By Joe Woelfel
Stocks were declining sharply Friday after fresh data revealed U.S. core inflation rose more than expected in February and consumer sentiment dropped for a third-straight month.
These stocks were making moves Friday:
Tesla was down 4.2% following the release of the consumer sentiment data. The stock closed Thursday with a gain of 0.4% in what was a tough session for auto makers following President Donald Trump's announcement he would be levying 25% tariffs on all cars and certain car parts made outside of the U.S. Tesla, the electric-vehicle manufacturer, edged higher because it makes all the cars it sells in the U.S. in America. But General Motors, Ford Motor, and Jeep maker Stellantis don't and their stocks declined Thursday. On Friday, GM fell 1.3%, Ford was off 1.8%, and Stellantis fell 3.1%.
Nvidia was down 1.9% after the maker of artificial-intelligence chips fell 2.1% on Thursday on concerns over its business in China.
Meanwhile, the initial public offering for CoreWeave, the Nvidia-backed cloud services provider, was priced at $40 a share, well below estimates of $47 to $55. The stock will begin trading Friday on the Nasdaq exchange under ticker symbol "CRWV." CoreWeave is a pure play on AI, with all of its revenue coming from cloud rentals of AI servers that use Nvidia chips.
AppLovin was up 4.1%, a day after shares of the advertising technology company slumped 20% following a report from short-seller Muddy Waters Research that it had taken a short position in the stock. In late February, short-sellers Fuzzy Panda Research and Culper Research also issued negative reports on the company. AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi said at the time in a blog post that it was "disappointing that a few nefarious short-sellers are making false and misleading claims aimed at undermining our success."
Lululemon Athletica fell 14% after the activewear company reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street expectations but fiscal-year guidance came up short of forecasts. Lululemon said it expects sales for the fiscal year ending in January of $11.15 billion to $11.3 billion, representing growth of 5% to 7%. But analysts had been projecting a revenue increase of 7% to $11.3 billion. CEO Calvin McDonald said the company believes "the dynamic macro environment has contributed to a more cautious consumer."
Wolfspeed tanked 49% after naming Robert Feurle as the electric-vehicle chip maker's new CEO. Feurle joins the company from Swiss chip maker ams-Osram, Wolfspeed said, as it "continues to focus on improving financial performance and accelerating its path to generate positive free cash flow, take aggressive steps to strengthen its balance sheet and raise cost-effective capital required to support its long-term growth plan."
United States Steel fell 0.3% after rising earlier in the session following a report that said the company's $14 billion merger with Japan's Nippon Steel could still be saved. The two companies are in talks with President Trump, with Nippon Steel offering to more than double an investment in U.S. Steel facilities to $7 billion from $2.7 billion, Semafor reported.
Braze was rising 4.1% after the cloud-based software company reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts' estimates and issued better-than-expected fiscal-year guidance.
Oxford Industries declined 3.2% after the owner of Tommy Bahama and Lilly Pulitzer issued revenue forecasts for its fiscal first quarter and fiscal year that missed analysts' expectations. Following a strong finish to calendar year 2024, trends moderated in January as there was less of a reason to shop, a pattern we've witnessed for the past several quarters, as well as a deterioration in consumer sentiment that also weighed on demand," said Chairman and CEO Tom Chubb in a statement.
Rocket Lab gained 1.1% after the maker of space-launch technology was selected by the U.S. Space Force to compete for a contract with a maximum value of $5.6 billion. The contract, as part of the National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1 program, runs through June 2029, and includes an option for an additional five years.
Argan, the energy facility construction company, rose 26% after reporting fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that rose from a year earlier. Driving gains was the company's power industry services segment, Argan said.
AAR Corp. posted fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings that were better than anticipated but revenue that missed forecasts, sending shares of the aviation-service company down 13%.
Write to Joe Woelfel at joseph.woelfel@barrons.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 28, 2025 12:21 ET (16:21 GMT)
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