Wall Street started the week on a tragic note, with the suicide death of Bed Bath & Beyond Chief Financial Officer Gustavo Arnal. The death came roughly one week after the executive was named in a lawsuit alleging his involvement in a "pump and dump" scheme with activist investor Ryan Cohen. $BBB fell after the news but ended the week up more than 5 percent, as investors processed the home goods retailer's plans to close stores and lay off employees in order to stay solvent until the crucial holiday shopping season. 

Fellow meme stock GameStop had a decidedly less drama-filled week, but it still gave its devoted retail investors plenty to chew on. Shares fell after the video game retailer released quarterly earnings showing declining sales and profits, but rallied almost 12 percent Friday, keeping with the stock's pattern of seemingly random swings. It's possible retail investors were excited about the company's other big announcement this week: a new partnership with crypto exchange FTX. This is just the latest development in the company's ongoing pivot into the world of digital assets. Indeed, despite the mostly downbeat earnings report, GameStop touted an uptick in the sale of digital collectibles. 

Meanwhile, physical goods are still good business for Apple. The tech giant on Wednesday revealed its latest product line-up, including new versions of the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPod Pro. And for users, it also announced a new deal with Verizon that includes an Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and iCloud bundle. However, the announcements didn't move the stock much and some complained that the new products offered little in the way of innovation. One such critic was Eve Jobs, daughter of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, who posted a meme on Instagram about how similar the new iPhone 14 model was to the previous version.  

On the topic of a lack of innovation, Cineworld, parent company of Regal Cinemas, has declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The theater chain said it will use the proceedings to shrink its physical footprint and ideally renegotiate lease terms with landlords. The announcement came after what was by all accounts a strong summer for movie theaters, with a string of blockbuster success stories filling up seats across the country. While this apparently wasn't enough to resolve Cineworld's financial issues, one theater company's loss could prove to be another's gain. Shares of AMC are up more than 11 percent this week. 

Across the board, markets were in a bit of a holding pattern this week, as investors continue to weigh how the Federal Reserve will proceed with rate hikes. Relatedly, the European Central Bank announced its biggest rate hike ever, bringing the comparatively dovish central bank in line with an increasingly hawkish U.S. Fed. Keep an eye out for next week's consumer price index report, which could again shift investor sentiment.