Diamonds and Dogs

3/2/19

Retail kicking butt. Foot Locker (FL) is jumping 8% to a new 52 week high following better than expected earnings. Fourth quarter comp sales jumped 9.7%. Foot Locker saw strength in their marquee businesses with a mix of running and basketball styles. Nike is higher following this news. Gap (GPS) is gapping higher up 18% to a sixth month high following earnings and news they plan to separate into two publicly trades companies allowing Old Navy to trade on its own.

 Tesla's (TSLA) big announcement wasn't positive news. Tesla is down 19% on heavy volume as the electric car maker said it will be shuttering stores and cutting jobs to reduce costs. CEO, Elon Musk said the electric car maker won't turn a profit during the first quarter as it works to deliver its mid-size Model 3 sedan at a more affordable price tag of $35,000.Currently, the low end car is cutting too deeply into Tesla's profits. Musk reversed Wall Street guidance Thursday in predicting a loss for the first quarter, one month after saying he was optimistic the company would be profitable. Musk added that he still expects Tesla to make money in the second quarter. We'll see.