Joe Woelfel and Mackenzie Tatananni
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. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 2% and 1.7%, respectively, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 2.6%.
These stocks were making moves Friday:
Tesla was down 3% 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, an electric-vehicle manufacturer, edged higher because all the cars it sells in the U.S. are made in America. But General Motors, Ford Motor, and Jeep maker Stellantis don't, and their stocks declined Thursday. On Friday, GM fell 1.7%, Ford was off 2.4%, and Stellantis fell 4.3%.
Nvidia was down 1.2% after the maker of artificial-intelligence chips fell 2.1% on Thursday on concerns over its business in China.
Meanwhile, CoreWeave, the Nvidia-backed cloud-services provider, opened for trading Friday at $39 a share, below its initial-public-offering price of $40 a share, well below estimates for $47 to $55. At last check, the stock was up 2.2% at $40.89. 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 4.3%, 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 dove 16% after the activewear company reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street expectations but fiscal-year guidance came up short, according to FactSet. Lululemon expects sales for the fiscal year ending in January of $11.15 billion to $11.3 billion, representing growth of 5% to 7%. However, 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 cratered 50%. The maker of EV chips said it "maintains constructive dialogue with the White House, its legislators, and the U.S. Department of Commerce to secure federal funding and on ways Wolfspeed can support the Trump administration's efforts to reinforce U.S. industrial leadership in semiconductors." The Triangle Business Journal, according to a report from Dow Jones Newswires, said interim Executive Chairman Thomas Werner told reporters that a $750 million funding agreement secured by the company likely will evolve "because the company has evolved and because the chip office is different, there's a new administration."
United States Steel rose 0.4% after falling earlier in the session. The stock wavered on the heels of 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 3.5% 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 5.5% after the owner of Tommy Bahama and Lilly Pulitzer apparel issued revenue forecasts for its fiscal first quarter and year that missed analysts' expectations. Following a strong finish to calendar 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," Chairman and CEO Tom Chubb said in a statement.
Rocket Lab USA gained 2.3% 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, soared 20% 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 posted strong fiscal-third-quarter adjusted earnings, but revenue missed forecasts, sending shares of the aviation-service company down 15%.
Write to Joe Woelfel at joseph.woelfel@barrons.com and Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 28, 2025 14:58 ET (18:58 GMT)
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