PRISM Market Moves on Friday: FedEx Gains; lululemon and Nike Slump
US equities are trading slightly lower on Friday at midday following a strong session on Thursday with the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq each hitting a fresh record close. Big tech is mixed, with Tesla ($TSLA) underperforming. Other weak performers include retail/apparel, department stores, EVs, asset managers, tobacco, regional banks, and media, while outperformers include parcels and logistics, beverages, consumer electronics, drug stores, utilities, pharma, and A&D. Treasuries are stronger, the Dollar index is up +0.9%, Gold is off (0.5%) after a strong run on Thursday, Bitcoin futures are down (3.2%) and WTI futures are down (0.4%).
Outperformers at midday are FedEx ($FDX) which has gained +7.6% with FQ3 EPS beat and revenue largely in line, and FY24 EPS guidance raised. The company also authorized a $5 billion share repurchase program. Foot Locker ($FL) is up +2.7% after being upgraded to neutral from sell at Citi, and Best Buy Co. ($BBY) has risen +1.7% after being upgraded to overweight from neutral at JP Morgan. Analysts argued that consumers’ spending shift away from goods and toward services may be nearing a shift back.
The day’s decliners are lululemon athletica ($LULU) which has fallen (18.3%) on 2025 guidance coming in below expectations, with weakness blamed on a soft start to the quarter with slower US traffic and conversions, and rising competitive pressures. Nike ($NKE) is down (7.8%) in spite of strong FQ3 revenue and EPS. The company said it expects 1H revenue to be down, and analysts flagged uncertainty amid product shift, promotions, channel mix, rising competitive pressure. Nike was downgraded to sector perform from outperform at RBC Capital markets. Tesla ($TSLA) has lost (2.0%) after Bloomberg reported that the company has cut Shanghai production days for its Model Y and Model 3 vehicles, with staff being given no indication when production might return to normal.
