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Arhaus, Sleep Number, Williams-Sonoma, Academy Sports, and Bath and Body Works Shares Skyrocket, What You Need To Know

By: StockStory

ARHS Cover Image

What Happened?

A number of stocks jumped in the morning session after a tame inflation report boosted investor hopes for an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve. The latest Consumer Price Index data showed the annual inflation rate held steady at 2.7%, reassuring investors who had feared that tariffs could lead to a spike in consumer prices. This milder-than-expected reading gives the Federal Reserve more flexibility to consider lowering interest rates, possibly as soon as next month. A potential rate cut could reduce borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, stimulating more spending and providing a significant boost for the retail industry. Adding to the optimism, reports of a 90-day tariff truce with China further eased concerns about future price pressures.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

Zooming In On Sleep Number (SNBR)

Sleep Number’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 89 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 8 days ago when the stock gained 4.5% on the news that markets rebounded following a sharp sell-off in the previous trading session as a weaker-than-expected July jobs report fueled investor hopes for a potential interest rate cut. The U.S. economy added only 73,000 jobs in July, falling well short of the 110,000 expected by economists. This disappointing data has led to a dramatic shift in market sentiment regarding the Federal Reserve's next move. 

According to the CME FedWatch Tool, the probability of a September interest rate cut has surged from around 40% to over 80%. Lower interest rates generally stimulate the economy by making borrowing cheaper for consumers. This can lead to increased spending on discretionary items, such as apparel and home goods, which directly benefits consumer retail companies. The prospect of more accommodative monetary policy is therefore boosting investor confidence in the sector's outlook.

Sleep Number is down 38% since the beginning of the year, and at $9.27 per share, it is trading 54.6% below its 52-week high of $20.41 from December 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Sleep Number’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $200.32.

Today’s young investors won’t have read the timeless lessons in Gorilla Game: Picking Winners In High Technology because it was written more than 20 years ago when Microsoft and Apple were first establishing their supremacy. But if we apply the same principles, then enterprise software stocks leveraging their own generative AI capabilities may well be the Gorillas of the future. So, in that spirit, we are excited to present our Special Free Report on a profitable, fast-growing enterprise software stock that is already riding the automation wave and looking to catch the generative AI next.

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