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BUSINESS Saturday 23 November 2019
A25

US stocks mixed as market's weekslong rally peters out

By STAN CHOE the retailer said it made a
Associated Press bigger profit last quarter
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. than Wall Street expected.
stock indexes were mixed It was a bright spot for the
in midday trading Friday as retail sector after a long
a week dominated by the list of mall-based clothing
progress in U.S.-China trade retailers delivered weak
talks — or lack thereof — third-quarter earnings re-
comes to a close. ports. Macy's cut its profit
President Donald Trump and sales forecast for the
said that a deal between year as shoppers continue
the world's largest econo- to head online instead of to
mies is "potentially very the store.
close" after Chinese Presi- RISING GLOBAL TIDE: Mar-
dent Xi Jinping said Beijing kets around the world
is working to "try not to have climbed amid a mixed set
a trade war," but will never- of economic reports.
theless fight back if neces- In Europe, France's CAC 40
sary. Markets around the rose 0.1%, and Germany's
world have churned this DAX returned 0.2%. The FTSE
week on uncertainty about 100 in London jumped 1.3%.
whether the two sides can In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225
soon halt their trade dis- rose 0.3%, South Korea's
pute, or at least stop it In this Sept. 18, 2019, file photo, stock prices are displayed at the New York Stock Exchange. Kospi gained 0.3% and the
from escalating. New U.S. Associated Press Hang Seng in Hong Kong
tariffs are set to hit Dec. 15 KEEPING SCORE: The S&P may not be in place until Stocks had been chug- climbed 0.5%.
on many Chinese-made 500 was down 0.1%, as of 2020. But he also stressed, ging higher on optimism SWEET RETURNS: J.M.
items on holiday shopping 11:20 a.m. Eastern time. It again, that he thought Xi that earlier worries about Smucker jumped 4.8% after
checklists, such as smart- had earlier been up 0.3%. wanted to make a deal a possible recession were it reported stronger profit
phones and laptops. Tariffs The Dow Jones Industrial more than he did. overdone. Reports in re- for the latest quarter than
already put in place have Average rose 37 points, or In Beijing, Xi earlier told a cent months showed the Wall Street expected.
hurt manufacturing around 0.1%, to 27,804, and the visiting U.S. business del- job market remained solid, It joins a long list of compa-
the world, and businesses Nasdaq composite slipped egation, "We want to work and corporate profits held nies to do so. Nearly 96%
have held back on spend- 0.2%. The S&P 500 was for a Phase 1 agreement up better than expected of companies in the S&P
ing given all the uncertain- nearly evenly split between on the basis of mutual re- in the summer. Interest-rate 500 have now told inves-
ty about where the rules of stocks rising and falling. spect and equality." cuts by the Federal Reserve tors how much profit they
global trade will end up. TRADE TALKS: Trump said TAKING A PAUSE: The un- also helped. made during the sum-
The S&P 500 was on pace "we have a very good certainty on trade has the The S&P 500 is still within mer, and they're on pace
for its first gain in four days. chance to make a deal" in S&P 500 on pace to close 0.7% of its record set on to report a drop of 2.3%
But it's still set to finish the an interview with Fox News the week with a 0.5% loss. Monday. from a year earlier. That's
week with a loss, which after reports through the If it stays that way, it would RETAIL RUN: Nordstrom not as bad as the 4% drop
would snap its longest win- week raised the possibility be the first down week for surged 9.3% for the biggest that analysts were earlier
ning streak in two years. that a "Phase 1" agreement the index in the last seven. gain in the S&P 500 after expecting.q

China raises estimate of economy’s size following census

Associated Press pace of 6.0% in the July- officials distorting informa-
BEIJING (AP) — China’s September quarter, the tion for political reasons.
economy was 2.1% big- slowest growth since 1992, Though it’s part of the
ger than earlier estimat- as a tariff war with the long-term plan to restruc-
ed, the government said U.S. and slowing global ture the economy, slowing
Friday, revising the gross demand hammered its growth runs counter to the
domestic product for 2018 manufacturing sector. ruling Communist Party’s
to 91.93 trillion yuan ($13.1 Businesses and consumers plan, adopted in 2012,
trillion) based on results of unnerved by the uncer- to double the size of the
a census. tain outlook for jobs and economy between 2010
The National Bureau of growth also have reined in and 2020.
Statistics said Friday the spending in another drag “The census revisions will
revision reflects more on growth. also attract skepticism,
complete measures of the But given China’s still fast- but to a lesser degree,
services sector and as- In this Nov. 1, 2019, file photo, an employee browses her er growth and population and should at least give
sets. It raises the possibility smartphone at a clothing store having a promotion sale at of 1.4 billion people, it’s NBS (the statistics bureau)
China’s communist lead- a shopping mall in Shenzhen, China's Guangdong province. expected to soon over- more room to acknowl-
ers will attain their target Associated Press take the U.S. as the world’s edge downward pressure
of doubling the country’s est economy but did not of $20.5 trillion. But the U.S. largest economy. on growth in the coming
GDP between 2010 and say when. The earlier esti- economy expands at a Chinese economic data quarters,” Capital Eco-
2020. The government mate put the GDP in 2018 much slower pace — 2.9% are subject to more than nomics economists Julian
also plans to issue revised at 90.03 trillion yuan ($12.8 in 2018 — than China’s. the usual caveats about Evans-Pritchard and Mar-
GDP growth estimates for trillion). That’s still well be- China’s economy ex- the reliability of statistics tin Rasmussen said in a
the world’s second larg- low the U.S. GDP in 2018 panded at an annual given past examples of commentary.q