What Happened?
A number of stocks fell in the morning session after President Trump called the Iran ceasefire "over" and vowed to "hit them hard tonight," lifting oil prices.
Apparel is among the most discretionary lines in a household budget, so it suffers first when energy costs climb. With WTI up 7.1% to $75.41, higher gasoline and utility bills leave shoppers less to spend on clothing, and retailers rarely pass those pressures through without denting demand.
The pain is compounded on the cost side: apparel is import-heavy, and a renewed threat to the Strait of Hormuz raises ocean-freight rates, bunker-fuel surcharges, and war-risk insurance on the very shipping lanes that move inventory from Asia. Rising bond yields add a third weight, pressuring the valuations of growth-oriented retail names. Caught between a strained consumer and costlier supply chains, the group traded broadly lower.
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:
- Apparel Retailer company Victoria's Secret (NYSE: VSXY) fell 3.8%. Is now the time to buy Victoria's Secret? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Apparel Retailer company Lululemon (NASDAQ: LULU) fell 3.1%. Is now the time to buy Lululemon? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Apparel Retailer company Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN) fell 3.6%. Is now the time to buy Urban Outfitters? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On Victoria's Secret (VSXY)
Victoria's Secret’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 36 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 27 days ago when the stock gained 4.4% after President Trump reversed course on a military escalation against Iran that wiped $1.2 trillion from the market earlier in the day.
The session opened under heavy pressure after Trump posted on Truth Social that the U.S. would attack Iran "VERY HARD TONIGHT" and threatened to seize the country's oil assets. Then, around midday, he posted again cancelling the planned strikes. His statement said discussions had been brought to "the highest level of Iranian leadership" and that final points of a peace deal had been "approved by all parties involved," citing thirteen countries including the U.S., Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar. A signing date would be "announced shortly."
The market moved the moment the post landed. The S&P 500 jumped 1.4%, the Dow surged, and the Nasdaq gained 1.8%. Oil fell more than 3%. The 10-year Treasury yield eased from 4.55% to 4.47%.
The read-through is simple: lower oil means lower inflation means less pressure on the Fed to hike. Iran's disruption of the Strait of Hormuz was the single largest driver of the 4.2% annual inflation print reported earlier in the week as energy alone accounted for more than 60% of May's monthly CPI increase. A ceasefire that reopens the Strait unwinds that pressure immediately, potentially taking the December rate hike that markets were fully pricing in off the table.
Victoria's Secret is up 40.2% since the beginning of the year, and at $74.82 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $80.06 from June 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Victoria's Secret’s shares at the IPO in July 2021 would now be looking at an investment worth $1,761.
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