The brand is enduring an unusually long, deep cold streak. Analysts blame the falloff on Converse’s inability to innovate and its overreliance on the Chuck Taylor model, Fortune’s Phil Wahba reports.

Vans, owned by VF Corp, has had a similarly hard time in recent years for the same reason: over-reliance on skater shoes in distinctive checkered patterns. “We’ve never seen a 44% decline in demand for a brand,” BNP Paribas analyst Laurent Vasilescu noted, citing Converse’s sales deterioration in the fiscal quarter that ended in November 2025. The analyst said he wouldn’t be surprised if Nike ultimately decided to sell off Converse.

MORE FROM FORTUNE

Steven Bartlett Built an Audience of Millions. What Does He Owe Them? | Fortune Daily

Ex–OpenAI engineer accused of bugging office stays in jail as prosecutors allege Saudi ties: ‘Once he leaves, there’s no getting him back’ - Emily Forlini and Wen Shao

Ukraine’s drones lose their Starlink link above 100 mph. Musk, Rubio, and Trump all say it wasn’t them - Steven John

Zuckerberg spent years building on Apple’s terms. His $100 billion-plus AI bet is about owning everything - Molly A. Wallace

Larry Page could dodge nearly $15 billion in taxes after leaving California and spending $173 million on a Miami compound - Sydney Lake

An Ohio court’s ruling against $776 million in vouchers reignites the fight over who should pay for private school - Bilin Lin

Strangers are paying up to $150 for empty seats at weddings all because one couple ran out of date-night ideas—20,000 people have signed up - Catherina Gioino

Don’t vilify data centers for the wrong reasons — just demand better ones - Adhum Carter Wolde-Lule

THE MARKETS

A lot of things are going wrong all at the same time

S&P 500 futures were marginally down before the New York open after a tough day for markets in Asia and Europe. Traders sold off after oil hit $111 per barrel this morning, an AI IPO in South Korea lost 30% on its debut, and the yield on the French 10-year bond hit 4.94%, a level it has not seen since 2002.

The bad news began in Asia, with the market debut of AI cloud provider Elice. Its IPO was modest—raising just $150 million—but the fact that its stock tanked upon launch was a reminder that investors have lingering skepticism about AI. Nasdaq futures declined as well.

Although the supply of oil from the Middle East has increased in recent days, its price went up anyway after Saudi Arabia canceled its Future Investment Initiative conference—better known as “Davos in the Desert”—following Houthi attacks on the airport in Riyadh. Alphabet president Ruth Porat, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink had been billed as attendees. The Houthis also struck two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday.

And then there is France. The government imposed a curfew on major cities last night after nights of rioting and looting on the streets of Paris. Video on social media showed distressed shopkeepers begging young men to stop stealing their inventory—and those young men pushing them aside to grab shoes and food from their shelves. Similar unrest spread to Milan yesterday. With no end to the crisis in sight, investors again ditched French bonds, pushing up their yields. “Latest dynamics show signs of global, not just French debt crisis,” Commerzbank’s Christoph Rieger said in a note.

• S&P 500 futures were flat this morning. The index rose 0.41% yesterday. 
• In Europe, the Stoxx 600 fell 0.34% in early trading, and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 fell 0.54% before lunch.
• Asia: South Korea’s KOSPI was down 3.73%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 1.30%. India’s markets were closed for a national holiday. China’s CSI 300 was down 0.54%.
• Brent crude rose to $111 per barrel, up from $108 yesterday.
• Bitcoin was at $82,769.

• Read more: Q3 earnings are off to a weak start as Wall Street plots how the AI boom may come to an end.

CHART OF THE DAY

How the U.S. government takes in, and then overspends, your money

Historically, the U.S. federal government takes in about 18% of GDP in the form of various taxes, according to Thomas Carroll and Miles Matyiko at Stifel. Unfortunately, the government then spends the equivalent of 24% of GDP on its various programs. Note the yellow band—interest on the national debt—which is expanding fast.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Michael Corleone has too much at stake to let his brother Fredo screw up the family business.”

—Ed Yardeni & Toby Hearst, writing in a note titled, “Yes, AI Is Too Big To Fail.” Their argument is that recent wobbles in the market for AI corporate debt won’t result in a full-blown crash. “If some AI-related credits do blow up, the Godfathers of the AI mafia (along with their protectors in the government) will clean up the mess,” they say.

THE FRONT PAGES TODAY

Freshfields apologises ‘unreservedly’ over Middle East comments in email leak - FT

Albertans have made 'clear choice' to remain part of Canada, says PM Mark Carney - BBC

What’s making Europe so angry? The frustration behind the protests - CNBC

Hegseth meets Netanyahu on unannounced Israel visit - Axios

Netflix, America’s Dominant Streaming Service, Has Hit a Wall - WSJ

Merz Warns Europe That It’s Underestimating Russia’s Threat - Bloomberg

Russian Satellite Makes a Menacing Approach to Another Craft in Orbit - NYT

Feds have DNA evidence that could prove Ilhan Omar wed her brother, committed immigration fraud: sources - NY Post

ONE MORE THING

Running it up the flagpole: Gen Z wants to kill your favorite office clichés

It used to be hard to walk through an office without hearing “let’s circle back” or “let’s take this offline,” but a study from online language-learning platform Preply suggests some of corporate America’s favorite buzzwords are losing their grip.

Preply analyzed 3,000 Reddit posts and comments about corporate jargon. “Circle back” was the most complained-about phrase, with 203 mentions. It beat “synergy” (181), “bandwidth” (97), “touch base” (96), and “take this offline” (62).

A lot of people don’t seem to know what common business words mean. Among the jargon pulled from Reddit, the most-searched terms were “paradigm,” with 311,000 monthly searches, and “synergy,” with 310,000. After those come “best practice,” with 303,000, and “bandwidth,” with 187,000.

If you want to “close the loop” on this “deep dive,” read Sasha Tuddenham’s story here.

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