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Friday, December 19, 2025
What’s happening: Shares of Nike came under pressure in after-hours trading on Thursday, following the release of the company’s fiscal second-quarter results.
What happened: The athletic footwear and apparel company reported better-than-expected sales and earnings for the quarter.
Nike’s gross margins contracted for the second quarter in a row amid weak sales in China and the impact of US tariffs.
How were the results: The Beaverton, Oregon-based company reported low single-digit sales growth for the quarter ended November 30.
Why it matters: Nike’s CEO Elliott Hill has been working on a recovery strategy and has re-established ties with retailers, including Dick’s. The company is also looking to clear out old inventories by offering heavy discounts, which resulted in a hit to gross margins.
Revenues from Greater China declined for the sixth consecutive quarter, down 17% in the latest quarter. Although sales in North America rebounded, rising 9% to $5.6 billion in the second quarter, US tariffs raised input costs, resulting in a hit to margins.
Nike’s gross margin shrank 300 basis points (bps) in the latest quarter, and the company projected further contraction of 175-225 bps in the holiday quarter. The company also guided to a revenue decline in the low-single digits.
“Fiscal year ’26 continues to be a year of taking action to rightsize our classics business, return Nike digital to a premium experience, diversify our product portfolio, deepen our consumer connection, strengthen our partner relationships and realign our teams and leadership,” CEO Elliott Hill said. “Nike is in the middle innings of our comeback,” he added.
How shares responded: Nike’s shares tumbled 10.8% to $58.57 in the extended trading hours following the release of quarterly results. The stock has added around 5% over the past month.
What to watch: Investors will keep an eye on Nike’s sales in China, the impact on tariffs and how fast the company can clear inventories.
Context: The EUR/USD forex pair slipped this morning as investors digested the European Central Bank’s monetary policy decision.
Details: The ECB kept borrowing costs unchanged for the fourth straight meeting in December, with the deposit facility rate remaining at 2.0% and main refinancing rate holding at 2.15%.
The latest decision came in-line with market estimates, while the central bank’s policymakers reiterated that they intend to continue following a data-dependent, meeting-by-meeting approach.
Meanwhile, the ECB released fresh economic estimates, projecting GDP growth of 1.4% in 2025, 1.2% in 2026 and 1.4% through 2028. Headline inflation is expected to average 2.1% this year and 1.9% in 2026.
Strength in the US dollar weighed on the EUR/USD forex pair. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s performance versus a basket of major peers, edged higher to 98.48.
The EUR/USD pair edged lower to 1.1724 this morning.
What to watch: Data on Eurozone’s current account (1300 UAE Time) and consumer confidence (1900 UAE Time) will be released today. The Eurozone’s current account surplus is expected to contract from €38.1 billion in September to €36.0 billion in October.
Analysts expect the Eurozone’s consumer confidence to improve slightly to -14 in December, from a reading of -14.2 in the previous month.
Other Markets: US trading indices closed higher on Thursday, with the Dow Jones index, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 up by 0.14%, 0.79% and 1.51%, respectively.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that peace negotiators from the country plan to meet the US team on Friday and Saturday. The news sent the USD/RUB pair lower in forex trading this morning.
Japan’s core consumer price index surged 3% year-over-year in November, unchanged from the previous month, lending support to the USD/JPY forex pair.
UK car production tumbled 14.3% year-over-year to 65,932 units in November. This being the fourth straight month of decline sent the GBP/USD pair lower in forex trading this morning.
Australia’s private sector credit climbed 0.6% in November. This representing a slowdown from October’s 0.7% growth exerted pressure on the AUD/USD forex pair.
New Zealand’s trade deficit shrank to NZ$163 million in November from NZ$450 million in the year-ago period. However, the NZD/USD pair slipped in forex trading this morning.
Italy’s business confidence (1300 UAE Time), consumer confidence (1300 UAE Time), construction output (1300 UAE Time), current account (1400 UAE Time) and industrial sales (1400 UAE Time), Russia’s interest rate decision (1430 UAE Time), Brazil’s FGV consumer confidence (1500 UAE Time), current account (1530 UAE Time) and foreign direct investment (1530 UAE Time), India’s monetary policy meeting minutes (1530 UAE Time) and foreign exchange reserves (1530 UAE Time), Mexico’s aggregate demand (1600 UAE Time) and private spending (1600 UAE Time), Canada’s new housing price index (1730 UAE Time) and retail sales (1730 UAE Time), Argentina’s consumer confidence (1900 UAE Time), as well as US existing home sales (1900 UAE Time), Michigan consumer sentiment (1900 UAE Time), and Baker Hughes oil rig count (2200 UAE Time).
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