The Washington Post - 23.08.2019

A18 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, AUGUST 23 , 2019

THE MARKETS

6 Monitor your investments at washingtonpost.com/markets Data and graphics by

Note: Bank prime is from 10 major banks. Federal Funds rate is the market rate, which can vary from the federal

target rate. LIBOR is the London Interbank Offered Rate. Consumer rates are from Bankrate. All figures as of

4:30 p.m. New York time.

1.

1.

1.

1.

10-year note

Yield:

5-year note

Yield:

2-year note

Yield:

6-month bill

Yield:

Treasury Performance Over Past Three Months

7991.39 –0.4 +20.

2922.95 –0.1 +16.

26,252.24 +0.2 +12.

Daily Stock Market Performance

Daily

Index Close % Chg

YTD

% Chg

Nasdaq Composite Index

Dow Jones Industrial Average

S&P 500 Index

3100

2850

2600

2350

A AJJMAMFJDNOS

8400

7800

7200

6600

6000

27,

26,

24,

23,

21,

Industry Group

Daily

% Chg

Daily

% Chg –2.5%^0 +2.5%

Multiline Retail 2.

Electrnc Eqp, Instr, Comp 2.

Aerospace & Defense 1.

Commercial Banks 0.

Food Products 0.

Communications Equipment –0.

Leisure Equipment & Prod –0.

Building Products –1.

Real Estate Mgmt & Dev –1.

Health Care Providers –2.

S&P 500 Industry Group Snapshot

Bank Prime

Federal Funds

LIBOR 3-Month

30-Year fixed mortgage

15-Year fixed mortgage

1-Year ARM

2.15%

2.25%

5.25%

3.39%

3.12%

3.75%

Money market funds

6-Month CDs

1-Year CDs

5-Year CDs

New car loan

Home-equity loan

Consumer Rates

0.

0.

1.

1.

4.

6.

Interest Rates

Index Close Daily % Chg YTD % Chg

DJ Total Stock Market Index 29,969.01 –0.1 16.

Russell 2000 1506.00 –0.3 11.

Post-Bloomberg DC Area Index 620.46 0.5 32.

CBOE Volatility (VIX) 16.68 5.6 –34.

Other Measures

Europe

Americas

Asia Pacific

Brazil (Bovespa)

Canada (S&P/TSX Comp.)

Mexico (Bolsa)

Eurozone (DJ Stoxx 600)

France (CAC 40)

Germany (DAX)

U.K. (FTSE 100)

Australia (ASX 200)

China (CSI 300)

Hong Kong (Hang Seng)

Japan (Nikkei)

Close

Daily

% Chg

YTD % Chg

–30% 0% +30%

100,011.30 –1.

16,253.46 –0.

40,162.79 0.

374.29 –0.

5388.25 –0.

11,747.04 –0.

7128.18 –1.

6501.81 0.

3793.51 0.

26,048.72 –0.

20,628.01 0.

International Stock Markets

Daily

Close% Chg

Daily

Gainers Losers Close% Chg

Kirkland's Inc $1.51 25.

Cato Corp $16.36 18.

Progenics Pharma $4.50 16.

Nordstrom Inc $30.75 15.

Keysight Tech $100.35 12.

Dean Foods $1.19 12.

Signet Jewelers Ltd $13.84 11.

John B Sanfilippo $88.22 9.

Bed Bath & Beyond $8.74 9.

GameStop Corp $3.87 9.

Children's Place $81.97 7.

Alexion Pharma $123.49 7.

Fossil Group Inc $10.55 7.

Urban Outfitters $23.89 6.

RR Donnelley $2.23 6.

Sally Beauty $13.00 6.

McDermott $4.39 5.

Foot Locker Inc $41.93 5.

Synopsys Inc $139.00 5.

Tile Shop Holdings $2.76 5.

SRC Energy Inc $4.20 –10.

Cincinnati Bell $4.90 –9.

Gulfport Energy $2.76 –8.

KLX Energy Services $10.91 –8.

Myriad Genetics Inc $23.05 –8.

Whiting Petroleum $8.10 –7.

Arrowhead Pharma $32.12 –6.

SolarEdge Tech $82.04 –6.

Cutera Inc $30.68 –6.

Chemours Co $13.25 –6.

Xencor Inc $38.79 –6.

Ring Energy Inc $1.57 –6.

Livent Corp $6.35 –5.

Bel Fuse Inc $10.99 –5.

Innovative Ind Prop $106.34 –5.

Endo International $2.81 –5.

US Silica Holdings $12.24 –5.

L Brands Inc $19.33 –4.

REGENXBIO Inc $35.07 –4.

Laredo Petroleum $2.74 –4.

Gainers and Losers from the S&P 1500 Index

Daily

% Chg

YTD

Company Close % Chg

Daily

% Chg

YTD

Company Close % Chg

3M Co 160.88 –0.2 –15.

AmExp 122.27 –0.2 28.

Apple Inc 212.46 –0.1 34.

Boeing 354.41 4.2 9.

Caterpillar 117.89 0.2 –7.

Chevron Corp 117.73 –0.1 8.

Cisco Systems 48.18 –1.2 11.

Coca-Cola 54.49 0.7 15.

Dow Inc 42.05 –2.

Exxon Mobil 69.57 –0.2 2.

GoldmnSchs 202.42 0.9 21.

Home Depot 221.02 0.3 28.

IBM 134.32 0.1 18.

Intel Corp 46.78 –0.8 –0.

J&J 131.27 –0.2 1.

JPMorg Ch 108.72 1.0 11.

McDonald's 219.49 –0.6 23.

Merck 86.72 –0.2 13.

Microsoft 137.78 –0.7 35.

Nike 83.31 0.7 12.

P&G Co 119.42 0.2 29.

Pfizer Inc 35.08 0.6 –19.

Travelers 147.81 0.5 23.

United Tech 127.96 0.5 20.

UnitedHealth 232.94 –3.1 –6.

Verizon 56.78 0.3 1.

Visa Inc 180.09 –0.5 36.

Walgreen 50.95 0.1 –25.

WalMart 111.91 –0.1 20.

Walt Disney 136.08 0.2 24.

Dow Jones 30 Industrials

Brazil R$ per

EU €per

Japan ¥ per

US $ per

Canada $ per

Mexico $ per

Britain £ per

US $ EU € Japan ¥ Britain £ Brazil R$ Canada $ Mexico $

1.1081 0.0093 1.2254 0.2453 0.7519 0.

0.9024 0.0085 1.1057 0.2213 0.6785 0.

106.4300 117.9300 130.4050 26.1000 80.0230 5.

0.8161 0.9043 0.0077 0.2002 0.6136 0.

4.0767 4.5187 0.0383 4.9964 3.0650 0.

1.3300 1.4737 0.0124 1.6296 0.3262 0.

19.8484 21.9954 0.1870 24.3257 4.8680 14.

Cross Currency Rates

Exchange-Traded (Ticker) $

Daily

% Chg

Value of $1000 invested for the past: day month

$800 $

Coffee (COFF.L) 0.

Copper (COPA.L) –1.

Corn (CORN.L) 0.

Cotton (COTN.L) –0.

Crude Oil (CRUD.L) –1.

Gasoline (UGAS.L) –0.

Gold (BULL.L) –0.

Natural Gas (NGAS.L) –0.

Silver (SLVR.L) –0.

Futures

Daily

Close % Chg

Daily

Close % Chg

Copper $2.5655 –1.

Corn $3.7100 +0.

Crude Oil $55.35 –0.

Gold $1,508.50 –0.

Natural Gas $2.16 –0.

Orange Juice $0.9920 –1.

Silver $17.18 –0.

Soybeans $8.6875 –0.

Sugar $0.1158 +1.

Wheat $4.7175 +0.

Commodities

BY RACHEL SIEGEL

Dick’s Sporting Goods appears
to be on the upswing.
After a slog of dampened sales,
Dick’s announced Thursday that
same-store sales jumped 3.2 per-
cent in the second quarter — its
strongest showing since 2016. The
outdoor retailer’s stock surged
more than 4 percent as Dick’s
raised its full-year guidance.
Chief executive Ed Stack said
the performance was driven by
increases in average tickets, as
well as solid results from its hard-
line merchandise, apparel and
footwear.
“Our key strategies and invest-
ments are working, our major
head winds are behind us and
we’ve bent the curve on sales,”

Stack said in a statement. “We are

very enthusiastic about our busi-

ness and are pleased to increase

our full year sales and earnings

outlook.”

The results suggest that critics

have abandoned any outrage

against the retailer, which over-

hauled its gun sales policies after

the mass shooting at a Parkland,

Fla., school, and removed all guns

from dozens of stores this year. On

Thursday, Dick’s said it was “con-

tinuing the strategic review of its

hunt business,” including at its

Field & Stream stores, which spe-

cialize in fishing, outdoors and

hunting gear.

Dick’s’ assessment of its own

sales policies comes as retailers

are under acute pressure to act on

gun policy, especially in the ab-

sence of any congressional move-

ment. This month alone, two Wal-

mart stores were the scenes of

deadly shootings in El Paso and

Southaven, Miss., spurring calls

for the megastore to stop selling

firearms and ammunition. Wal-

mart sells guns in about half of its

4,750 U.S. stores. After 17 students

and teachers were killed in Park-

land, Walmart raised the mini-

mum age for gun purchases from

18 to 21.

Stack and other executives cau-

tioned against pinning the com-

pany’s earnings to changes in its

gun sales policies. Still, the CEO

said, firearms had been a weak

spot for the company, particularly

as gun sales are down nationwide.

“We have this under review,

and as soon as we decide what

we’re going to do and how we’re

going to do it, we’ll let you know,”

Stack said in a call to analysts.

In March, Dick’s removed all

guns from 125 of its 730 stores.

Stack told The Washington Post

this year that the company would

weigh whether to expand that

roster depending on how the 125

locations performed. On Thurs-

day, Dick’s President Lauren Ho-

bart said it was too soon to gauge

the move’s success.

Under a 2018 pilot program,

Dick’s took all guns out of 10

stores and filled the empty space

with products targeted for those

markets, such as sports team mer-

chandise. Those 10 stores outper-

formed the rest of the chain and

have continued to deliver, the

company said. Dick’s has never

disclosed what share of its sales

come from gun sales alone.

After the Parkland shooting

last year, Stack announced that

Dick’s was pulling all military-

style weapons from its stores and

banning high-capacity magazines

and “bump stocks” that could

effectively convert semiautomat-

ic weapons into machine guns. He

also announced that Dick’s would

not sell firearms to people young-

er than 21.

Those decisions sparked cus-

tomer boycotts nationwide. More

than 60 employees quit. For the

fiscal year ending Feb. 2, 2019,

same-store sales fell 3.1 percent,

according to company earnings,

with Stack blaming much of the

slump on gun issues. When Dick’s

hired lobbyists on gun legislation,

one of the company’s gun suppli-

ers said it would no longer sell to

the company directly.

Yet Dick’s’ stake in gun issues

goes beyond corporate policies.

Stack has made changing gun

policies a personal priority, meet-

ing with congressional leaders

and the parents of Parkland vic-

tims alike. (Shortly after the Park-

land shooting, Stack learned that

the gunman had previously

bought a shotgun from a Dick’s

store, though it was not the weap-

on used in the rampage.)

“What I promised the families

in Parkland when I left is that we

would keep this conversation go-

ing,” Stack told The Post earlier

this year. “And that’s what I’ve

done.”

[email protected]

Dick’s Sporting Goods, which revised gun policies, says sales are rising again

BY ABHA BHATTARAI

The chief executive of Over-
stock.com resigned Thursday,
saying he was “far too controver-
sial” after disclosing that he had
aided in a “deep state” investiga-
tion into the 2016 election and
was romantically involved with a
Russian agent.
Patrick M. Byrne had led the
e-commerce retailer for two dec-
ades.
“Though patriotic Americans
are writing me in support, my
presence may affect and compli-
cate all manner of business rela-
tionships,” he told shareholders
in a letter Thursday. “Thus, while
I believe that I did what was
necessary for the good of the
country, for the good of the firm, I
am in the sad position of having
to sever ties with Overstock.”
Byrne confirmed in a company
news release last week that he
had been romantically involved
for three years with Maria Butina,
a Russian gun rights activist who
is now serving 18 months in
prison for trying to influence U.S.
policy ahead of the 2016 election.
He also said he had been aiding
federal authorities, whom he
called “the Men in Black,” in their
“Clinton investigation” and “Rus-
sia investigation.”
The investigations “turned out
to be less about law enforcement
and more about political espio-
nage conducted against Hillary
Clinton and Donald Trump (and
to a lesser degree, Marco Rubio
and Ted Cruz),” he said in a
statement last week. He did not
provide more specifics.
Byrne handed over text mes-
sages, emails and other docu-
ments to the Justice Department

this year, according to an article

published last week by Sara Cart-

er, a journalist and Fox News

contributor. Carter also reported

that Byrne has a low-level secu-

rity clearance and told the FBI of

his early encounters with Butina.

The FBI, Byrne told Carter, gave

him “vague instructions that it

would be ok to get to know her

better.” Byrne confirmed those

details in a news release. An FBI

spokeswoman declined to com-

ment, as did Butina’s attorney,

Robert Driscoll.

Shares of Overstock fell

36 percent following the initial

disclosures. On Thursday, the

stock jumped more than 9 per-

cent.

In a meandering and some-

times bizarre letter, Byrne said he

had been thinking about resign-

ing since July 2018, when “certain

news became public.” That

month, Butina was arrested by

the FBI.

“If the hors d’oeuvre that was

served recently caused the mar-

ket such indigestion, it is not

going to be in shareholder inter-

est for me to be around if and

when any main course is served,”

Byrne wrote in his resignation

letter.

“I wish all shareholders a

smooth and level road,” he con-

cluded. “And don’t forget to shop

Overstock.com!”

Jonathan E. Johnson III, who

oversees the company’s block-

chain subsidiary, has been ap-

pointed interim chief executive,

Overstock said. Kamelia Aryafar,

the company’s chief algorithms

officer, will replace Byrne on the

Overstock board.

Overstock got its start in 1997

as an Internet marketplace for

excess inventory. Byrne took over

the Utah-based company in 1999

and turned it into an e-commerce

giant that specializes in home

goods, furniture and decor. Sales

rose 4 percent last year to

$1.82 billion.

Byrne, a longtime advocate of

cryptocurrencies, has been build-

ing up Overstock’s blockchain

business. The company became

the first mainstream retailer to

accept bitcoin in 2014 and is

developing an e-commerce token

called tZero. Byrne has recently

become outspoken about his

plans to sell Overstock’s e-

commerce business to focus on

blockchain.

Now, with Byrne’s departure,

analysts said they expected the

company to move quickly in sell-

ing off its retail operations.

“This is a tremendous day for

shareholders,” said Tom Forte, an

analyst for D.A. Davidson & Co.

“To Patrick Byrne’s credit, he real-

ized that the controversy was

having a negative impact on his

company, and he stepped down.

Now the company can move for-

ward.”

[email protected]

Devlin Barrett contributed to this

story.

Overstock CEO Byrne resigns after saying he aided in Russia investigation

GEORGE FREY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Patrick M. Byrne, seen in 2010, said last week that he had been romantically involved with Maria Butina, a Russian gun rights activist.