Dick’s Sporting Goods stock soars, after CEO says help will be provided for those needing to travel for legal abortions

Shares of Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. shot up 9.6% in midday trading Friday, to pace all the SPDR S&P Retail ETF’s gainers, after Chief Executive Lauren Hobart said the sporting goods retailer will help pay travel expenses if employees need to obtain a legal abortion. Earlier Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had granted the right to abortion in all 50 states for nearly the past 50 years, paving the way for roughly half the states to ban abortion. “In response to today’s ruling, we are announcing that if a state one of our teammates lives in restricts access to abortion, DICK’s Sporting Goods will provide up to $4,000 in travel expense reimbursement to travel to the nearest location where that care is legally available,” Hobart said in a LinkedIn message. The stock’s rally outperformed its retail peers and the broader stock market by a wide margin, as the SPDR S&P Retail ETF rose 3.4% and the S&P 500 advanced 2.3%.

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