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Sofi Surges on Student Loan limits in Senate Bill
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SoFi soars as GOP cuts to federal student loans move toward passage

Cuts to federal student loan programs would likely move more borrowers to private lenders.

Student loan lender SoFi Technologies hit its highest price since November 2021 on Monday as Senate Republicans moved forward on President Trump’s giant budget bill, which would cut federal student lending programs and likely push borrowers to private lenders like SoFi.

Trading in bullish call options surged on the day, helping to catalyze a run-up of more than 10% in early trading. The shares gave back some of those early gains, but remained up more than 6% in the last hour of trading.

As the Washington Post reported in May, the bill would radically change, and in some cases, complicate, the current student lending system in the US.

The bill includes changes like cutting the Pell grants used by students from poor and middle-class families, ending the federal PLUS loan programs for graduate students, and imposing new limits on the total amount that can be borrowed for advanced degrees, such as medicine and law, to $150,000 and $100,000 for master’s degrees. The Post reported:

“Republicans say imposing borrowing limits on graduate programs could force institutions to lower their costs. But the restrictions may simply drive more students to the private lending markets, where there are fewer consumer protections, said Jon Fansmith, senior vice president for government relations at the American Council on Education (ACE).”

That’s how SoFi CEO Anthony Noto seems to see the situation as well.

On the company’s post-earnings conference call in late April, he told analysts, “If the government backs away from providing in-school loans, Grad PLUS, et cetera, et cetera, we’ll absolutely capture that opportunity.”

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Lululemon’s stretch getting tested: Stock plunges after after outlook is cut

Lululemon shares are down double digits in premarket trading after the company cut its full-year sales and profit outlook, overshadowing a Q1 beat and raising fresh concerns about the brand’s turnaround efforts.

The company now expects fiscal 2026 revenue to be flat to down 1%, compared with its prior forecast for 2% to 4% growth. Guidance for full-year diluted earnings per share was dragged down to a range of $10.95 to $11.15, below the company’s previous guidance of $12.10 to $12.30 and well below Wall Street’s estimate of $13.26.

Key numbers for Q1:

  • EPS of $1.69 vs. the $1.68 expected.

  • Revenue of $2.47 billion vs. the $2.43 billion expected.

The modest top-line beat masked a widening divergence between Lululemons geographic markets. While international revenue rose 22% overall with a 30% increase in Mainland China, the bigger problem remains North America, where revenue fell 5%.

Interim co-CEO and CFO Meghan Frank acknowledged during the earnings call that recent product rollouts underperformed. A highly anticipated yoga campaign failed to generate its expected halo effect across broader product lines.

Profitability metrics took a major hit, with gross margins contracting by 410 basis points to 54.2% due to mounting tariff costs and promotional markdowns. Operating income consequently fell 37% year over year to $276.9 million.

“We experienced spikes of negative commentary in the media and on social channels with regard to our brand, which had an impact on traffic and overall top-line performance,” Frank said during the earnings call. “And second, not all of our product launches have met our expectations. While we have had several successful launches so far this year, we have seen others as we start Q2 not generate the anticipated guest response.”

Lululemons valuation has already been steadily compressing for years. While it was once one of retails richly valued stocks, investors have been questioning whether the company can return to the double-digit growth era.

The results also arrive during a leadership transition. Lululemon announced back in April that former Nike executive Heidi ONeill is set to take over as CEO in September, with investors looking to her to revive growth in North America and restore the brands growth.

As Lululemon faces both macroeconomic pressure and brand-specific challenges, its stock has dropped around 40% year to date.

markets

US job growth skyrocketed in May, blasting past expectations

The US economy added 172,000 jobs in the month of May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, sending 10-year Treasury yields higher.

The strong May job market surprised economists. Experts had predicted only 85,000 new jobs — just half the reported number. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, as expected.

The job growth story is a hopeful spot for the economy as consumers continue to feel inflationary pressure from the Iran war.

Job gains were buoyed by the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 70,000 jobs, as well as local government, healthcare, and education.

Both the March and April jobs reports were revised upward, making them collectively 93,000 higher than previously reported.

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