Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Friday 16 March 2018
A25

US stocks end mostly lower as midday gains slip away

nomic reports or further also declined. Technology
development on issues like companies finished with
tariffs, stocks drifted up small gains, however.
and down. The market was Tech stocks did far better
coming off two days of loss- than the rest of the stock
es, and while stocks briefly market in 2017, and they
moved higher in the middle are the only part of the S&P
of the day, they couldn't 500 that has fully recovered
sustain any momentum. from last month's sell-off,
Agribusiness company and Lindsey Bell, an invest-
Monsanto fell after Bloom- ment strategist at CFRA
berg News reported that Research, thinks there is a
U.S. authorities have con- good chance the industry
cerns about its sale to Bay- will outpace the broader
er and might order Bayer to market again this year.q
sell more assets. Toymakers
Hasbro and Mattel sagged
as Toys R Us moved toward
shuttering its U.S. stores.
Industrial companies
bounced back after three
Trader Robert Arciero, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks finished days of declines that
mostly lower Thursday in another choppy day of trading after a midday rally faded. stemmed from worries
(AP Photo/Richard Drew) about trade tensions. After
big gains earlier this month,
By MARLEY JAY day in another choppy day rose, but smaller compa- smaller, more U.S.-focused
AP Markets Writer of trading after a midday nies and chemical makers companies continued to
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rally faded. Industrial and skidded. slip. Drugstores and pack-
finished mostly lower Thurs- technology companies Without any major eco- aged food companies
Ben & Jerry's maker ditches London HQ

By MIKE CORDER,PAN PYLA iffs could be imposed on a focused company with in- the company's shares will
THE HAGUE, Netherlands host of products, hobbling creased strategic flexibility continue to be traded in
(AP) — Unilever, the Ang- supply chains and raising for value-creating portfolio London. On Thursday, the
lo-Dutch consumer goods costs for firms. Unilever, change," Chairman Marijn share price closed down
multinational whose vast however, argued that the Dekkers said. "The changes 1.7 percent in London and
stable of brands includes move is driven by its need announced today also fur- 1.0 percent in Amsterdam.
Dove, Knorr and Ben & to simplify its structure. Last ther strengthen Unilever's "Whilst it is tempting to polit-
Jerry's, has opted to have year, it vowed to slim down corporate governance, icize this decision as a clear
its sole headquarters in the its organization and create creating for the first time and obvious example of
Netherlands rather than more value for sharehold- in our history a 'one share, waning confidence in post-
Britain, ending a dual struc- ers after rebuffing a $143 one vote' principle for all Brexit Britain, that would be
ture that goes back nearly billion hostile takeover bid our shareholders." David remiss, with the simple facts
90 years. The company by rival Kraft Heinz. Besides Cheetham, chief market being that it is purely busi-
said Thursday that the de- consolidating the head- analyst at XTB, said the rea- ness-based," Cheetham
cision to pick Rotterdam quarters, it will also divide soning seems "pretty logi- said.q
over London is part of a its operations into three di- cal" given that the Dutch
raft of structural changes visions — Beauty & Person- business represents 55 per-
that will turn it into "a sim- al Care, Home Care, and cent of Unilever's overall
pler, more agile and more Foods & Refreshment. "The share capital and that the
focused business." While board believes the move to shares listed in Amsterdam
Unilever made no mention three divisions and the sim- are more liquid than those
of Britain's impending de- plification of our corporate in London. Though the
parture from the European structure will create a sim- dual headquarters will be-
Union, the decision should pler, more agile and more come a thing of the past,
in practice help it manage
the uncertainties of Brexit
and is highly symbolic at
a time of doubts over Lon-
don as a global capital.
Many firms with operations
across the EU are worried
about the potential disrup-
tion after Britain leaves the
bloc in a little more than a
year's time. In a scenario
where Britain and the EU
fail to agree on the outlines
of a future relationship, tar-