investors want Allergan to tighten up. On Tuesday, hedge funds Appaloosa and Senator Investment Group pressured the drug giant best known for making Botox to separate the roles of chairman and CEO, posts currently held by Brent Saunders. Their public call for an outsider to take one of the jobs came just days after Allergan announced it would sell its women's-health and infectious-disease businesses in attempt to cut costs and boost its stock, which has shed over half its value since July 2015. The investors said they were "underwhelmed" by the plan and said it showed the company's "desire to cling to a status quo." Two days later, Bloomberg reported that Carl Icahn had purchased a small stake in the company, though his motivations were unclear.

McDonald's Corp. - 4.4% Thursday

McDonald's notified employees via email on Thursday of a plan to slim its corporate structure with an unspecified number of layoffs. The job cuts are the fast food chain's latest attempt to reinvigorate its slumping U.S. business that lost approximately 500 million orders to rival chains since 2013. The company has already cut a number of corporate jobs in the last two years and said it is reinvesting some of its cost savings in technology, such as digital ordering, that it believes will lead to growth.

J.M. Smucker Co. - 5.4% Thursday

Smucker shares fell sharply Thursday after the maker of Folgers coffee and Jif peanut butter said higher costs were hurting profitability and the company needed to raise retail prices on some foods. Like other food makers, Smucker is struggling to adapt its brands to consumers' demand for fresher, more natural food, and the stock is off more than 20% in the past year. Canada's announcement last week that it was considering new tariffs on a variety of U.S. products, including strawberry jam, in retaliation for U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, also hasn't helped the shares.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 08, 2018 17:38 ET (21:38 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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