Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action news and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Thursday April 18th and I'm your host Kim Kahn. Our top story so far.

Nike is closing in on inking an endorsement deal with Caitlin Clark, that's according to the athletic.

Sources indicate that the eight-figure endorsement deal

would include a signature Nike shoe.

Nike currently has a shoe deal with W.N.A. Star

Sabrina Ianescu, called the Sabrina One.

Caitlin Clark is reported to have been approached by Under Armour and Adidas as well.

The reported deal between Clark and Nike expired after the conclusion of the recently finished college basketball season.

Clark's popularity skyrocketed during the course of the season,

which saw her set the all-time NCAA scoring record and lead her team to the tournament

final.

Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes set attendance records both home and away

while games featuring Caitlin Clark saw sky-high viewership ratings.

Earlier in the week, the WMBA draft saw its viewership soar 400% from a year ago, due in part to the

Caitlin-Clark effect.

Shares of Nike have picked up momentum of the last week after the company held a high-profile

product launch in Paris, the site of the Summer Olympics in just a few months.

The event covered the launch of its blueprint pack offering, consisting of 13 new products across track shoes, basketball shoes, soccer shoes, and lifestyle shoes.

The main attraction was the 41st version of the Nike Pegasus, which is considered the centerpiece of the running business.

In today's trading, stocks are again having trouble getting traction one way or the other,

but the Dow is outperforming the broader market due to another gain in United Health.

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