Nike gets stomped as new Vietnam tariffs slam the company’s sneaker-making pipeline

Nike shares have lost nearly a third of their value over the past year.

4/3/25 8:33AM

Nike’s stock took a pounding Thursday, sliding over 11% in premarket trading, after President Donald Trump announced a steep 46% tariff on imports from Vietnam — Nike’s manufacturing backbone.

The sneaker giant has spent years shifting production to Vietnam to dodge US-China trade tensions, but the new tariffs could unravel that strategy. In fiscal 2024, half of all Nike footwear and 28% of its apparel came from Vietnamese factories, by far its biggest supplier. Trump also added tariffs to major sportswear manufacturers Cambodia (49%), Bangladesh (37%), and Indonesia (32%).

The timing couldn’t be worse. Nike shares have already been limping, falling 7% last month after the company warned of slowing sales and shrinking margins before tariffs even entered the picture. Consumer fatigue and weaker spending have also weighed on its performance in the US and China, two key markets.

Analysts aren’t too optimistic: last month, UBS slashed its price target on Nike from $73 to $66, saying the company hasn’t done enough to refresh its product lineup or marketing to turn the tide. The tariff shockwave also hit the broader sneaker market, with shares of rivals Adidas, Skechers, and Puma all sliding on the announcement.

Matt Phillips3/13/26

Oil settles Friday at highest level since start of war

US oil prices moved higher in afternoon trading Friday, sapping strength from the stock market as they posted their highest close since the start of the Iran war.

After another day where the Strait of Hormuz was essentially closed to global tanker traffic, US futures for West Texas Intermediate settled up 3.1% at $98.71 a barrel for an 8.6% weekly gain, per Dow Jones data.

American officials have discussed using the US Navy to escort tankers through the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, but have said plans for such convoys are not ready yet. However, it is unclear if military convoys would bring an end to the war-related dislocations in the oil market.

“It could help,” Tom Liles, senior vice president of upstream research at energy consulting firm Rystad, told Sherwood News in a recent interview. “It could also go in a lot of different directions if a Navy ship is hit or if a tanker is hit.”

Oil Posts Weekly Gains As Middle East Conflict Drags On

Tasha Matsumoto

3/13/26

Stocks post third straight week of losses as Brent crude surges above $100

Stocks wiped out early gains to close lower amid the ongoing war in Iran.

Matt Phillips3/13/26

Memory stocks rebound off last weeks losses

Memory stocks Micron, Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagate Technology Holdings rose again Friday, putting these crucial providers of chips for AI inference work on track for big weekly gains after last week’s steep losses following the outbreak of war with Iran.

There’s no obvious trigger for the move higher for these shares this week, other than a bit of a recovery in the AI trade more broadly — AI beneficiaries like IT cable and connections maker Amphenol and custom chip and networking company Marvell Technology clawed back some gains this week — perhaps due Oracle’s earnings earlier, and some mean reversion to boot.

Micron is due to report earnings after the close of trading on Wednesday, with the company catching a couple price target hikes this week, including one from Wedbush on Friday.

Sandisk is something of a different story, as its enormous gains over the last 12 months — roughly 1,200% — have made it a momentum play beloved by the retail crowd.

It was up about 20% this week at around 11 a.m. ET. And its nearly 170% gain this year keeps the stock on top of the S&P 500, in terms of price performance.

Luke Kawa

3/13/26

The S&P 500’s internals are awful... while it’s still less than 5% from its record closing high

The breadth of negative momentum within the index’s constituents is even worse than at the tariff-induced market bottom in April 2025.