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BUSINESSFriday 2 October 2015

Wall Street ends flat before monthly jobs report                                                                                                                 INDUSTRY

    The Associated Press         On Wednesday, the S&P          of manufacturing rose in         for crude. The Institute for                                    UPDATES
NEW YORK (AP) — A late           500, the most widely used      September, up from its low-      Supply Management said
turn gave the stock market       measure of U.S. invest-        est level in three years.        Thursday that U.S. manu-                                        U.S. construction
a meager gain to start the       ments, closed out the          Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s       facturers expanded at their                                     spending up 0.7
month Thursday, a day af-        quarter with a 7.4 percent     Nikkei 225 jumped 1.9 per-       slowest pace in two years                                      percent in August 
ter it finished its worst quar-  loss.Among companies in        cent, South Korea’s Kospi        last month, held back by
ter in four years.               the news, Dunkin’ Brands       rose 0.8 percent, and Aus-       faltering global growth.                                      M. CRUTSINGER
Investors were looking           plunged 12 percent after       tralia’s S&P/ASX 200 ad-         The price of crude oil fell                                   AP Economics Writer
ahead to Friday when the         the company’s revenue          vanced 1.8 percent.              35 cents to close at $44.74                                   WASHINGTON (AP) —
government releases its          estimates fell short of ana-   Prices for U.S. government       a barrel in New York. Brent                                   Spending on U.S. construc-
monthly jobs report. Econo-                                                                                                                                    tion projects rose in August
mists forecast that employ-      Madison Square Garden Company President and CEO David O’Connor, right, is applauded by                                        to the highest point in more
ers added 200,000 workers        MSG Networks Inc. President and CEO Andrea Greenberg, center, and others as his company’s                                     than seven years, fueled
to their payrolls last month.    spinoff begins trading, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.                                  by home building and gov-
Strong hiring would likely                                                                                                                                     ernment projects.
raise expectations that                                                                                                               (AP Photo/Richard Drew)  Construction spending in
the Federal Reserve will in-                                                                                                                                   August increased 0.7 per-
crease its benchmark inter-      lysts’ forecasts. Dunkin’      bonds edged up, nudging          Crude, a benchmark for                                        cent from July, when it had
est rate at its next meeting     Brands dropped $6 to an        the yield down to 2.04 per-      international oils used by                                    risen 0.4 percent, the Com-
later this month.                even $43. Twitter lost 8.4     cent from 2.05 percent late      many U.S. refineries, fell 68                                 merce Department said
If the jobs report were to       percent amid reports that      Wednesday. The euro rose         cents to close at $47.69 in                                   Thursday.
show a gain of more than         the social-media compa-        to $1.1188 while the dollar      London.
200,000, people will start       ny will name co-founder        dipped to 119.90 yen.            In other futures trading on                                    The latest result suggests
wondering about the Fed’s        Jack Dorsey as CEO for a       Precious and industrial met-     the New York Mercantile                                       that  businesses  remain
next move, said Brad Mc-         second time. Its stock sank    als settled with small losses.   Exchange:                                                     confident enough in the
Millan, chief investment offi-   $2.26 to $24.68.               Gold dropped $1.50 to fin-       — Wholesale gasoline re-                                      economy to expand. Con-
cer at the Commonwealth          In Europe, Germany’s           ish at $1,113.70 an ounce,       mained unchanged at                                           struction activity is expect-
Financial Network. “That         DAX fell 1.6 percent, and      and silver slipped a penny       $1.367 a gallon.                                              ed to provide solid support
could mean we’re in for          France’s CAC-40 fell 0.7       to $14.51 an ounce. Cop-         — Heating oil fell 1.7 cents                                  for the overall economy for
another big drop,” he said.      percent. The FTSE 100 in-      per lost 4 cents to $2.30 per    to close at $1.520 a gallon.                                  the rest of the year.
Mounting concerns about          dex of leading British shares  pound.                           — Natural gas fell 9.1 cents                                  The gains were led by gains
slowing global economic          edged up 0.2.                  The price of oil fell Thursday   to close at $2.433 per 1,000                                  of 1.3 percent in home
growth and the timing of         There was some encour-         on weakness in U.S. manu-        cubic feet, its lowest level                                  building and 0.5 percent in
the Fed’s first interest-rate    aging news out of China        facturing, which could           since the summer of 2012,                                     government construction
hike in nearly a decade          where an official measure      lead to lower demand             on high supplies.q                                            projects.
battered markets over re-                                                                                                                                      Private nonresidential con-
cent months.                                                                                                                                                   struction also advanced,
Without any big devel-                                                                                                                                         but by a more modest 0.2
opments to drive the ac-                                                                                                                                       percent. Two key areas
tion on Thursday, trading                                                                                                                                      — office building and the
appeared aimless. The                                                                                                                                          category that covers shop-
Standard & Poor’s 500 in-                                                                                                                                      ping centers — both de-
dex took a sharp fall in                                                                                                                                       clined.
the morning, languished                                                                                                                                        The 1.3 percent rise in
throughout the afternoon                                                                                                                                       home construction reflect-
then climbed back to finish                                                                                                                                    ed a 4.8 percent surge in
the day with a slight gain.                                                                                                                                    apartment construction
The S&P 500 added 3.79                                                                                                                                         and a more modest 0.7
points, or 0.2 percent, to                                                                                                                                     percent rise in construction
close at 1,923.82.                                                                                                                                             of single-family homes.
The Dow Jones industrial                                                                                                                                       The 0.5 percent rise in gov-
average fell 12.69 points,                                                                                                                                     ernment construction proj-
or 0.1 percent, to 16,272.01                                                                                                                                   ects was driven by a 0.5
and the Nasdaq compos-                                                                                                                                         percent rise in state and lo-
ite gained 6.92 points, or                                                                                                                                     cal projects and a 0.6 per-
0.2 percent, to 4,627.08.                                                                                                                                      cent rise in federal building
                                                                                                                                                               projects.
Apple diversifying, names ex-Boeing CFO to board                                                                                                               The overall economy, as
                                                                                                                                                               measured by the gross do-
CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) —         fire for not having enough     headed the push for great-       career at the company,                                        mestic product, expanded
Apple has filled a void on       women and minorities in        er diversity in Silicon Valley,                                                                at an annual rate of 3.9
its board of directors with      leadership roles and in their  applauded Apple CEO Tim          Bell also was interim CEO                                     percent in the April-June
James Bell, the former chief     overall workforce.             Cook for bringing Bell on to                                                                   quarter.
financial officer for aircraft   Apple already has two          the board of the Cupertino,      in 2005. He fills a vacancy                                   Business spending on struc-
maker Boeing Co.                 women on what is now an        California, company.                                                                           tures grew at a 6.2 percent
Bell becomes the only Afri-      eight-director board. Two      “We are delighted but not        created on Apple’s board                                      rate during the spring while
can American on Apple’s          of Apple’s top executives,     surprised,” Jackson said.                                                                      construction of homes was
board, helping the iPhone        Lisa Jackson and Denise        “Tim Cook has made a wise        when J. Crew Group CEO                                        growing at an even faster
and iPad maker diversify its     Young-Smith, are also Afri-    choice. James Bell is emi-                                                                     9.3 percent rate after gains
corporate hierarchy at a         can Americans.                 nently qualified.”               Millard “Mickey” Drexler                                      of 10 percent over the pre-
time when major technol-         Civil rights leader Jesse      Besides serving as Boeing’s                                                                    vious six months.q
ogy companies are under          Jackson, who has spear-        CFO during his 38-year           relinquished his spot earlier

                                                                                                 this year.

                                                                                                 Bell also sits on the boards

                                                                                                 of JP Morgan Chase, Dow

                                                                                                 Chemical and another

                                                                                                 technology  company,

                                                                                                 CDW.q
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