Page 24 - atoday
P. 24
A24
BUSINESSTuesday 27 October 2015
Bridgestone buying Pep Boys for about $835M FedEx predicts a 12
percent increase in
NEW YORK (AP) — Tire and Friday. The deal is expect- company was consider- America, which is based in holiday shipments
auto service company ed to close in the begin- ing a sale. Tokyo-based Nashville, Tennessee, said
Bridgestone Corp. is buy- ning of 2016 and will add Bridgestone Corp. said the in a statement. Philadel- DAVID KOENIG
ing auto parts and repair 800 locations to Bridges- move will help accelerate phia-based Pep Boys had AP Business Writer
company Pep Boys in for tone’s nationwide network its global growth strategy. been reviewing options to With online shopping grow-
$835 million in a deal that of 2,200 tire and automo- “Our shared expertise and help boost shareholder val- ing, FedEx is bracing for a
will help Bridgestone gain a tive service centers. commitment to our cus- ue since June. The current record volumes this holiday
more dominant position. The deal comes months af- tomers and employees deal helps to achieve that season.
The offer was for $15 per ter Pep Boys-Manny, Moe & will help us build an even goal, said CEO Scott Sider. The delivery company pre-
share in cash, a premium Jack’s president and CEO stronger organization,” Pep Boys shares rose $2.83, dicted Monday that ship-
of almost 23.5 percent over resigned as the specula- Gary Garfield, CEO and or 23.3 percent, to $14.98 in ments from Black Friday
Pep Boys’ closing price on tion built over whether the President of Bridgestone midday trading Monday.q through Christmas Eve will
rise 12.4 percent over last
Wall Street slips as earnings reports disappoint year to 317 million pieces.
The company said that to
MARLEY JAY The Federal Reserve cent, to $120.98 after the privately held market data handle the crush, it is hiring
AP Markets Writer will meet Tuesday and online mortgage broker re- company Interactive Data more than 55,000 seasonal
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks Wednesday, and while ported better-than-expect- for $5.2 billion. workers and investing in
edged lower Monday as in- the central bank has said ed results for the third quar- Duke Energy, the big- automation and expan-
vestors began another big it wants to raise interest ter. LendingTree also raised gest electric company sion.
week of company earnings rates soon, few investors its revenue estimate for the in the U.S., said it will buy Rival United Parcel Service
and looked ahead to a expect that to happen this year and gave an optimis- Piedmont Natural Gas for Inc. will release its holiday
policy meeting of the Fed- year because the global tic forecast for 2016. Medi- about $4.9 billion. Pied- forecast on Tuesday, said
eral Reserve. economy remains weak. cal laboratory operator mont surged $15.60, or 37 spokesman Steve Gaut. He
Companies from Apple to The Fed left interest rates Laboratory Corporation of percent, to $57.82. said that the same trends
Xerox are reporting earn- untouched in September, America rose $5.79, or 5.2 Russ Koesterich, global leading to FedEx’s forecast
chief investment strate- of more shipping will affect
Trader Jonathan Niles, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks edged gist for BlackRock, says he UPS too.
lower Monday as investors began another big week of company earnings and looked ahead to expects the current wave Delivery companies like
a policy meeting of the Federal Reserve. of company deals to con- UPS and FedEx Corp. have
tinue as global economic profited from the continu-
(AP Photo/Richard Drew) growth remains gradual ing shift in shopping from
and borrowing costs re- stores to online. Even still,
ings this week. About one- which helped set off a rally percent, to $117.74 after its main low. the FedEx forecast is a bull-
third the way through the that pulled stocks out of the third-quarter results topped The boost that the stock ish one. The National Retail
quarterly earnings season, red for 2015 last week. estimates. market gets from those Federation, for example,
the results so far have been The Standard & Poor’s 500 Xerox fell 31 cents, or 3 deals, however, might not predicted that online sales
“nothing spectacular,” index dipped 3.97 points, percent, to $10.03 after be as long-lasting, he said. in November and Decem-
says investment strategist or 0.2 percent, to 2,071.18. the business services and Deals have given the mar- ber will rise by between
Kristina Hooper of Allianz The S&P 500 remains posi- copier company reported ket “a bit of a sugar high,” 6 percent and 8 percent
Global Investors. tive for the year. The Dow disappointing quarterly rev- Koesterich said, driving over late 2014.
More troubling than the Jones industrial average, enue said it will conduct a stocks higher despite disap- Planning for holiday de-
middling income reports, which is still negative for the review of its operations in pointing company results. mand can be treacherous
Hooper says, is the fact year, fell 23.65 points, or 0.1 hopes of boosting value for In economic news, the gov- for the delivery giants. Af-
that many companies percent, to 17,623.05. The its shareholders. ernment reported an unex- ter being caught off-guard
are failing to meet ana- Nasdaq composite rose Companies continued to pected drop in new home by a late surge in shipping
lysts’ forecasts for revenue. 2.84 points, less than 0.1 combine. Intercontinen- sales. Sales fell to their slow- during 2013, they greatly
“What we really should be percent, to 5,034.70. tal Exchange, the owner est pace in 10 months in increased their seasonal
focusing on is the revenue Not all the earnings news of the New York Stock Ex- September, hit by higher work forces last year. The
picture, and that’s more was bad. LendingTree change and other stock home prices and softer heavy spending pulled
negative.” soared $22.98, or 23.5 per- markets, said it will buy the economic growth. That down earnings at UPS, al-
helped send homebuilder though FedEx profit rose.
shares lower. KB Home fell FedEx and UPS now talk
14 cents, or 1 percent, to to retailers throughout the
$13.83. year to plan for the spike in
U.S. crude oil lost 62 cents, holiday shipping. Much of
or 1.4 percent, to close at the surge is driven by retail-
$43.98 a barrel in New York. ers that promise free ship-
Brent Crude, which is used ping even in the last days
to price international oils, of the gift-sending season.
fell 45 cents, or 0.9 percent, “We need to make sure
to $47.54 a barrel in Lon- that if they are looking
don. at moves like that, they
Wholesale gasoline fell 1.6 need to understand what
cents to close at $1.288 a our capacity is,” said Fe-
gallon, heating oil fell 2.9 dEx senior vice president
cents to close at $1.426 Patrick Fitzgerald. “We do
a gallon and natural gas limit some delivery commit-
sank 22 cents to close at ment to customers where
$2.062 per 1,000 cubic feet. necessary. That’s not very
The price of gold rose $3.40 common.”q
to $1,166.20 an ounce. q
