Footwear Insight - Business Report Quarterly

6 Footwear Insight Business Report Quarterly ~ Q3 October 7 2024 QUARTER 3 ENDING 9/23/24 footwearinsight.com K ey U.S. stock market indexes, despite current wide-ranging concerns, performed spectacularly for the first nine months of 2024. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+12.1%) and the S&P 500 (+20.6%) rose by double-digits for nearly the first nine months of this year. e DJIA gained 4,558.43 points between Jan. 2 and Sep. 23, the end of the current Footwear Insight Index, to hit 42,124.65. Similarly, the S&P 500 rose by 975.74 points over the same duration to close at 5,718.57 on Sep. 23. But whether that momentum can carry for the remainder of the year into 2025 is in question given the wide range of concerns hanging over the markets and global economies today. ese issues range from persistent geopolitical worries in Europe and the Middle East to a cooling U.S. labor market and voter worries over an election in 27 days that will likely steer the direction of the country through 2028 and beyond. On the upside, year-over-year inflation is cooling and interest rates on loans and credit cards are likely to fall further in the coming months based on anticipated actions by the Federal Reserve following a 50-basis-point slash on Sep. 17 (the first interest reduction in four years). Offsetting any optimism about those developments, are growingly pessimistic U.S. consumers who are worried about the labor market conditions, their incomes and future business conditions. year. Within the footwear industry, longtime big players in VF Corp. and Nike are working on craing turnaround strategies for their respective footwear businesses while others such as Adidas and Wolverine Worldwide have already begun that process. e sector will undoubtedly need key contributions from all of them to accelerate its growth trajectory in 2025. Changes have been made to each Footwear Insight Index this quarter due to key developments in recent months. Within Retail, department store chain Macy's has replaced Hibbett Sports due to the latter's acquisition by the JD Group in July. e Weyco Group, parent of the Florsheim and Forsake brands among others, has replaced Geox within the Brands segment. e '100' INDEX score from the start of 2024 was recalculated with these two entrants. n MARKETS HEAT UP WHILE INFLATION COOLS 60 76 92 108 124 140 9/23/24 9/16/24 9/9/24 9/3/24 8/26/24 8/19/24 8/12/24 8/5/24 7/29/24 7/22/24 7/15/24 7/8/24 7/1/24 (QUARTER) (AVERAGE) n RETAILERS n BRANDS BY BOB MCGEE

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