Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Friday 27 September 2019
A25

US stock indexes move lower as investors play defense

By ALEX VEIGA cutting into quarterly gains
Associated Press for the S&P 500 and all but
Health care and energy erased the Nasdaq’s third-
companies helped pull quarter gain.
stocks lower on Wall Street BUSTED RUDDER: Carni-
Thursday as the start of the val sank 8.7%, the biggest
impeachment inquiry into loser in the S&P 500, after
President Donald Trump the cruise line operator
and new government data cut its 2019 profit forecast
showing slower U.S. eco- because of a spike in fuel
nomic growth put investors costs. Crude oil prices have
in a selling mood. risen more than 23% this
Health insurers were year on mix of high supplies
among the biggest losers and tensions between the
in afternoon trading. John- U.S. and Iran. Other cruise
son & Johnson slid 1.8% operators also declined.
and UnitedHealth Group Norwegian Cruise Line slid
dropped 2.7%. Energy 3.5% and Royal Caribbean
stocks slumped broadly as Cruises fell 2.6%.
crude oil prices headed FEEDING INVESTORS:
lower. Chevron lost 2.1%. Conagra Brands rose 4.9%
Technology stocks also fell. after the food maker re-
The sector has been volatile In this Sept. 18, 2019, file photo floor governor Michael Smyth works at the New York Stock ported a surprisingly good
all week amid investor con- Exchange. first quarter profit. The com-
cerns about the U.S.-China Associated Press pany cited a solid sales in-
trade war and upcoming down the yield on the 10- happen soon. Nonetheless, 500 index was down 0.5% crease in frozen foods and
negotiations in October. year Treasury to 1.68% from investors remain cautious. as of 1:27 p.m. Eastern time. a benefit from last year’s
Cisco Systems fell 2.3% and 1.73% late Wednesday. Separately, Japan and the The Dow Jones Industrial purchase of Pinnacle
Nvidia dropped 1.5%. The U.S. congressional in- U.S. signed a deal covering Average fell 105 points, or Foods.
Facebook fell 2.4% and quiry into President Trump is agricultural, industrial and 0.4%, to 26,864. The Nas- GREEN ARCHES: Beyond
dragged communications throwing more volatility into digital trade, but it kept daq dropped 0.9%. Smaller Meat jumped 11.1% as
stocks lower. The company an already sensitive mar- auto tariffs unchanged. company stocks bore the McDonald’s started sell-
could find itself the target ket, particularly on trade is- Meanwhile, the Com- brunt of the selling, sending ing the company’s plant-
of another antitrust investi- sues. U.S. and Chinese rep- merce Department report- the Russell 2000 down 1.1%. based burger in Ontario.
gation, this time by the Jus- resentatives are expected ed that the U.S. economy Major stock indexes in Eu- The world’s largest burger
tice Department, accord- to meet next month to ne- grew at a modest 2% in the rope moved broadly high- chain will offer the PLT, or
ing to Bloomberg. gotiate a way out of the second quarter, a sharply er on a relatively quiet day the plant, lettuce and to-
Banks also declined along economically damaging lower pace than the 3%- for international economic mato burger, for 12 weeks
with falling bond yields. feud. plus growth rates seen over news. in 28 locations in South-
Consumer product makers Chinese importers have set the past year. TAKING A DIP: The S&P 500 western Ontario by the end
and utilities were among deals to buy American soy- Outside of trade and poli- and Nasdaq are each of the month. The move pits
the few sectors making beans and pork as the gov- tics, investors are getting on track for their second Beyond Meat and McDon-
broad gains in a sign that ernments make conciliato- ready for the close of the straight weekly loss as vola- ald’s against Burger King,
investors were shifting mon- ry gestures ahead of trade third quarter and more cor- tile trading around trade which is selling a plant-
ey into lower-risk holdings. talks and Trump has sug- porate earnings reports. issues takes its toll. The late based Impossible Foods
Bond prices rose and pulled gested a trade deal could KEEPING SCORE: The S&P September slide has been burger at its locations.q

Pending home sales rebound in a hopeful sign for housing

By BANI SAPRA that low mortgage rates will indicators also have firmed
Associated Press reverse the trend. Daniel (to varying degrees) this
WASHINGTON (AP) — More Silver, an economist at JP year, and we think that
Americans signed con- Morgan Chase Bank, said the drop in mortgage rates
tracts to buy homes in Au- the index was another sign relative to late last year has
gust, signaling that low that the housing market helped boost activity in the
mortgage rates may spark may be regaining momen- housing market,” Silver said
a sustained turnaround for tum. “Many other housing in a note. q
the housing market. The
National Association of Re-
altors said Thursday that its
pending home sales index
rose 1.6% to 107.3 in Au-
gust. Pending home sales,
which reflect purchases In this Aug. 16, 2019, photo an under contract sign displayed by
that are usually completed home in Richmond, Va.
a month or two later, are Associated Press
up 2.5% from their pace a en up by a tight supply of ly over the past few months
year ago. Lower borrow- available homes, had pre- as home prices have risen,
ing costs have been slowly viously blunted the benefits with contract activity dip-
boosting buyer demand. of low mortgage rates. De- ping in July. Many econo-
Persistently high prices, driv- mand has fluctuated slight- mists say they are optimistic