Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Wednesday 17 January 2018
A25

Dow industrials recede from 26,000 as early gains fade

By ALEX VEIGA percent, to 2,776.42. The up $4.26 to $232.90. Else-
AP Business Writer Dow lost 10.33 points, or where in the market, par-
Losses by industrial and 0.04 percent, to 25,792.86. ticularly with technology
technology companies It had been up as much and industrial stocks, inves-
helped pull U.S. stocks as 282 points earlier. The tors opted to sell. “A big
lower Tuesday, pulling the Nasdaq shed 37.38 points, concern is the market right
market back from its latest or 0.5 percent, to 7,223.69. now is: ‘Is tax reform priced
record highs. The Russell 2000 index of in?’” said Lindsey Bell, in-
The slide erased some of smaller-company stocks vestment strategist at CFRA
the gains from a broad gave up 19 points, or 1.2 Research. Alliance Data
rally earlier in the day that percent, to 1,572.97. Systems led the technology
had sent the Dow Jones Bond prices rose. The yield sector decliners, shedding
industrial average past the on the 10-year Treasury fell $18.30, or 6.6 percent, to
26,000-point threshold for to 2.54 percent from 2.55 $258.07. General Electric
the first time. percent late Friday. was among the biggest
Energy stocks also fell as The Dow’s latest milestone- Specialist John McNierney works at the post that handles laggards in the industrials
crude oil prices declined. setting move happened General Electric on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, sector. The conglomerate
Health care stocks were shortly after the market Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. slid 2.9 percent after the
among the gainers as in- opened Tuesday as inves- (AP Photo/Richard Drew) company said it was taking
vestors sized up the latest tors weighed encouraging lower only one other day the standard tax rate from a $6.2 billion charge relat-
company earnings and earnings from Citigroup this year. It capped last 35 percent to 21 percent ed to its insurance portfolio.
deal news following a long and UnitedHealth Group. week with its seventh week- and are bidding up their GE lost 55 cents to $18.21.
holiday weekend. It took the Dow seven trad- ly gain in the past eight. share prices. Viacom tumbled 7 per-
“We’ve come perhaps a lit- ing days since it first closed Investors have been en- On Tuesday, Citigroup re- cent after following several
tle bit too far, too fast,” said above 25,000 on Jan. 4 couraged by strong global ported an $18.3 billion loss reports saying the media
Terry Sandven, chief eq- to cross the 26,000-point growth and rising company for the fourth quarter due company is not in talks to
uity strategist at U.S. Bank threshold. That’s faster than earnings. For the next few to the new tax law. But merge with CBS Corp. The
Wealth Management. “If the 23 days it took the Dow weeks, traders will have excluding the one-time slide followed a sharp jump
you look at year-to-date to go from 24,000 to 25,000 their eye on companies re- charges, Citigroup earned in Viacom Friday after a
performance, you have points, which was a record porting results for the final a profit. The stock added published report suggested
the broad popular indi- thousand-point swing. quarter of 2017 for details 27 cents to $77.11. that a merger might be a
ces up roughly 3 to almost The milestone moment on how the tax overhaul UnitedHealth Group possibility. Viacom fell $2.38
5 percent in two weeks’ didn’t last. The rally lost that took effect earlier this gained 1.9 percent after to $31.38. CBS rose 60 cents,
trading. That’s a fairly torrid steam by early afternoon, year will affect corpora- its said earnings more than or 1 percent, to $59.43.
pace and a pace that we ultimately pulling the Dow tions. doubled in the final quarter The price of bitcoin
think is perhaps a little ag- and the other major index- Many companies are tak- of 2017. The nation’s larg- slumped, deepening its
gressive, so a little bit of a es into the red. ing one-off charges for est insurer also raised its slide this year, after South
pause here would perhaps Even with Tuesday’s rever- bringing home money held forecast well beyond ex- Korea’s top financial poli-
be constructive.” sal the stock market is off abroad, but traders expect pectations, largely due to cymaker said that banning
The Standard & Poor’s 500 to a stellar start in 2018. The them to benefit in the long help from the federal tax trading in digital currencies
index fell 9.82 points, or 0.4 S&P 500 index has closed run from the decision to cut overhaul. The stock picked was an option. q
With a $6B charge comes new thoughts about GE’s future

BOSTON (AP) — General to have this type of devel- billion over the next year tal plans to make statutory nies that want to buy GE’s
Electric Co. is signaling it opment when we’ve been or two. At the heart of the reserve contributions of industrial products, such as
may undergo a more com- making progress on many issue revealed Tuesday about $15 billion over sev- airplane engines or medi-
prehensive transformation, of our key objectives,” he at GE Capital is the level en years. It will contribute cal equipment.q
a decade after breaking said in a conference call of premiums being paid about $3 billion in 2018’s
off substantial pieces of the with investors. to offset costs for aging first quarter and about $2
multinational conglomer- Flannery has said he wants policy holders. The com- billion annually from 2019
ate in bid to a return it to its GE to be a smaller and pany, after a deeper dive, through 2024.
industrial roots. more focused, concentrat- found that the premiums Since the financial crisis, GE
CEO John Flannery, who ing on three divisions: en- being paid would not off- has significantly reduced
was put in charge of reviv- ergy, aviation and health set claims. That led to the the size and scope of GE
ing the company last sum- care. He has emphasized charge and the suspen- Capital. It now focuses on
mer, on Tuesday revealed that each business must sion of dividends. GE Capi- offering loans to compa-
significant issues with GE deliver and that more di-
Capital’s insurance portfo- rect links between perfor-
lio that will lead to a $6.2 mance and reward were
billion after-tax charge in critical. “It’s a kind of thing
the fourth quarter. that could result in many,
GE Capital, the company’s many different permuta-
finance division, will also tions including separately
suspend its dividend to the traded assets really in any
parent company for the one of our units if that’s
foreseeable future. what made sense,” Flan-
Flannery called the devel- nery said.
opments “deeply disap- The CEO has already
pointing.” vowed to shed business
“It’s especially frustrating units worth more than $20