Stock Market Rally Pulls Back; Lululemon, Affirm, Tesla, Coinbase In

The stock market rally saw the major indexes retreating modestly, with the Dow Jones briefly dipping below its 50-day line. But the Nasdaq and S&P 500 remain near all-time highs while many growth stocks acted well. Lululemon Athletica (LULU), Affirm (AFRM) and RH (RH) were notable earnings winners. Tesla (TSLA) China sales jump, but most of Shanghai output went to Europe. Bitcoin tumbled from multimonth highs, while Coinbase (COIN) lashed out at the SEC.

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Market Rally Pauses

After growth-led gains in the prior two weeks, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 fell modestly this past week, still near record highs. The Dow Jones retreated below its 50-day line on Thursday, but was set to retake that key level on Friday. Industrial, homebuilders and steel stocks struggled, but many housing-related stocks and apparel plays did well, as well as many growth names.

Tesla’s August China Sales Jump

Tesla (TSLA) wholesale sales totaled 44,264 in August, up 34% from July’s 32,968, even as chip shortages continue to weigh on automakers. It exported 31,379 from its Shanghai factory, 29% more than in July. Tesla’s August sales in China jumped 32% vs. May, the second month in the last quarter. Sales are up 30% in the first two months of this quarter vs. the first two months of last quarter. However, local sales dropped 41% in August vs. May, while exports ballooned 172%. Meanwhile, Tesla stock rose modestly in a buy zone. Chinese electric car sales tripled in August. China new energy vehicle wholesale sales totaled 304,000. EV-only wholesale sales leapt 200% to 249,000.

Ford (F) hired Doug Field, who headed up the top-secret Apple Car project. Field previously was a top Tesla executive, and once worked at Ford decades ago.

Lululemon Crushes Earnings

Lululemon (LULU) earnings per share more than doubled from the year-ago period to $1.65 on a 61% sales jump to $1.45 billion, both beating estimates. Direct-to-consumer net revenue grew 8% to $597.4 million. Net revenue surged 63% in North America, and jumped 49% internationally. Lululemon opened 11 stores in the quarter, bringing the total to 534. LULU stock hit a new high.

LULU stock spiked to a record high.

Affirm Soars On Results

Affirm reported a wider-than-expected loss, but revenue grew 71%, easily beating views. The fintech also guided higher. Shares soared. The “buy now, pay later” specialist recently reached a partnership with Amazon (AMZN) after already working with Walmart (WMT) and Shopify (SHOP). PayPal (PYPL) acquired Japanese fintech Paidy for $2.7 billion, bolstering its BNPL offerings. Last month Square (SQ) agreed to pay $29 billion for AfterPay. BNPL installment payment services are encroaching on the credit card industry.

Copart Posts Another Solid Quarter

Copart (CPRT) beat earnings and revenue estimates for the fourth quarter. The salvage vehicle retailer’s earnings rose 51% to 1.03 on a 42% jump in sales to $748.6 million. It’s the fifth straight quarter of earnings growth and the third quarter…