🏈 Nike earnings and other reports

and why the government's doing this

Together with Mood

Good morning investors! Bulls trying to fight bears yesterday but lost the battle.

Today we cover:

  • What the govt is doing and why

  • A look at home sales

  • Earnings (Nike, Accenture, Micron, and FedEx)

📊 Economy and News 

Reshaping America's Economic Future

Scott Bessent, the 79th Secretary of the Treasury, recently outlined a strategy to strengthen the U.S. economy through fiscal discipline, deregulation, and domestic investment.

Reducing Government Debt
The plan targets lowering the federal deficit-to-GDP ratio to 3% by 2028. Rather than broad budget cuts, efforts focus on eliminating waste and inefficiency, with business leaders like Elon Musk contributing to cost-saving initiatives.

Boosting Economic Growth
Deregulation, especially in the financial sector, aims to ease restrictions on small banks, increasing lending to businesses. Strategic trade policies, including tariffs, encourage domestic manufacturing and investment, reinforced by affordable energy from expanded domestic production.

Addressing Cost of Living
To combat rising expenses, reforms in housing policies and supply chain improvements will lower costs for essentials like energy and insurance. A dedicated "affordability czar" will oversee these efforts.

Enhancing Social Security
A proposed sovereign wealth fund could invest a portion of Social Security’s $2.7 trillion balance in higher-return assets, ensuring long-term financial stability.

This economic vision emphasizes efficiency, growth, and affordability, aiming to provide sustainable prosperity for American workers.

Global hits:

Home sales rebound: Sales of previously owned homes rose 4.2% in February from January to 4.26 million units, defying analysts’ expectations of a decline. However, sales remained 1.2% lower than a year ago.

The increase reflects contracts signed in December and January when mortgage rates were higher. Also, sales grew only in higher price categories, with homes above $750,000 seeing gains, while median-priced homes fell 3% year over year.

Inventory rose 17% annually to 1.24 million units but remained tight at a 3.5-month supply, keeping upward pressure on prices. The median home price hit a record $398,400 for February, up 3.8% from last year. Prices climbed across all U.S. regions.

First-time buyers increased their share to 31%, up from 26% a year ago, while investor purchases dropped to 16% from 21%.

Good to know: The bank’s Survey of Consumer Expectations for February found that the average likelihood of Americans being able to come up with $2,000 within a month if an unexpected need arose hit 62.7%. That’s the lowest level since the survey began tracking the data point in October 2015. Also, Trump signs order to increase critical mineral production in the U.S.

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📈 Stocks

S&P 500 5,662.89 (-0.22%)
DJIA 41,953.32 (-0.027%)
NASDAQ 17,691.63 (-0.33%)
BRENT CRUDE 72.45 (+0.45%)
* Prices as of Mar 21st, 12:20 AM UTC

Nike beats but Warns of Steep Sales Drop Amid Tariffs and Weak Consumer Confidence

Nike expects a double-digit sales decline in its fiscal fourth quarter, ending in May, citing new tariffs, weak consumer sentiment, and a slower-than-expected turnaround.

CFO Matt Friend said sales would drop at the "low end" of the mid-teens range, with gross margin falling 4-5 percentage points as the company continues clearing excess inventory into 2026.

Nike’s guidance was worse than expected, with analysts predicting an 11.4% sales decline. Shares fell over 4% in extended trading and are down more than 5% year to date.

Despite this, Nike beat fiscal third-quarter estimates, reporting earnings of 54 cents per share (vs. 29 cents expected) and revenue of $11.27 billion (vs. $11.01 billion expected). However, net income fell 32% to $794 million, with overall sales down 9%, driven by a 17% drop in China.

Nike’s gross margin declined to 41.5% due to heavy discounting and inventory write-downs. While December demand was strong, sales saw double-digit declines in January and February.

More earnings:

  • Micron Technology forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Thursday, signaling strong demand for its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI models, sending its shares up 2% in after-hours trading.

  • FedEx offers mixed results: earnings of $4.51 per share came up shy of the $4.65 estimates, on revenues $22.2 billion stepped beyond the $21.89 billion analysts were looking for. Full-year earnings are now expected to be between $18.00 and $18.60 per share, below the prior $19.27 expected. FedEx lowered its full-year guidance for a third consecutive quarter as inflation and uncertain demand for shipments squeeze the parcel company’s bottom line. FedEx’s shares fell more than 5% in after-hours trading.

  • Accenture tumbled about 7.3% after the consulting firm said efforts to tighten federal spending are starting to weigh on its revenues. Accenture is among the first of the U.S. corporate giants to get hit by the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. The company beat top- and bottom-line expectations for the quarter, reporting revenue and earnings per share up 6% and 7%, respectively, year over year.

Interesting: Lyft will begin rolling out autonomous vehicles as soon as this summer, signing agreements with partners like May Mobility, Mobileye, and Marubeni. Also, data from Edmunds shows that Tesla owners have been trading in their vehicles at record levels since CEO Elon Musk joined Trump’s White House.

Shocking: Tesla recalls 46,000 Cybertrucks, citing exterior panel that it says can increase ‘risk of crash’. Elsewhere, Nvidia CEO Huang says he was wrong about timeline for quantum, surprised his comments hurt stocks. Lastly, Huawei’s $1,000 foldable will run self-developed HarmonyOS 5 as it pushes Apple, Google alternative.

🔐 Crypto

Bitcoin $84,435 (+0.25%)
Ether $1,989 (+0.29%)
Solana $128 (+0.13%)
Total market cap $3 trillion (+0.19%)
* Prices as of Mar 21st, 12:20 AM UTC

BlackRock thinks U.S. Recession Could Help Bitcoin

Robbie Mitchnick, the firm’s Global Head of Digital Assets, said that Bitcoin benefits from factors like fiscal spending, deficits, low interest rates, and monetary stimulus—conditions typical of a recession.

Addressing recent Bitcoin spot ETF outflows, Mitchnick clarified that they stemmed from hedge funds unwinding arbitrage trades, not long-term investors selling. He added that some BlackRock clients see the downturn as a buying opportunity despite economic uncertainty.

Do you agree with black rock?

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💵 Personal Finance

Hetty Green: Frugality Can Be a Superpower

Known as “The Witch of Wall Street,” Hetty Green (1834–1916) was one of America’s first female tycoons, amassing a fortune of over $100 million (billions today) through investments. She lived like a pauper, wearing old clothes and haggling over small expenses, but her thriftiness let her capitalize on market crashes others couldn’t weather.

Lesson: Extreme frugality isn’t for everyone, but living simply can free up capital for big opportunities. Patience and discipline often beat flashy spending.

Here’s an interesting video on the topic:

💰 Be a Better Investor

"We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret and disappointment."

Jim Rohn

Resources:

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👩🏽‍⚖️ Legal Stuff
Nothing in this newsletter is financial advice. Always do your own research and think for yourself.