Page 24 - ATODAY
P. 24
A24
BUSINESSWednesday 6 April 2016
Stocks end lower in US; Disney slumps after exec leaves
KEN SWEET The yield on the 10-year Traders Robert Charmack, left, and Michael Capolino work on the floor of the New York Stock
AP Business Writer Treasury note fell to 1.72 Exchange. U.S. stocks fell for a second day on Tuesday, as the head of the International Monetary
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. percent from 1.76 per- Fund sounded downbeat on the outlook for the world economy.
stocks fell for a second day cent. Gold rose $10.30 to
on Tuesday, as the head of $1,229.60 an ounce. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
the International Monetary After last month’s big rally,
Fund sounded downbeat investors are waiting to Lagarde’s comments ny’s DAX fell 2.6 percent, sions, which is when a U.S.
on the outlook for the world see how quarterly results France’s CAC-40 fell 2.2 company mergers with a
economy. from companies come in. helped cause European percent and the U.K.’s FTSE foreign company for tax
Disney fell after the compa- Earnings season starts next 100 fell 1.2 percent. purposes. Allergan was cur-
ny’s expected successor to week with Alcoa, the alu- and Asian markets to close Among individual compa- rently in the process of do-
CEO Bob Iger announced minum company, as well nies, Allergan fell $41, or ing an inversion with U.S.
he was leaving the com- as the big banks like JPMor- broadly lower. Japan’s 15 percent, to $236.55. The drug giant Pfizer. Shares of
pany. Allergan plunged gan Chase. U.S. Treasury Department Pfizer rose 64 cents, or 2.1
after the Treasury Depart- “The market has been ex- benchmark Nikkei 225 in- announced new tax rules percent, to $31.36.
ment announced tax rules pected this quarter’s earn- to discourage what are Disney fell $1.68, or 1.7 per-
that would make its merger ings to be lousy so if earn- dex lost 2.4 percent, hit known as corporate inver- cent, to $97. q
with Pfizer more difficult. ings come in better than
The Dow Jones industrial expected, it might provide hard by a rise in the yen.
average fell 133.68 points, some support to the mar-
or 0.8 percent, to 17,603.32. ket,” said Scott Wren, se- South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.8
The Standard & Poor’s 500 nior global equity strategist
index lost 20.96 points, or at the Wells Fargo Invest- percent and Hong Kong’s
1 percent, to 2,045.17 and ment Institute.
the Nasdaq composite fell Christine Lagarde, the Hang Seng sank 1.6 per-
47.86 points, or 1 percent, head of the IMF, warned in
to 4,843.93. a speech that “the recov-
Stocks opened lower and ery remains too slow, too
remained down all day. fragile.” She said the world
Investors moved into tra- economy isn’t in a crisis
ditional areas of safety, in- but that slow growth risks
cluding gold and U.S. gov- becoming ingrained as a
ernment bonds. The market “new mediocre.” She not-
is coming off a multi-week ed the outlook for the next
rally that erased nearly all six months has weakened,
of its losses from earlier in suggesting the IMF may be
the year. revising its forecasts lower.
cent. In Europe, Germa-
Darden 3Q lifted by Olive Garden sales; Smith out
NEW YORK (AP) — The talented people through- Darden benefited from a
man who spearheaded out the company and I am rebounding U.S. economy
a board coup at Darden so incredibly proud of what as well.
has stepped down after we have been able to ac- Third-quarter sales at Olive
a surprisingly strong quar- complish together,” Smith Garden restaurants rose 6.6
ter at the restaurant chain said in a company release. percent to about $1.02 bil-
topped a sustained re- “I am able to move on to lion while sales at LongHorn
bound for the company. other projects at this time Steakhouse restaurants
And it was Olive Garden, because of the outstand- rose 5.4 percent to $425
the primary source of ire ing chemistry and capabili- million. Sales at fine dining
for Jeffrey Smith and Star- ties of both the board and operations rose 5.4 percent
board Value LP, which lead management.” to $146 million and sales at
the way. Starboard’s criticisms of other businesses rose 10.7
Smith, who heads Star- Darden’s path were unique percent to $256.2 million.
board, was named chair in that, for an activist inves- Darden Restaurants Inc.,
at Darden in late 2014 after tor, they were extraordi- based in Orlando, Florida,
the activist investor oust- narily granular. earned $105.9 million, or 82
ed the company’s entire It took issue with everything cents per share, marking
board in a high-profile fight from the number of bread- a 21 percent drop from a
for control. sticks brought to diners, to year prior, mainly because
Before taking over the the way pasta was cooked. of higher costs. Earnings,
board, Starboard released “How does the largest Ital- adjusted for non-recurring
a 294-page presentation ian dining concept in the costs and to account for
outlining what it thought world not salt the water discontinued operations,
Darden’s management for pasta?” it asked at the came to $1.21 per share.
was doing wrong. time, citing one cookbook That was a penny better
Since that revolt, shares of passage that “... it’s simple: than Wall Street had ex-
Darden have risen more the water should be salty, pected, according to a
than 30 percent. Atlantic Ocean salty ...” survey by Zacks Investment
“I will thoroughly miss work- Olive Garden and other Research.q
ing with the capable and restaurants owned by
