Even Wall Street couldn’t turn away from the surreal Tiger Woods press conference on Friday, with traders on the New York Stock Exchange focusing on the televised apology as trading volume slowed.
Woods, who told the world he will return to golf but isn’t sure when, also appeared to impact individual stocks. Nike (NKE), the sponsor most closely tied to the sports legend, saw its stock pare its losses after the statement. Shares of Nike, which said in a statement it “fully supports” Tiger, were recently flat at $64.40, off its low of $64.01.
Video game publisher Electronic Arts (ERTS) saw a more pronounced bump, with its stock jumping from near-session lows of $16.50 before the 11:00 a.m. EST press conference to session highs of $16.87 in afternoon trading. EA Sports, which makes “Tiger Woods PGA Tour,” released a statement from its president, Peter Moore, saying: “"Our strong relationship with Tiger, for more than a decade, remains unchanged.”
The Tiger saga took away from the day’s “real” market news: the Federal Reserve’s decision to boost the discount rate, its first step in removing the easy-money punchbowl flooding the financial system.
“I suspect that Tiger’s news conference today will get more attention than the Fed move on rates last night,” Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital Group, wrote in a note ahead of the press conference. “Not just because the Fed move was inevitable but because the futures have already priced in yesterday’s rate hike -- it’s yesterday’s news already. Tiger is so today.”
Nick Kalivas, vice president of financial research at MF Global, echoed that Tiger sentiment, saying of the press conference, “I think everyone was watching it. I know we all were."
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