The activist sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics saw a year-old ad explode in viewership over Super Bowl weekend, leading to sales tripling compared to a normal weekend for the brand. 

The “real girls rock” ad, which premiered in February 2025, was the brand’s second full-length commercial, and initially garnered traction when it was shared on social media by “Harry Potter” author and women’s rights activist, J.K. Rowling. 

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But then, this past weekend, founder Jennifer Sey and the company decided to recirculate the ad, and it went viral again, increasing its total combined views on X to more than 40 million, and was among the highest-trending topics on X for Super Bowl Sunday. 

Sey, a former marketing executive for Levi’s and U.S. champion women’s gymnast, credited Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for being one of the figures to help re-circulate the ad during its viral resurgence.

“That was a big difference-maker,” Sey told FOX Business of Cruz. “He made a huge difference… and we could see it differently, even in terms of traffic to our website.” 

The ad itself portrays the brand’s ambassadors, who have stood up for women’s sports, facing vulgar hate comments and witnessing liberal media outlets berate them as “transphobic.” It featured appearances by OuKick host Riley Gaines and former University of Nevada volleyball player Sia Liilii.

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“It’s the proudest one I’ve ever made in my life,” Sey said. “I’ve made a lot of ads in my life, I was the chief marketing officer at Levi’s for eight years, I’ve made Super Bowl ads… but for sure, this one I’m most proud of. I think the message is just so deeply resonate and I think it really moves people to stand up for this cause.” 

Despite the company’s rapid growth since it launched in 2024, Sey said she doesn’t aspire to ever run one of her ads during the Super Bowl, insisting that the prestige of getting that time slot has waned. 

“I think that the Super Bowl ads having prestige is sort of a thing of the past,” Sey said. “I don’t think anybody cares anymore, I think people leave the room and get food, I don’t think people tune in for the ads anymore. And from a business perspective, I don’t know how you generate a positive return when it costs $10 million just to secure the medium.”

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Sey criticized the quality of this year’s crop of Super Bowl ads in particular. 

“They were just relying on jamming as many celebrities into the ad as they could,” Sey said. “That doesn’t really work.” 

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The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed lower on Tuesday while the Dow edged up to its third record close in a row, as investors digested disappointing retail sales figures and waited for a key labor market report. The S&P 500 communication services sector was the market’s weakest sector, weighed down by Alphabet shares, which fell 1.8% after Google’s parent said it sold bonds worth $20 billion.

The announcement played in to investor ‌worries about the amount of ⁠money technology ⁠companies say they must spend to support the artificial-intelligence boom, with Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft collectively set to spend hundreds of billions in 2026 as they race for AI dominance. Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales unexpectedly stalled in December as households scaled back spending on vehicles and other big-ticket items, suggesting a slower growth path for consumer spending and the economy heading into the new year. The flat reading compared with economists’ estimates for 0.4% growth. Trader hopes edged up for a more dovish Federal Reserve with the probability of a one-notch April rate cut up to 36.9% from 32.2% on Monday, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool. Markets still expect, however, that the central bank will keep rates on hold until June, when President Donald Trump’s Fed chair nominee, Kevin Warsh, would take charge if approved by the U.S. Senate.

Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist ⁠at Janney Montgomery Scott, ‌described the disappointing retail data as “bad news is good news,” particularly for rate-sensitive industry indexes such as utilities and real estate , ​which were leading the ​benchmark’s sector gainers.

But the strategist pointed to caution ahead of the delayed but closely watched nonfarm payrolls report, due on Wednesday.

“In ⁠anticipation of the jobs report, nobody wants to get too far above their risk budget in ​the event the number does cause some consternation,” said Luschini. Potentially adding some angst was White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett’s ​comment on Monday that U.S. job gains could be lower in the coming months because of slower labor force growth and higher productivity due to AI gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 52.27 points, or 0.10%, to 50,188.14, after hitting an intraday record high earlier in the day. The S&P 500 lost 23.01 points, or 0.33%, to 6,941.81 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 136.20 points, or 0.59%, to 23,102.47.
With the S&P 500 narrowly missing a return to its late January record close on Monday, Janney’s Luschini said: “When a security or an index reapproaches a high level again there’s often some hesitation, some contention that has to take place before it can break through that peak again.” Gains ‌of more than 2% in stocks such as Walt Disney and Home Depot helped push up the blue-chip Dow, countering declines in shares including Coca-Cola, which finished down 1.5% after missing Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter revenue.In other individual stocks, Datadog jumped 13.7% and led S&P 500 ​percentage gainers on the ​day after the cloud-based monitoring and analytics platform ⁠beat quarterly estimates. In the consumer discretionary sector, Marriott closed up 8.5% for its biggest daily gain since April after also hitting a record high. The hotel chain projected a 35% jump in fees from co-branded credit cards, as affluent travelers splurge on luxury vacations. Shares of S&P Global slumped 9.7%, making it the biggest loser in the S&P 500 ​after forecasting 2026 profit below analysts’ estimates. Peers Moody’s and MSCI also fell. Spotify shares soared 14.7% after the audio-streaming platform forecast first-quarter earnings above expectations, benefiting from strong user growth and price hikes.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.47-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 795 new highs and 65 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 2,276 stocks rose and 2,447 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.08-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 72 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 105 new highs and 107 new lows.

On U.S. exchanges, 17.89 billion shares changed hands compared with the 20.68 billion-share moving average for the last 20 sessions.

The Yorkshire firm saw revenues rise in the first half of its financial year but was hampered by increasing costs

Housebuilder MJ Gleeson has reported a “robust performance in a subdued market” as revenues increased but profits fell.

The Sheffield firm, which specialises in homes at the lower end of the housing market, has released half year results in which turnover increased 9.6% to £173.1m. But over the same period, operating profit fell by 17.6% to £4.2m.

Gleeson sold 848 homes in the period (up from 801 on the same period last year) and its net reservation rate increased significantly. Average selling prices for its homes went up 2.5% to £198,800.

Its Gleeson Partnerships arm, which focused on building affordable homes for housing associations and private rental investors, secured three further agreements and delivered its first homes. But it was a tougher period for its Gleeson Land division, which fell to a loss despite three land sale transactions in the period and five sites being marketed or in a sales process.

The company said it was “cautiously encouraged by early signs of a recovery in open market demand” with reservation rates in recent weeks up on the end of 2025 though not yet at last year’s levels.

Gleeson said that further changes implemented in January to complete a restructuring of the company would lead to costs of up to £4.5m that would be recognised as exceptional during the second half of the company’s financial year.

Chief executive officer Graham Prothero said: “For the full year, whilst current market expectations remain achievable, a strong Spring selling season remains fundamental to our assumptions in delivering on those expectations and we need to see the recovery gain further momentum. The bulk market has softened further, as investors remain cautious and focused on pricing.

“Margins continue to be pressured as net selling price increases are outpaced by build costs, and we experience increasing regulatory and tax headwinds. We will update our guidance in April 2026 with the benefit of greater trading visibility through to the year end.

“With the right structure and leadership in both businesses, the Group is in a strong position to deliver on its medium-term strategic objectives.”

Gleeson’s results have been released in a week of big announcements from companies in the housebuilding sector. The UK’s largest housebuilder, Barratt Redrow has posted falling half-year profits as it said the late autumn Budget created “significant uncertainty” on top of a lack of homebuyer confidence and spending power. That comes a day after Newcastle firm Bellway had revealed growth in house completions and an increase in its average price.

Ferrari said it expects revenue and earnings to rise this year, supported by its lineup of higher-margin luxury sports models and demand for customized vehicles.

The Italian luxury sports-car maker expects full-year revenue of around 7.5 billion euros ($8.94 billion) this year, up from the 7.15 billion euros it reported in 2025, with the year set to be dictated by new models and higher income from racing activities and its lifestyle business. However, higher investments and currency could drag on earnings.

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