Los Angeles Times - 23.08.2019

C6 FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019 LATIMES.COM/BUSINESS

A wobbly day on Wall
Street left stock indexes
mostly lower Thursday as in-
vestors turned cautious
ahead of a widely antici-
pated speech by the Federal
Reserve’s chairman.
Losses by healthcare,
technology and energy com-
panies, among other sec-
tors, outweighed gains by
banks, consumer goods
makers and others. Bond
prices fell, nudging yields
higher.
Stocks gave up an early
gain and then wavered
through much of the day af-
ter a mixed batch of econo-
mic data coupled with re-
marks from two Federal Re-
serve bank presidents left
investors less certain about
the likelihood that the cen-
tral bank will lower interest
rates again next month.
Traders hope for a better
read on Fed policy Friday,
when Chairman Jerome H.
Powell is scheduled to speak
at the central bank’s annual
conference in Jackson Hole,
Wyo.
“The market is expecting
a rate cut in September, and
if Powell doesn’t think that
consensus is going to be to
cut rates, he needs to start
preparing the market for
that,” said Willie Delwiche,
investment strategist at
Baird.
The Standard & Poor’s
500 index fell 1.48 points, or

0.1%, to 2,922.95. It swung be-

tween a gain of 0.5% and a

loss of 0.7%.

A pickup in Boeing

helped drive the Dow Jones

industrial average higher.

The Dow gained 49.51 points,

or 0.2%, to 26,252.24.

The Nasdaq dropped

28.82 points, or 0.4%, to

7,991.39. The Russell 2000 in-

dex of smaller company

stocks lost 3.85 points, or

0.3%, to 1,506.

Bond prices fell. The yield

on the 10-year Treasury rose

to 1.61% from 1.57% late

Wednesday.

Minutes from the Fed’s

July meeting released

Wednesday provided little

clarity on what the future

course for rates will be.

Investors now predict a

91.2% likelihood that the Fed

will cut its benchmark rate

by a quarter-point next

month, according to the

CME Group, which tracks

investor bets on central

bank policy. That’s down

from 98.5% the day before.

New economic data also

have done little to make

clear the Fed’s next move.

Positive consumer-re-

lated data on home sales, re-

tail spending and jobless

claims could argue against

the need for lower rates. But

a closely watched index that

showed manufacturing con-

tracted this month for the

first time in a decade could

help make the case for an-

other cut.

“The market is trying to

figure out what Powell is go-

ing to say tomorrow,” Del-

wiche said. “Any news today

is being viewed through that

context.”

Surprisingly strong quar-

terly results from several big

retailers this week have giv-

en investors reasons to hope

that consumers are still ea-

ger to spend despite the

cloudy economic outlook.

Nordstrom jumped

15.9%, BJ’s Wholesale Club

vaulted 17.2% and Dick’s

Sporting Goods added 3.6%

after the companies re-

ported quarterly results

that topped analysts’ fore-

casts.

LBrands was a notable

exception. The owner of Vic-

toria’s Secret and Bath &

Body Works gave a third-

quarter earnings outlook

that fell below what analysts

expected. Its shares slid

3.5%.

Home builders surged for

the second straight day after

weekly average long-term

mortgage rates slipped to

their lowest level since No-

vember 2016. Low rates give

buyers more purchasing

power. Hovnanian Enter-

prises led the pack, climbing

4.4%.

Boeing climbed 4.2% af-

ter a published report sug-

gested the aircraft manufac-

turer plans to increase pro-

duction of 737 jets in Febru-

ary if it receives clearance

from regulators. The 737

Max was grounded after two

crashes that together killed

346 people.

Benchmark crude oil fell

33 cents to $55.35 a barrel.

Brent crude oildropped 38

cents to $59.92 a barrel. Na-

tural gas fell 1 cent to $2.16

per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold fell $7.30 to $1,497.30

an ounce, silver fell 12 cents

to $17.01 an ounce and copper

fell 3 cents to $2.55 a pound.

The dollar fell to 106.41

Japanese yen from 106.61 yen

Wednesday. The euro was

unchanged at $1.1085.

Index

Dow industrials

S&P 500

Nasdaq composite

S&P 400

Russell 2000

EuroStoxx 50

Nikkei(Japan)

Hang Seng(Hong Kong)

Close

Daily

change

Daily % YTD %

26,252.24 +49.51 +0.19 +12.54

2,922.95 -1.48 -0.05 +16.60

7,991.39 -28.82 -0.36 +20.44

1,888.46 +1.60 +0.08 +13.55

1,506.00 -3.85 -0.25 +11.67

3,096.32 -13.67 -0.44 +12.18

20,628.01 +9.44 +0.05 +3.06

26,048.72 -221.32 -0.84 +0.89

Major stock indexes

change change

Source: AP

MARKET ROUNDUP

Stocks mixed ahead of Powell speech

associated press

earnings for these blocks to

increase to more than $27

per hour,” the email to driv-

ers read.

One driver, who asked

not to be named for fear of

being deactivated, cele-

brated the announcement.

“Finally,” the driver said.

“This is definitely a win.”

Others are expressing

confusion in Facebook

groups about whether this

would actually be an in-

crease, given the lack of

transparency previously

around how much Amazon

was contributing toward

their hourly pay. In the past,

drivers were promised a

minimum of $18 an hour.

However, in some cases that

did not all come from Ama-

zon.

Without a clear break-

down of each payment, driv-

ers — who had speculated

that their tips were being

used to pad the company’s

contribution — had to come

up with creative ways to con-

firm their suspicions. One

driver, Jeff Lee, said he

tipped himself $12 on a pack-

age he was assigned to deliv-

er to his own home. His base

pay for the 1½-hour shift was

supposed to be $27. Includ-

ing tips, he received a bit

more than $30, suggesting

Amazon contributed only

$18.

“The problem most driv-

ers have with Amazon is

there is zero transparency

about our pay,” Lee said in

February.

At the time, the language

in Amazon emails to drivers

and within the delivery app

said base fares included tips.

However, images included in

the email sent to drivers

Wednesday outlining the

new breakdown of fares

show the company has

changed the language to say

the payment for each shift

would be the base fare “+

tips.”

Several other companies

have come under fire for sim-

ilar tip-taking practices, in-

cluding Instacart and Door-

Dash. The latter is still dip-

ping into driver tips about a

month after announcing it

would stop, but it said

Thursday that practice will

end next month with the im-

plementation of a new pay

structure that will also fea-

ture higher base pay.

AMAZONdelivery drivers will no longer see their

tips used by the company as part of their base salary.

Amazon

Drivers to keep

their tips in full

[A mazon,from C1]

One month ago, Door-

Dash Inc. Chief Executive

Tony Xu promised to change

the company’s tipping

policyafter an outcry from

customers and food delivery

workers. On Thursday, the

company released the out-

line of a new pay model that

it says will increase delivery

workers’ earnings from the

app.

The revised policy, which

the company plans to roll

out widely next month, in-

cludes an increase in base

pay for deliveries, which will

now range from $2 to $10 or

more per trip, and a promise

that customers’ tips will be

added on top of a “Dasher’s”

earnings paid by the com-

pany, regardless of the deliv-

ery fee or promotions.

“The decision to change

our model was difficult,” Xu

wrote in a blog post pub-

lished on Thursday, saying

the company’s model was

built to consider worker

feedback, despite mounting

public criticism. “We real-

ized that we couldn’t contin-

ue to do right by Dashers if

some customers felt we wer-

en’t also doing right by

them,” he added.

DoorDash came under

fire earlier this year for its

policies around customers’

tips, which the company

sometimes folded into work-

ers’ base pay. Under the old

model, if a customer tipped

generously, the company’s

pay to a worker could go

down, because the customer

tip would cover more of a

worker’s guaranteed base

pay.

That policy, which was

also used by some other de-

livery companies, sparked

an outcry from workers and

customers who felt that tips

should amount to additional

pay for a delivery worker. In

February, the grocery deliv-

ery app Instacart said it

would drop a similar policy

following widespread back-

lash. At the time, DoorDash

stood firm on its pay model.

In the blog post, Xu de-

fended his company’s deci-

sion not to change its poli-

cies until now. “We thought

we were doing the right

thing for Dashers by making

them whole if a customer left

no tip,” he wrote, “but the

feedback we’ve received re-

cently made clear that some

of our customers who were

leaving tips felt like their tips

didn’t matter.”

DoorDash, which counts

SoftBank Group Corp. as an

investor, is valued at $12.6

billion after raising $600 mil-

lion from investors in May.

The San Francisco-based

company — which competes

with the likes of Grubhub

Inc. and Uber Technologies

Inc. — announced a deal ear-

lier this month to buy

Square Inc.’s food delivery

service, known as Caviar, for

$410 million. DoorDash is

said to be in talks with Wall

Street banksto secure a line

of credit ahead of a possible

initial public offering.

DoorDash adjusts pay, tip policy

DANNY DUMASpackages food for a DoorDash

delivery from a Mendocino Farms restaurant in 2017.

Christina HouseLos Angeles Times

The meal delivery

service promises a

salary boost and will

apply gratuities on top

of company pay.

By Candy Cheng

its record attendance year in
2018.
In the past, Fairplex offi-
cials have blamed the sti-
fling heat that bakes South-
ern California each summer
for attendance numbers
that have fluctuated from a
16% drop in 2014 to a 6% in-
crease the following year.
Santana said he can’t do
anything about the weather,
but he hopes that adding
more shade might draw
more visitors by making the
summer heat tolerable.
This year, the Fairplex
will add 100 new tables
topped with umbrellas to
bring the total to 300, plus 12
new umbrellas, which will
shade other seating areas
near the agricultural exhib-
its.
In addition, the Fairplex
plans to more than double
the number of shade sails
that hang over the main
thoroughfare that runs the
length of the fairgrounds, a
$50,000 investment. The fair
will also add two more mist-
spewing cooling stations,
bringing the total to five.

“We’re committed to

making the place as com-

fortable as possible,” San-

tana said. “One way of doing

that is by increasing the

amount of shading.”

Santana previously said

the fair would boost security

measures this year in the

wake of several mass shoot-

ings at large public gather-

ings over the last few years.

The efforts will include a new

$200,000 command center in

the fairgrounds where po-

lice, fire officials and other

emergency staff can coordi-

nate a response to an emer-

gency.

Santana also hopes to

draw budget-minded fair

fans with daily ticket prices

that have not increased

since 2016: $14 for adults on

weekdays and $20 for week-

ends. He has also persuaded

most food vendors in the fair

to offer meal deals for $6.50,

down from $6.60 last year.

The fair will also promote

days when residents of dif-

ferent areas of Southern Cal-

ifornia can attend at a deeply

discounted price. For exam-

ple, on Sept. 1, all residents of

Los Angeles County can visit

the fair for $8.

This year’s theme, “Fair

goes pop,” focuses on the

Los Angeles influence on

pop culture in music, art and

architecture. That means

visitors can walk around

small-scale versions of the

Hollywood sign, Griffith Ob-

servatory, LACMA’s street-

light display and Randy’s

Donuts.

Since 2011, outside groups

have promoted via social

media an informal day

known as “Gay Day” at the

county fair. For the first

time, the fair plans to for-

mally support and promote

an entire weekend — Sept. 7

and 8 — to celebrate the

LGBTQ community by of-

fering a parade and special

entertainment, including

DJs, live music and drag per-

formers. Fair employees will

be encouraged to wear mul-

ticolored shirts to show sup-

port for the LGBTQ fairgo-

ers.

“The last few months of

planning have been a dream

come true for me,” said Eric

Adams, producer of Visibly

Proud, the group that is

partnering with the fair to

organize the event. “The

good people who work at

Fairplex are very talented

and experienced and have

been incredibly helpful this

year as we’ve become more

integrated than ever.”

The decision by Fairplex

mirrors actions taken re-

cently by Walt Disney Co.

and Universal Studios Hol-

lywood to endorse and pro-

mote gay pride events at

theme parks in the U.S. and

abroad.

Fairgoers who are drawn

to the annual celebration by

Instagram-worthy foods will

have plenty of extreme

dishes to choose from, in-

cluding a deep-fried chimi-

changa filled with bacon,

buffalo chicken and mac and

cheese, topped with ranch

sauce and dipped in crushed

Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. One of

the food vendors will also sell

agrilled cheese sandwich

filled with rainbow-colored

mac and cheese.

Those visitors with a

sweet tooth can indulge in a

beach-ball-size cloud of cot-

ton candy infused with Pop

Rocks, or a “mermaid float,”

made with coconut pineap-

ple lime soda, whipped

cream, sprinkles, a lollipop

and gummy candy and

topped with a puff of non-

popping cotton candy.

Expect more

shady spots

at county fair

ALONG WITHmore canvas shade sails, the county fair will have more umbrellas and add two new mist sta-

tions. For those who like it hot, menu items will include a concoction dipped in crushed Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

Robert GauthierLos Angeles Times

[C ounty fair, from C1]