What Happened?
Shares of american motorcycle manufacturing company Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) fell 3% in the afternoon session after reports pointed to a significant slump in motorcycle sales and the company announced the departure of two key executives.
The move came as industry data showed new motorcycle registrations fell 25.6% in November. For the year, sales were down 15.2% compared to the previous year. Harley-Davidson's own performance also suffered, with sales dropping 15.9% in one period, causing the company to slip from the second to the third top-selling brand in the U.S. Sales through the first nine months of 2025 were also down by nearly 20%. Compounding the negative sales data, the company announced that its Chief Digital and Operations Officer and its Chief Commercial Officer were set to step down.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Harley-Davidson’s shares are quite volatile and have had 16 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 14 days ago when the stock gained 2.8% on the news that renewed enthusiasm for Alphabet reinvigorated the artificial intelligence trade, propelling a market rebound heading into the Thanksgiving holiday. The Nasdaq index jumped 2.6% and the S&P 500 gained 1.6%, driven by a 5% rally in Alphabet following the announcement of its upgraded Gemini 3 AI model. This optimism spilled over into the broader tech sector. The rally built on momentum from the previous trading session, sparked by the New York Fed president keeping the door open for a December interest rate cut.
Harley-Davidson is down 23.3% since the beginning of the year, and at $22.57 per share, it is trading 32.7% below its 52-week high of $33.55 from December 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Harley-Davidson’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $573.42.
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