FedEx shares took a beating, dropping more than 8% after the company lowered its full-year guidance. The parcel delivery behemoth pointed to “ongoing weakness and uncertainty” in the U.S. industrial economy as contributing factors to this decision. On September 12, Nike’s shares plummeted close to 7 percent after the company released an earnings warning. What’s more, they project the sales drop to continue in the current quarter. This caution was blamed on upcoming tariffs and a loss of consumer confidence.
Opposite these losses, the market saw substantial gains at the beginning of the week. On a related note, on Wednesday, Federal Reserve policymakers reaffirmed their expectation for two rate cuts this year. This important decision created significant market momentum in a positive direction. Despite these gains, FedEx's fiscal third-quarter performance failed to meet analysts' expectations, posting adjusted earnings of $4.51 per share against the anticipated $4.54 per share according to LSEG.
Nike put in a strong performance, moving up the table by 2%. Their third-quarter earnings report released early last week, which bested analysts’ expectations, earning them 54 cents on the dollar over $11.27 billion in revenue. This hopeful outcome erased much of the damage from its previous downturn, though.
In other news, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas lowered his price target for Tesla shares from $430 to $410 per share. This change was spurred by concerns about weak autos deliveries. It still implies a possible 73.5% increase from Thursday’s close.
“Chinese labour” under Nomura analyst Jialong Shi downgraded shares of PDD Holdings, the parent company of Chinese e-commerce site Temu. Shi reached her conclusion after seeing PDD’s fourth quarter revenue increase by 24% y/o/y. Despite this growth, this performance was 5% below the Street’s expectations.
Even amidst larger market turmoil, Micron was able to offer a rosier forecast for its fiscal third quarter. The company had predicted adjusted earnings of $1.57 a share. Individually, they each expect to bring in $8.80 billion in revenue, giving investors a small ray of light in an otherwise stormy market landscape.