Some economists have expressed concerns that a mere 140-character post from Twitter-happy President Donald Trump can impact a publicly traded company’s stock price. Maybe so, but Nordstrom proved immune to that today when its share price went up after our new Commander-in-Chief complained about the store’s decision to stop selling his daughter Ivanka’s clothing and accessory line.
Here’s what the POTUS wrote this morning:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/829356871848951809
Nordstrom announced the decision last week.
Despite — or perhaps because of — The Donald’s outraged tweet, Nordstrom stock rose a strong four percent on Wednesday, closing at $44.53 (see graph below). That means JWN (the company symbol that stands for founder John W. Nordstrom) jumped $1.75 per share.
Nordstrom shares actually enjoyed a similar rise around noon on February 3, one day after the store announced that it will no longer carry the younger Trump’s clothing brand. Since then, however, JWN had declined. That is, until Trump pushed the button today. (No, not that button, thankfully.)
In response to a torrent of complaints from outraged Trump supporters who believed Nordstrom’s decision was political, the retailer clarified first on Twitter and later in an official statement, that it was strictly a business decision. Ivanka’s wares, alas, just aren’t selling.
“Over the past year, and particularly in the last half of 2016, sales of the brand have steadily declined to the point where it didn’t make good business sense for us to continue with the line for now,” the statement read. “We’ve had a great relationship with the Ivanka Trump team. We’ve had open conversations with them over the past year to share what we’ve seen and Ivanka was personally informed of our decision in early January.”
The last half of 2016 was of course the setting for a bitter presidential election. One that ended with Trump winning the electoral vote but losing the popular vote by a historic margin of nearly three million.
Correlation does not equal causation, but it’s worth noting that last week, Uber took a huge hit thanks to a boycott movement sparked by CEO Tavis Kalanick’s ties to the Trump administration and refusal to speak out against Trump’s controversial immigration ban. In response, Kalanick ultimately withdrew from Trump’s council of economic advisors and the company has become a vocal opponent of the ban.
No word on whether or not Ivanka’s deal included stock options — but here’s hoping, for her sake.