Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Thursday 26 OcTOber 2017
A25

Big banks score String of weak earnings reports send US stocks lower
with scrapping

of dispute rule Micro Devices and credit chief investment strategist
at CFRA Equity Research,
card issuer Discover Fi-
nancial Services all gave because it might lead to
By KEN SWEET shaky results, disappoint- greater inflation.
AP Business Writer ing forecasts, or both. That “Higher yields (and) a string
NEW YORK (AP) — Call it a sent stocks downward, and of positive returns from the
win for “the swamp.” in early afternoon trad- market combined with
President Trump and Re- ing the Dow Jones indus- some weak earnings num-
publicans in Congress trial average fell as much bers gave investors some
handed Wall Street banks as 190 points, after setting reasons to attempt to take
a big victory by effectively a record the day before. profits,” he said. Stocks
killing off a politically popu- Stocks recovered some have risen for each of the
lar rule that would have al- of their losses in afternoon last six weeks and repeat-
lowed consumers to band trading, but all 11 industry edly set new highs.
together to sue their banks. sectors in the Standard & The S&P 500 shed 11.98
The 51-50 vote in the Sen- Poor’s 500 index finished points, or 0.5 percent, to
ate, with Vice President Trader Joseph Lawler, left, and specialist John McNierney work the day lower. 2,557.15. The Dow Jones in-
Mike Pence casting the on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Rising bond yields Bond yields jumped to sev- dustrial average fell 112.30
deciding vote, means and a string of weak company reports and forecasts pushed en-month highs after a re- points, or 0.5 percent, to
stocks lower Wednesday.
bank customers will still be (AP Photo/Richard Drew) port from the Commerce 23,329.46.
subject to what are known By MARLEY JAY from their recent record Department showed orders The Nasdaq composite
as mandatory arbitration AP Markets Writer highs. Industrial and tech- for long-lasting manufac- sank 34.54 points, or 0.5
clauses. These clauses are NEW YORK (AP) — Rising nology companies and tured goods and business percent, to 6,563.89. The
buried in the fine print of bond yields and a string banks fared the worst. investment grew in Sep- Russell 2000 index, which is
nearly every checking ac- of weak company reports Companies including tele- tember. That’s good news comprised of smaller-com-
count, credit card, payday and forecasts pushed com giant AT&T, aero- for the economy, but it ac- pany stocks, dropped 6.94
loan, auto loan or other fi- stocks lower Wednesday space company Boeing, tually hurt stocks Wednes- points, or 0.5 percent, to
nancial services contract as major indexes retreated chipmaker Advanced day, said Sam Stovall, 1,493.48. q
and require customers to
use arbitration to resolve
any dispute with his or US new home sales soar to highest level in a decade
her bank. They effectively
waive the customer’s right By CHRIS RUGABER Department said Wednes- as we first saw with the ini- homes has frustrated many
to sue. AP Economics Writer day. Sales rose in all regions tial jobless claims data, the would-be buyers and hob-
The banking industry lob- WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales including the South, where recovery from Harvey was bled the housing market
bied hard to roll back a of new U.S. homes jumped they increased nearly 26 very fast and the disruption this year. September’s fig-
proposed regulation from last month to the highest percent. from Irma in Florida was far ures suggest that Ameri-
the Consumer Financial level since October 2007, a The government said it less than initially feared,” cans are increasingly look-
Protection Bureau that sign that Americans — un- couldn’t estimate what im- said Stephen Stanley, chief ing to new homes instead,
would have largely restrict- able to find existing homes pact, if any, last month’s economist at Amherst Pier- which could encourage
ed mandatory arbitration — are turning to new con- hurricanes had on the pont Securities. more construction.
clauses by 2019. Consum- struction. Damage from data. But the measure of Still, sales of new homes also Yet developers have strug-
ers would have been al- last month’s hurricanes new home sales is based jumped outside hurricane- gled to keep up with de-
lowed to sue their bank as may have also inflated the on contract signings, so the affected areas, including in mand. Many construction
a group in a class-action data. number was likely lifted by the Northeast, where they firms say they have difficul-
lawsuit. Individual consum- New home sales leapt 18.9 those looking to replace rose 33 percent, and the ty finding the workers they
ers with individual com- percent in September to a homes destroyed or dam- Midwest, where they rose need to start new projects.
plaints would still have to seasonally adjusted annual aged by Hurricanes Harvey nearly 11 percent. Sales in Construction of single-fam-
use arbitration under the rate of 667,000, the most in and Irma. West ticked up 3 percent. ily homes slipped nearly 5
rules. The CFPB’s rules were a decade, the Commerce “This is yet another sign that, A supply crunch of existing percent last month. q
politically popular. A poll
done by the GOP-leaning
American Future Fund
found that 67 percent of
those surveyed were in
favor of the rules, includ-
ing 64 percent of Repub-
licans. Other polls on the
subject show similar levels
of support. “(The) vote is
a giant setback for every
consumer in this country.
Wall Street won and ordi-
nary people lost. This vote
means the courtroom
doors will remain closed for
groups of people seeking
justice and relief when they
are wronged by a com-
pany,” said CFPB Director
Richard Cordray, who was
appointed by President
Obama, in a statement.q