Closing Bell: Oracle Pops on TikTok News, Ralph Lauren Falls, The New York Times Stock Down

On this episode of Stock Movers:

Listen for comprehensive cross-platform coverage of the US market close as heard on Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Radio, and YouTube with Romaine Bostick, Katie Greifeld, Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec.

- Oracle (ORCL) shares rose today. TikTok’s American operations would be acquired by an investor consortium that includes Oracle Corp., Andreessen Horowitz and private equity firm Silver Lake Management LLC under a framework deal that US President Donald Trump is set to discuss with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week. The tentative agreement, unveiled on Monday by senior US and Chinese officials after two days of talks in Madrid, would create a US-based version of the popular social media app with Oracle, Andreessen and Silver Lake all holding stakes in the new venture, according to people familiar with the matter. Under the deal, ByteDance Ltd.’s stake in TikTok would be reduced to below 20% to satisfy a US national security law passed in 2024 requiring the Beijing-based company to divest or face a ban in the American market. If completed, with the blessing of Trump and Xi, the transaction would allow the video-sharing platform to keep operating in the US and remove a sticking point in US-China relations.

- Ralph Lauren (RL) shares dropped today after the apparel company sees revenue growth remaining similar to recent rates over the next three years. The New York-based retailer is projecting sales to grow at a mid-single-digit percentage annually through fiscal 2028, according to a statement Tuesday. That’s roughly in-line with estimates from analysts compiled by Bloomberg. But it’s also slower growth than the company has posted in recent quarters.

- The New York Times (NYT) shares are down today. President Trump filed a $15 billion defamation suit against the Times and Penguin Random House LLC, accusing the paper of serving as a “mouthpiece” for the Democrats.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is the closing bell on this stock movers report.
The company's making moves at the close of US trading
with Carol Masser, Tim Stenobeck, Romaine Bostick, and Scarlet Food.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
You've got most names in the S and P lower
three hundred and thirteen losing ground on this FED decision, Eve,
if you will, one hundred and eighty eight to the
F side too.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Ut celebrate. Did you put little stockings up over your desk?

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yeah, it's exactly Yeah, little dollar bills, little treasury bill.

Speaker 4 (00:40):
I plug in my money printer. Let's take a look
at the sector level that's on as well. You have
the circle there. It's pretty much an even split. Maybe
waited a little bit more to the red. The energy
sector was your bright spot today, up about one point
seven percent. You can see that tech overall was red.
Utilities was your biggest loser on the day, though, that's
after Donna about one point eight percent. All told, five green,

(01:03):
six round Carol.

Speaker 5 (01:04):
All right, so let's get to some of the individual gainers.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
Had to quick switch in Oracle after that headline cross
the Bloomberg. The Wall Street Journal came out coming out
and saying US investors including Oracles, silver Lake and Andrees
and Horowitz, would control TikTok's US business. According to people familiar,
sounds like there's a lot to be figured out and
an interesting entity in terms of the board and who

(01:27):
does what and who owns what. But we talked to
our Bradstone about it. He said, there's like maybe some
friction when it comes to maybe users ultimately signing on
with Just.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
To be clear, Carol, I mean, so the Chinese have
agreed to this, is that the idea.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
I get, that's what it seems to say, But it's
kind of odd because you know, it sounds like eighty
percent owned by investors. I think there's still a Chinese
position in this US entity. It sounds like there's maybe
some new algorithms. There's a lot that makes me I
don't know.

Speaker 6 (01:57):
As we spoke to Bradstone about this earlier and he said,
if people actually have to download a new app like
this looks like a pretty big win for a company
like Meta Platforms or Alphabet that has YouTube, that's done
a good job with Instagram and YouTube short it's kind
of going into TikTok's territory.

Speaker 5 (02:11):
It's hard.

Speaker 6 (02:11):
That's friction, he said, to make users download a new app,
So what.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
If it's not as good as the old app? Great,
which everybody has loved. In terms of the algorithm, what's
interesting too. And I think we had an earlier story
on the Bloomberg about Oracle and their cloud contract that
they had with TikTok, and so maybe that's part of
why we're seeing Oracle also higher. So TVD more to
be known, but nonetheless, Oracle popped up one and a

(02:36):
half percent in today's session. I want to mention Maderna
as well, that went up about four percent.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Hires.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
The company says it's new COVID nineteen formula of its
spikevax vaccine produced a strong immune response against the dominant
variant that's out there, and so we've been getting some
information on that. This is what though in this report
I thought was interesting. Guys, company said, CDC data from
US wastewater shows COVID nineteen xectivity is high. What does

(03:02):
that make you feel good?

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Do we not just get these numbers out of the CDCY.

Speaker 5 (03:09):
You know you're on fire here. Hey.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
Tesla up almost three percent in today's session, continuing to
gain I think, moving up to its highest level since
about late January. And this is despite the US National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration opening investigation to whether some Tesla
vehicle doors are defective. It's a really scary story that's
out there. But nonetheless, stock is up six days in

(03:32):
a row for a gain of about twenty twenty one percent,
and up about four percent yere date.

Speaker 5 (03:36):
So investors continuing to move into Tesla tip.

Speaker 6 (03:39):
Okay, you got the gainers, I got the decliners. I
want to start with Warner Brothers Discovery actually falling today
six point two percent. Shares fell after TD Cowen downgraded
to hold from buy after the stock rally, even as
Paramount still has not made an official offer for this company. Separately,
Center Elizabeth Warren earlier this morning, Democrat of Massachusetts posted

(03:59):
on that the Paramount Warner Brothers deal should be blocked.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
Can I gave you some mentel We had Laura Martin
over at Needham, Yeah, and she'd mentioned something that I
had kind of was lost to me, and it was
about David Aslow's recent contract and how he actually stands
to make in her words, about something upwards of like
four hundred million dollars if he does broker a sale
above seventeen dollars a share for Warner Brothers by the
end of next year.

Speaker 6 (04:21):
Okay, shares right now eighteen dollars and twenty five cents.

Speaker 5 (04:25):
Yeah, some would say he's really good.

Speaker 6 (04:26):
With I was going to say, it's not the first
time he's had a windfall in his career.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
He's a savvy guy.

Speaker 6 (04:33):
Yeah, he really is. Hey, taking a look at a
stock that actually was pretty moved quite low early in
the session, especially before the market's opened. It fell as
much as four percent Ralph Lauren today, only following by
four tenths of one percent. The company did come out
and say that it sees revenue growth remaining similar to
recent rates over the next three years. This according to
the company's latest strategic outlook. The company's projecting sales to

(04:55):
grow at mid single digit percentage annually through fiscal twenty
twenty eight. According to a statement out today, it's roughly
in line with estimates for analysts compiled by Bloomberg, but it's
also slower than the company is supposed to be.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Well, yeah, my niece was in town. I took her
to the Ralph Laren You know the coffee shop there
on Madison Avenue, and she wanted a hat.

Speaker 6 (05:11):
It was like sixty dollars for basic And did you
so you got her too?

Speaker 1 (05:14):
I don't know, but I mean you can imagine a
mark up on that.

Speaker 5 (05:17):
Hey you know, come on, you know about fancy dressing.
I don't, Yes, you do, I don't. I'm just a
humble You didn't buy her the hat? Humble man, Yeah,
we've seen those, you know, my shop at Burlington.

Speaker 6 (05:27):
Finally, The New York Times, not.

Speaker 5 (05:29):
That there's anything wrong with Burlington.

Speaker 6 (05:31):
The New York Times down one point six percent today,
watching shares of The New York Times all day today.
After the president early this morning, SETI filed a fifteen
billion dollar defamation suit against the company as well as
Penguin Random House, accusing the paper of serving as a
quote mouthpiece for the Democrats. The New York Times set
in a statement, the lawsuit has no merit and is
an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting, and The

(05:53):
Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics. By the way,
the market cap nine and a half billion dollars for
The New York Times. The defamation line suit fifteen billion dollars.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
All right, let's keep an eye on where rates went,
and of course rates went where we expected them to
go down once again here in anticipation of what everyone
seems to expect is going to be a rate cut tomorrow,
but more importantly the start of a rate cutting cycle.
We had Mark, we had a couple of people on
earlier today. You kind of talked about this idea, it's
not just going to be twenty five in September that
we could get think with Barry Knapp, right, katies, and

(06:24):
we could actually get one hundred basis points between now
and end of January.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
That's what he would like to say.

Speaker 5 (06:29):
Yes, Yeah, TBD.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
This Stock Movers report from Bloomberg Radio. Check back with
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