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Teslas stock has hit its lowest price since Election Day, hovering around the $251 threshold on midday Friday before slowly creeping back up again. Shares were down 4.6%, putting Tesla on track to erase its entire $700 billion post-election gain. The company’s year-to-date losses reached around 35%, reported Yahoo Finance. Meanwhile, CEO Elon Musks net worth has fallen from a peak of $486 billion to $330 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires List. Gains from Trump’s 2024 election victory vanish Shares of Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) had surged 91% in the aftermath of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, reaching their peak in mid-December. The rally was fueled by Wall Streets expectations that Musks near $300 million donation to Donald Trump and GOP election efforts would lead to a big win for Tesla, reported Forbes. However, the stocks sharp decline follows a series of setbacks for the company. In February, Teslas sales plummeted in Europe and China, raising concerns among investors in the EV maker. Additionally, Musks growing political involvement has raised questions of whether he is becoming distracted from his role as chief executive. On Tuesday, Bank of America downgraded Teslas stock, slashing its price target from $490 to $380. Tesla remains highly sensitive to tariffs, as China is its second-largest market and the company relies on materials from Canada for production. “Tesla is still very reliant on parts from across the world for all our businesses,” Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja cautioned in January, as Forbes reported. Tech-heavy Nasdaq leads broader market downturn Adding to the pressure, broader market turmoil has intensified. The market rally that followed the electionfueled by speculation around what Wall Street had hoped would be a more pro-business administrationhas been dampened by concerns over U.S. trade policy and slowing economic growth, according to Bloomberg. The S&P 500 has dropped more than 7% from its peak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down a similar amount. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite fell below 18,000 for the first time since October and is now trading at below its Election Day level.
Category:
E-Commerce
McDonald’s, Wingstop, and Starbucks are among Gen Z’s most popular and appealing restaurant brands, according to Dcdx’s new Magnetic 100: Restaurants report, measured by organic, user-generated content. The report looks at what young consumers spent their hard-earned money on in the first quarter of 2025, noting which brands attracted the most organic conversations, either by generating online buzz or through word-of-mouth, including during big cultural moments such as the Super Bowl and holidays like Valentine’s Day. Some surprising names to crack Dcdx’s top-10 roster this year were Crumbl Cookies (#6) and Raising Canes (#7), a fast-casual chain specializing in chicken fingers. Here’s the top 10 rankings from the new Magnetic 100: Restaurants: McDonald’s Wingstop Starbucks Chipotle Taco Bell Crumbl Cookies Raising Cane’s KFC Chick-fil-A Subway It’s worth noting that some of the top brands are known for offering special items for a limited time, such as McDonald’s, which has seen success with its special-edition meals created in collaboration with popular celebrities, and Crumbl, which features a rotating menu of cookie flavors. Gen Z’s spending power grows A lot has been written about Gen Z’s spending habits, mostly because the 12-to-27-year-old demographic’s spending power is expected to grow to $12 trillion by 2030, according to Nielsen. That would make it the wealthiest generation to date, giving it significant influence over the products retailers and manufacturers choose to sell, both now and in the future. It’s also the largest generation in history, making up over 25% of the global population. The report also makes clear that brands aren’t just competing for dollars, but also for a share in an ongoing and crowded online conversation. For example, the report’s top 100 brands racked up 7.78 billion total engagements, with McDonald’s, the leading brand, generating 1 billion engagements alone. Of the 139 total restaurant brands analyzed in the report, the top 6 brands drove over 50% of the conversation in the restaurant category, representing nearly 4 billion engagements.
Category:
E-Commerce
Shares of Costco (COST) fell more than 7% in midday trading on Friday after the wholesale retailer reported mixed second-quarter earnings results, missing profit estimates but beating on revenue, as the company braces for the impact of tariffs and inflation on consumer spending. The tariffs are very fluid right now, so its hard to give any predictions about what we can do, but our people are well-equipped to deal with anything coming our way, and we have great partnerships with our suppliers, CEO Ron Vachris said during the companys earnings call. Our people are nimble and ready to go. Costcos Q2 revenue came in at $63.72 billion, slightly beating analyst estimates for $63.11 billion. Meanwhile, same-store sales jumped slightly from 6.38% to 6.8%, beating forecasts for an increase of 6.4%, and e-commerce came in at an increase of 20.9%. However, adjusted earnings per share came in at $4.02, missing estimates of $4.11. And while overall same-store sales were up, the company missed estimates in Canada and other international markets. One advantage Costco has over some other retailers is its popular membership, whose fees make up more than 70% of its operating profits. Costco raised those fees last year for the first time since 2017; a basic Gold Star individual membership now costs $65, while an Executive membership is between $120 and $130. Another good sign: Costco announced it expects to open 12 new stores across the nation in 2025, including seven locations in March and April. Here’s a list of those seven locations: Brentwood, CA Genesee County, MI Highland, CA Prosper, TX Sharon, MA Weatherford, TX Stuart, FL In addition, Vachris said the company plans to open two locations in Canada and four other international locations in the coming six months. According to Costco’s website, two of those international stores will be in Minami-Alps, Japan, and Ardeer, Australia. Costco currently operates 897 warehouses, with a majority of those in the U.S. and Puerto Rico (617). Other locations include Canada (109), Mexico (41), Japan (36), U.K. (29), Korea (19), Australia (15), Taiwan (14), China (7), Spain (5), France (2), and one each in Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden.
Category:
E-Commerce
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