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BUSINESS Saturday 19 OctOber 2019
A25

Stocks slip as first big week of earnings heads to a finish

By ALEX VEIGA finished those earnings sea-
Associated Press sons with tiny contractions
Technology companies instead.
led a slide in stocks on Wall SATISFYING SODA: Coca-
Street Friday afternoon as Cola rose 2.1% after the
investors weighed a mix of company edged out Wall
company earnings reports. Street's third-quarter reve-
The selling erased some nue forecasts on improved
of the market's gains from sales of Coca-Cola Zero
a day earlier. Still, the S&P Sugar and other drinks.
500 was on track to end RECALLED POWDER: John-
a choppy week of trad- son & Johnson fell 5.3% af-
ing with its second straight ter the company said it is
weekly gain. recalling a single lot of its
Communication services baby powder because a
stocks also accounted for test found trace amounts
a big slice of the selling. of asbestos in one bottle.
Facebook dropped 2.3% The recall comes as J&J
and Netflix lost 5.9%. fights thousands of lawsuits
Boeing led industrial sector in which plaintiffs claim its
stocks following news that iconic baby powder was
the aircraft manufacturer contaminated with asbes-
waited months to disclose tos and that it caused ovar-
troubling internal commu- In this Oct. 2, 2019, file photo specialist William Geier works on the floor of the New York Stock ian cancer or another rare
nications between two of Exchange. cancer.
its employees about the Associated Press OVERSEAS: Stock indexes in
company's now-grounded KEEPING SCORE: The S&P Tuesday, when several ma- rarily brushed aside worries Europe were broadly lower
737 Max jet. Boeing lost 500 index was down 0.2% jor banks released impres- over the ongoing U.S.-Chi- ahead of a weekend vote
4.8%. as of 1:50 a.m. Eastern time. sive results, including JPM- na trade war. Health in- by Britain's Parliament on
Financial companies were The Dow Jones Industrial organ Chase. surer UnitedHealth Group the latest proposed deal
the biggest gainers, with Average fell 155 points, or The S&P 500 is on track for a reported solid earnings, as covering its exit from the
State Street leading the 0.6%, to 26,870. The Nasdaq 0.7% gain this week follow- did Netflix. European Union. Britain is
way after the bank report- lost 0.7%. The Russell 2000 ing last week's 0.6% rise. The early round of mostly set to leave the trading
ed third-quarter results that index of smaller stocks fell Smaller stocks are once good results could help block on Oct. 31.
beat Wall Street's forecasts. 0.5%. again set to outpace the calm investors' fears about Markets in Asia finished
State Street rose 5.2%. The yield on the 10-year broader market in a sign another dismal forecast for lower as new data indi-
Other stocks rose follow- Treasury held steady at that investors are growing earnings growth. Analysts cated that growth in China
ing solid earnings reports. 1.75%. more confident. The Russell expect profit to contract sank to a 26-year low in the
ETrade Financial climbed WINNING WEEK: The mar- 2000 is on track for a 1.5% by nearly 5% for companies latest quarter. The world's
5.3% after reporting sur- ket has been choppy all gain this week after rising within the S&P 500, accord- second-largest economy
prisingly good third-quar- week as investors shift their 0.8% last week. ing to FactSet. But, fore- is dealing with a slowdown
ter profit. Oilfield services focus to the latest round of EARNINGS: Investors mostly casts for declines in the first in consumer demand and
company Schlumberger corporate earnings. Stocks applauded the opening and second quarters were economic growth brought
rose 1.5% and lifted energy are still higher for the week round of company earn- tempered as reporting pro- on partly by the damaging
stocks. thanks to a big gain on ings this week and tempo- gressed and companies trade war with the U.S.q

US-China trade war weighing on world’s growth, IMF says

By ALEX VEIGA even as it expects global in tariffs on $250 billion of
Associated Press economic growth to re- Chinese goods that had
The global economy is bound 3.4% in 2020. been set to kick on Oct.
slowing, largely because The trade war between 15. In exchange, Beijing
of the U.S. trade war with the U.S. and China has agreed to buy $40 billion
China, according to the dragged on for 15 months. to $50 billion in U.S. farm
189-member International Along the way, the two products. “Really nothing
Monetary Fund. sides have raised import came out of those talks
The Washington-based in- duties on billions of dol- of consequence,” said
stitution is the world’s lend- lars of each other’s goods Adam Taback, deputy
er of last resort, providing and threatened to pile on chief investment officer at
emergency loans when more later this year. Wells Fargo Private Bank.
countries face financial Uncertainty over when the “The best outcome that
crisis. In its latest forecast conflict might be resolved we got was a lack of fur-
the IMF blamed higher tar- In this May 17, 2019, file photo US dollars are counted at a cur- has roiled financial mar- ther escalation, for the
iffs as a key driver of this rency exchange in Islamabad, Pakistan. kets and fueled fears that time being.”
year’s slowdown in global Associated Press the dispute might tip the Among the issues still to
economic growth. to slow to 3% this year. That cial crisis. global economy into re- be worked out include
Growing uncertainty over would be the weakest The IMF predicts U.S. cession. Tensions seemed U.S. allegations that China
trade and rising geopoliti- performance since 2009, growth will slow to 2.4% this to ease Oct. 11, when a forces foreign countries to
cal tensions also underlie when the global economy year from 2.9% in 2018. It new round of trade nego- hand over trade secrets
the IMF’s new forecast for contracted 0.1% in the af- also forecasts an increase tiations saw the U.S. agree in return for access to its
global economic growth termath of the 2008 finan- of only 2.1% next year, to suspend a planned hike market. q