WSJ What’s News - What’s News in Markets: Temu’s Pressures, Nvidia Delivers, Beautiful E.l.f.

Episode Date: May 31, 2025

What drove Temu’s profit down? And why doesn't Nvidia seem to need China to sell? Plus, how E.l.f. Beauty’s stock got a major glow-up. Host Francesca Fontana discusses the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, listeners. It's Saturday, May 31st. I'm Francesca Fontana for the Wall Street Journal and this is What's News in Markets, our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Let's get to it. You guys know I usually do a play by play of the week, right? I go day by day, give you the biggest stock moving news in the order that we got it. But this week, I think the big question is, where are we with tariffs right now? Are they done? Are they back? Were they ever really gone?

So where are we with tariffs? Well, they're still in place. For now. But if you can imagine a cloud hanging over them right now, and that cloud's name is Legal Limbo. First, the U.S. Court of International Trade invalidated nearly all of President Trump's tariffs. Then, a federal appeals court allowed them to stay in effect. Now, that's not going to be the end of this saga, and it's certainly not the end of

the trade war, or our collective whiplash. Of course, there's other noise—Trump accusing China of violating its deal with the US, etc. But that is the long and the short of it. Tariffs are still in place, companies aren't ripping up their revised guidance or ditching their plans to mitigate the cost of the tariffs, and we're all just putting one foot in front of the other. Anyway, what'd the indexes do? Well, all three ended the week higher and notched gains for the month.

The Dow ended May with a gain of 3.9%, the S&P 500 rose about 6.2%, and the Nasdaq jumped more than 9%. Alright, first up, Tmoo. Or is it Tehmoo? You know, I thought I had it down after the Super Bowl commercial with the song, but I've forgotten. So my wonderful producers have helped me nail it down. It's Teh-moo.

Anyway, Teh-moo, the popular e-commerce seller owned by Chinese parent company PDD Holdings, is under serious pressure thanks to U.S. tariffs. PDD Holdings said this week that its profit dropped nearly 50% in the first quarter, which woof, is a big slide given how strong Temu's rise has been in the U.S. Temu's ultra-cheap everyday items have been a hit with budget-conscious American consumers. See also Chinese fast-fashion e-retailer, Xiyin. And these companies aren't just dealing with the new American tariffs, but also the disappearance of a duty exemption for low value or small packages from China.

And they've both relied heavily on it. So when all of this came rolling out, we saw Tammu raising prices and temporarily halting all shipments from China. And you can see how this might have affected their bottom line. So what does this mean for the U.S. traded shares of PDD? Well, PDD dropped 14% on Tuesday and, on the week, lost 19%. One business that is managing to overcome its Chinese trade woes is, da da da da, NVIDIA. The chip giant's business is still booming, even while it's effectively shut out of China's giant AI chip market.

On Wednesday, NVIDIA posted another quarter of record-breaking sales, with quarterly revenue reaching $44.06 billion, which is a 69% increase, even with Washington's roadblocks limiting sales to China. Nvidia's shares gained more than 3% on Thursday. And the stock helped power indexes to modest gains despite all of the back-and-forth court rulings I told you about re-Trump and tariffs. And on the week, the stock notched a gain of 2.9%. Last but not least, Elf Beauty's stock got a major glow up after announcing a $1 billion deal to acquire Hailey Bieber's beauty brand. Hailey Bieber, the American model and wife of Justin Bieber, started Rode back in 2022. And Elf said that buying Rode will help diversify its supply chain out of China.

Sorry, I know, China this, China that, it's just how it is. Elf shares ended up rocketing 24% higher on Thursday, and on the week notched a gain of 34%. And now you know what's news in markets this week. You can read about more stocks that moved on the week's news in the score, my column in the Wall Street Journal's Exchange section. Today's show was produced by Zoe Kolkin and Anthony Bansi, with supervising producer Michael Kosmitis.

I'm Francesca Fontana. Have a great weekend and I'll see you next Saturday.