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BUSINESSTuesday 20 October 2015
US stocks eke out tiny gains after a sluggish day United to offer
ALEX VEIGA Poor’s 500 index added “Oil has had a tough time investors in a selling mood. plan after CEO’s
AP Business Writer 0.55 points, or 0.03 per- getting off the ground and Hasbro fell the most among
U.S. stocks mustered a slight cent, to 2,033.66. The Nas- most commodities are stocks in the S&P 500 after hospitalization
gain in the final moments of daq composite rose 18.78 down,” said JJ Kinahan, TD the toy maker reported
trading on Monday, cap- points, or 0.4 percent, to Ameritrade’s chief strate- that sales of girls’ toys and DAVID KOENIG
ping a day of listless action 4,905.47. gist. “Normally you would games dropped 28 per-
that had the market head- Major stock indexes have say it is demand, but be- cent in the third quarter. AP Airlines Writer
ed for a downbeat close. closed higher for three cause pretty much every The stock lost $5.60, or 7.2 DALLAS (AP) — United Air-
A slide in oil prices ham- days in a row. commodity is getting hit percent, to $72.18. Morgan lines is preparing to release
mered energy stocks, in- details about how it plans
cluding Chevron and Exxon Specialist James Sciulli, right, works with traders at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Ex- to move forward during
Mobil, which ended up as change. U.S. stocks mustered a slight gain in the final moments of trading on Monday, capping a the hospitalization of its
the biggest decliners in the day of listless action that had the market headed for a downbeat close. new CEO, Oscar Munoz.
Dow Jones industrial aver- In a brief statement Mon-
age. Other commodities (AP Photo/Richard Drew) day, Chairman Henry Mey-
also fell, hurt by a strength- er III said the board would
ening dollar. Five of the 10 sectors in the today. I relate that more Stanley slumped 4.8 per- finish a corporate-gover-
Weight Watchers more S&P 500 rose, led by con- to dollar strength.” Inves- cent after reporting a sharp nance review and would
than doubled on news that sumer discretionary stocks, tors are tuned into earnings drop in quarterly earnings likely say more in the next
Oprah Winfrey is buying which gained 0.5 percent. as they hunt for insight into as the bank’s bond trad- day or two. United provid-
a 10 percent stake in the The sector is up 9 percent how the global economy is ingbusiness weakened. The ed no additional informa-
weight management com- this year. doing. stock fell $1.63 to $32.32. tion about Munoz’s condi-
pany and will help promote Energy stocks fell the most, Roughly 57 percent of the Weight Watchers surged tion.
the company’s services. 1.9 percent. The sector is companies in the S&P 500 105 percent on news that Munoz, 56, became CEO in
Investors had their eye on down about 15 percent index report earnings over Oprah Winfrey is paying early September after Jeff
company earnings from this year, hurt by the slide the next two weeks. That about $43.2 million for a Smisek abruptly stepped
Morgan Stanley, Hasbro in oil prices. Benchmark U.S. works out to about 117 10 percent stake in Weight down amid a federal in-
and others. Both compa- crude fell $1.37 on Monday companies this week, in- Watchers and is joining the vestigation.
nies tumbled after their re- to close at $45.89 a barrel cluding Verizon Communi- weight management com- Munoz vowed that he
sults left investors less-than- in New York. cations, eBay, Caterpillar pany’s board. would deal with customer-
impressed. Shares in Exxon Mobil fell and Alphabet. Another 170 Winfrey also agreed to en- service issues and other
Still, Monday’s sluggish $1.49, or 1.8 percent, to companies in the S&P 500 dorse the company’s pro- problems at the world’s
trading suggests many in- $80.99, while Chevron slid report earnings next week. grams and services, and second-biggest airline. He
vestors were holding off on $1.26, or 1.4 percent, to Morgan Stanley and Has- to help promote the com- was admitted to a hospital
any big moves until they $90.03. bro’s latest results put many pany. q on Thursday. The company
see a broader slice of com- disclosed his hospitaliza-
panies report third-quarter tion on Friday after The
earnings over the next few Wall Street Journal report-
days, said David Schie- ed that he had suffered a
goleit, managing director heart attack, and shares
of investments at the Pri- fell 3 percent.
vate Client Reserve at U.S. In Monday afternoon trad-
Bank. ing, shares of United Con-
“A lot of participants are on tinental Holdings Inc. rose
the sidelines waiting to see 62 cents, or 1.1 percent, to
those numbers come out $56.59.
and use them as a cue to Publicly traded companies
move forward,” Schiegoleit must disclose when there
said. “The big push in earn- is a change in CEOs, but
ings season starts today, there is no legal require-
particularly after the close, ment to disclose a health
and as we head into the setback or hospitalization
rest of the week.” of a top executive. “It’s a
All told, the Dow rose 14.57 judgment call,” said Don-
points, or 0.1 percent, to na Dabney, executive di-
17,230.54. The Standard & rector of The Conference
Board, a business group
Hasbro stock falls as 3Q sales of girls’ toys slip that does research on
management and other
PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) — ment Research predicted. upcoming “Star Wars: The per share. corporate topics. “Cor-
Sales of girls’ toys and But sales of girls’ toys tum- Force Awakens” movie. That surpassed Wall Street porate governance usu-
games dropped in Has- bled 28 percent in the The category also benefit- expectations. ally goes beyond what
bro’s third quarter, send- quarter, as Furby sales con- ed from increased sales of the minimum legal require-
ing the toy maker’s shares tinued to weaken. Sales of Nerf products and sales of The average estimate of ments are.”
down more than 7 percent games dropped 8 percent “Jurassic World” products. seven analysts surveyed by Companies have tilted to-
in Monday afternoon trad- on weak sales of Magic: For the period ended Sept. Zacks Investment Research ward more disclosure ever
ing. The Gathering and several 27, Hasbro Inc. earned was for earnings of $1.51 since Apple Inc. was criti-
Revenue for the Pawtuck- other games. $207.6 million, or $1.64 per per share. cized for failing to provide
et, Rhode Island-based The boys’ category ex- share, down from $180.5 The company’s stock de- more information about
company totaled $1.47 bil- perienced strong growth, million, or $1.40 per share, a clined $6.08, or 7.8 percent, CEO Steve Jobs’ pancre-
lion, narrowly beating the with sales up 24 percent. year ago. to $71.70 in afternoon trad- atic cancer, Dabney said.
$1.46 billion that six analysts This was due partly to the Earnings, adjusted for non- ing. Its shares are up al- However, she said, boards
surveyed by Zacks Invest- launch of toys tied to the recurring gains, were $1.58 most 30 percent so far this are reluctant to comment
year.q if they believe they don’t
know all the facts about
a situation, such as the
extent of a CEO’s health
problems.q
