Markets
Luke Kawa

US stocks slump into the weekend on turmoil with tariffs and tech

Friday was the same as Thursday — only worse.

Stocks tumbled and dip buyers were nowhere to be found, with the lowest share of up volumes across the New York Stock Exchange of this year. The S&P 500 fell just shy of 2%, the Russell 2000 was down 2.1%, and the Nasdaq 100 ended off 2.6%.

The pummeling of megacap tech stocks and tariff-sensitive companies was in focus to end the week. Consumer discretionary, communication services, tech, and industrials were the worst-performing S&P 500 sector ETFs, all down more than 2%.

Credit spreads also hit their widest levels of the year, signaling enhanced fear about a US economic slowdown.

Tesla tumbled as the analyst community warned the electric vehicle maker isn’t immune from tariffs and ahead of Q1 delivery results next week that are expected to be weak.

A fresh push from the US Department of Defense to cut software costs weighed on shares of Palantir.

Crypto-linked stocks like Strategy, Coinbase, and Robinhood sank along with bitcoin in the broad-based risk retreat.

(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company.)

Lululemon had its worst day in more than a year after issuing a weak full-year sales forecast.

Ubisoft’s plans to spin off some of its major franchises were initially greeted warmly by investors before the stock got caught up in the sell-off and was shellacked.

Airlines continued their retreat, with Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, and United Airlines shedding about $5 billion in value this week.

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

  • Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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