The Washington Post - 30.08.2019

A18 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, AUGUST 30 , 2019

THE MARKETS

6 M onitor 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. 39

1.

1.

10- year note

Yield:

5-year note

Yield:

2-year note

Yield:

6-month bill

Yield:

Treasury Performance Over Past Three Months

7973.39 +1.5 +20.

2924.58 +1.3 +16.

26,362.25 +1.3 +13.

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

S AJJMAMFJDNO

8400

7800

7200

6600

6000

27,

26,

24,

23,

21,

Industry Group

Daily

% Chg

Daily

% Chg –10.0%^0 +10.0%

Multiline Retail 3.

Real Estate Mgmt & Dev 3.

Trading Co's & Distr 2.

Airlines 2.

Life Sciences 2.

Biotechnology 0.

Wireless Telecomm Svcs –0.

Household Products –0.

Tobacco –2.

Diversified Consumer Svcs –9.

S&P 500 Industry Group Snapshot

Ba nk Prime

Federal Funds

LIBOR 3-Month

30-Year fixed mortgage

15-Year fixed mortgage

1-Year ARM

2.12%

2.25%

5.25%

3.63%

3.06%

3.71%

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 29,956.23 1.3 16.

Russell 2000 1496.72 1.6 11.

Post-Bloomberg DC Area Index 620.53 1.3 32.

CBOE Volatility (VIX) 17.91 –7.4 –29.

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 ,524.40 2.

1 6,384.49 0.

4 1,821. 10 2.

376 .74 1.

544 9.97 1.

1 1,838.88 1.

7 184. 32 1.

650 7. 40 0.

379 0.19 –0.

2 5,703.50 0.

2 0,460.93 –0.

International Stock Markets

Daily

Close % Chg

Daily

Gainers Losers Close % Chg

Guess? Inc $18.12 20.

Shoe Carnival $30.80 18.

GMS Inc $27. 71 17. 4

Bel Fuse Inc $11.16 16.

Te ch Data Corp $94.68 15.

Matrix Service Co $21.81 14.

Methode Electronics $32.20 13.

Titan International $2. 64 1 3.

Greif Inc $36. 62 1 3.

Rayonier Adv Matrl $3.54 12.

Bed Bath & Beyond $9.48 11.

Dollar General Corp $156.09 10.

Lannett Co Inc $8.88 9.

Denbury Resources $1.17 9.

GameStop Corp $4.23 9.

HighPoint Resources $1.26 8.

Barnes & Noble Edu $3.88 8.

Daktronics Inc $7.25 8.

Jabil Circuit $28.23 7. 8

Unit Corp $3.21 7. 7

Ollie'sBargainOutlt $56.36 –27. 5

Realogy Holdings $4.73 –22.

Abercrombie & Fitch $14.45 –15.

Mallinckrodt PLC $3.08 –12.

H&R Block Inc $24.37 –9.

Best Buy $63.49 –8.

Williams-Sonoma $64.16 –6.

Acorda Therapeutics $3.42 –5.

Medifast Inc $98.56 –5.

Dean Foods $1. 05 –3.

PetMed Express Inc $15.50 –3.

Altria Group Inc $44.25 –3.

Ta bula Rasa Hlth $57. 64 –3.

eHealth Inc $89.16 –3.

MarketAxess $392.25 –3.

Phibro Animal Hlth $21.14 –2.

RE/MAX Holdings Inc $25.60 –2.

Akorn Inc $2.94 –2.

Ring Energy Inc $1.47 –2.

Royal Gold Inc $132. 64 –2.

Gainers and Losers from the S&P 1500 Index

Daily

% Chg

YTD

Company Close % Chg

Daily

% Chg

YTD

Company Close % Chg

3M Co 160.36 1.8 –15.

AmExp 120.74 1.4 26.

Apple Inc 209.01 1.7 32.

Boeing 362.74 0.8 12.

Caterpillar 117.77 2.5 –7.

Chevron Corp 117.52 0.6 8.

Cisco Systems 47.27 0.9 9.

Coca-Cola 55.05 –0.1 16.

Dow Inc 42.37 –0.

Exxon Mobil 68.43 1.1 0.

GoldmnSchs 203.44 1.5 21.

Home Depot 227.32 2.4 32.

IBM 134.88 1.6 18.

Intel Corp 46.87 2.4 –0.

J&J 128.24 –0.3 –0.

JPMorg Ch 109.22 2.3 11.

McDonald's 220.54 1.1 24.

Merck 86.72 0.3 13.

Microsoft 138.12 1.9 36.

Nike 85.38 2.3 15.

P&G Co 121.18 –0.2 31.

Pfizer Inc 35.33 0.7 –19.

Travelers 146.94 0.4 22.

United Tech 129.51 2.1 21.

UnitedHealth 230.62 1.4 –7.

Verizon 57.94 0.0 3.

Visa Inc 181.17 1.4 37.

Walgreen 50.40 0.9 –26.

WalMart 114.08 1.2 22.

Walt Disney 137.84 0.9 25.

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 $

1.1058 0.0093 1.2181 0.2398 0.7522 0.

0 .9043 0 .0085 1.1016 0.2169 0.6803 0.

1 06.5100 117.7800 129.7430 25.5482 80.1220 5.

0 .8209 0.9077 0.0077 0 .1969 0.6175 0.

4 .1693 4.6108 0.0391 5.0785 3 .1363 0.

1 .3294 1.4699 0.0124 1.6193 0.3188 0.

2 0.1397 22.2693 0.1890 24.5323 4.8310 15.

Cross Currency Rates

Exchange-Traded (Ticker) $

Daily

% Chg

Value of $1000 invested for the past: day month

$800 $

Co ffee (COFF.L) –2.

Copper (COPA.L) 1.

Corn (CORN.L) 1.

Cotton (COTN.L) 0.

Crude Oil (CRUD.L) 0.

Gasoline (UGAS.L) 0.

Gold (BULL.L) 0.

Natural Gas (NGAS.L) 1.

Silver (SLVR.L) 1.

Futures

Daily

Close % Chg

Daily

Close % Chg

Copper $2.5 775 +0.

Corn $3. 7125 +0.

Crude Oil $56.71 +1.

Gold $1,536. 90 –0.

Natural Gas $2.30 +3.

Orange Juice $1.0800 +3.

Silver $18. 32 –0.

Soybeans $8.685 0 +0.

Sugar $0.1121 –1.

Wheat $4.72 75 –0.

Commodities

BY ANNA FIFIELD

beijing — Jack Ma, the Chinese
tech billionaire known for argu-
ing in favor of a 12-hour workday,
sees a future in which people will
have to work only 12 hours a week.
The founder of e-commerce be-
hemoth Alibaba said Thursday
that technological advancements
would enable people to live longer
and work far fewer hours.
“Every technology revolution,
people start to worry. In the last
200 years, we have worried [that]
new technology is going to take
away all the jobs,” he said in a
discussion in Shanghai with Elon

Musk, Te sla’s billionaire co-

founder. Te sla is building an elec-

tric-vehicle factory in the city, a nd

the two were on the stage at the

World Artificial Intelligence Con-

ference there.

Ma h as previously courted con-

troversy with his endorsement of

the “996” work practices preva-

lent in China’s tech industry, un-

der which employees are expect-

ed to work 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six

days a week.

In r emarks earlier this year, Ma

said that the opportunity to work

such hours was a “blessing” and

that without this kind of work

culture, China’s economy was

“very likely to lose vitality and

impetus.”

Another tech titan went fur-

ther, declaring that the 996 cul-

ture was for slackers. Richard Liu,

chief executive of rival e-com-

merce company JD.com, said he

works “8116+8” — or 8 a.m. to

11 p.m. Monday to Saturday, then

a mere eight hours on Sunday.

But speaking with Musk on

Thursday, Ma said that in the

future, people will be able to enjoy

a much shorter workweek.

“In the next 20 to 30 years,

human beings will live much lon-

ger. Life science technology is go-

ing to make people live probably

100 or 120 years,” he said. “That

may not be a good thing because

you get your grandfather’s grand-

father still working hard.”

But it didn’t matter, he said, as

the world wouldn’t need a lot of

jobs.

“I think people should work

three days a week, four hours a

day,” h e said, citing previous tech-

nological leaps such as the Indus-

trial Revolution and the use of

electricity as improving work-life

balance.

“The power of electricity is that

we make people more time, so you

can go to the karaoke in the eve-

ning, you can go to dancing par-

ties in the evening,” he said in

English.

“I think that because of artifi-

cial intelligence, people will have

more time to enjoy being human

beings. I don’t think we’ll need a

lot of jobs,” Ma told Musk. “The

jobs we need are [ones to] make

people happier. People experi-

ence life, enjoy [being] human

beings.”

China’s netizens were unim-

pressed.

“Ma has said previously that

996 was a blessing. How can he

say now that people can work

three days a week, four hours a

day, and go to karaoke or dance

parties in the evening,” asked one

person using the nickname “Be a

friend with time daily” on Weibo,

the Chinese version of Twitter.

“Previously he talked in Chi-

nese about 996. That’s f or us. This

time, he said ‘three days a week,

four hours a day’ in English.

That’s for foreigners.”

Another, using the name “Soda

water,” i nvoked a Chinese saying

that means two things don’t fit

together: “Musk will find that this

dialogue is like putting a donkey’s

lips on a horse’s mouth.”

[email protected]

Liu Yang contributed to this report.

Chinese tech billionaire envisions a future with 12-hour workweeks

BY TAYLOR TELFORD

AND THOMAS HEATH

Days after back-to-back retal-
iatory tariffs brought the
U. S.-China trade war to a boiling
point, officials on both sides
tamped down the rhetoric
Thursday and signaled they were
looking for an exit ramp.
The cool-down lifted Wall
Street, powering the three major
indexes to healthy gains, after
Beijing said it wasn’t looking to
escalate the trade war. China
confirmed that a face-to-face
meeting in September was still
on the table.
“China has ample means for
retaliation, but we think the
question that should be dis-
cussed now is about removing
the $550 billion of new tariffs to
prevent escalation of the trade
war,” Commerce Ministry
spokesman G ao Feng told r eport-
ers Thursday in Beijing.
“The most important thing is
to create the necessary condi-
tions for continuing negotia-
tions.”
China’s change in tone mir-
rored one Trump presented dur-
ing the Group of Seven summit,
when he said there had been two
“very g ood” c alls with C hina after
negotiators got in contact and
expressed interest in a deal. (Gao
did not confirm Trump’s claim
that China had called U. S. offi-
cials over the weekend in pursuit
of a deal.) On Thursday, he told
Fox News Radio that negotiators
had a talk scheduled that day “at
a different level.” However, he
did not offer any details or say
what he hoped the call would
accomplish.
The year-long standoff took a
bleak turn last Friday after Bei-
jing introduced retaliatory tar-
iffs on $75 billion in goods and

said it would reinstate levies on

auto products. Trump, in turn,

raised the rates of existing and

planned tariffs and called Chi-

nese President Xi Jinping an

“enemy.” He also demanded that

American businesses cut ties

with China.

The trade blows renewed fears

of an economic slowdown and

sent stocks into a tailspin. The

Dow Jones industrial average

sank more 623 points, or nearly

2.4 percent, while the S tandard &

Poor’s 500 fell 2.6 percent and

the Nasdaq composite erased

3 percent.

But Thursday’s exchange sug-

gested there was at least some

willingness on b oth s ides t o work

toward a resolution, especially

after Beijing said that discus-

sions a bout a September meeting

were ongoing. Chinese negotia-

tors had been expected to travel

to the United States for those

talks until last week’s pandemo-

nium raised doubts.

That w as enough to g ive weary

investors some measure of hope,

said Ed Yardeni, president of

Yardeni Research.

“China saying that negotia-

tions are continuing over trade

talks is bullish for investors,”

Yardeni said Thursday. “Inves-

tors just want this issue resolved.

The Chinese have said this be-

fore, but it beats the alternative

of having China say they are not

interested in pursuing any fur-

ther talks.”

All three indexes had a good

day Thursday but remain down

about 2 percent with one trading

day left in the month. August is

historically one of the worst

months for stock performance.

The Dow closed Thursday at

26,362, a 326-point gain, or

1.3 percent. China-exposed

heavyweights such as Apple,

Nike, Intel and Caterpillar

helped lead the way. All but four

of the 30 blue c hips were p ositive

Thursday. T he Dow is on pace for

its best week since June.

The S&P 500 finished at 2,924,

a gain of 36 p oints, or 1.3 percent.

All 11 stock market sectors were

positive Thursday, with informa-

tion technology, industrials and

energy at the top. Oil prices rose

1.7 percent on news from the U.S.

Energy Information Administra-

tion that crude oil reserves had

fallen last week.

The tech-laden Nasdaq raced

116 points ahead, a 1.5 percent

gain, to close at 7,973.

“China’s stated preference for

a negotiated solution rather than

reciprocating the latest tariff in-

creases is being taken as a mean-

ingful de-escalation,” Brendan

Walsh, an analyst with Markets

Policy Partners, wrote in a note

to investors Thursday. “Inves-

tors’ overriding concern is that

Beijing walks away from the

negotiation due to overuse of

pressure tactics by the White

House. Next month’s Chinese

trade delegation to Washington

is being seen by market partici-

pants as a potentially pivotal

event.”

Recession fears have spiked in

recent weeks as a raft of warning

signals have surfaced in the U.S.

economy. The nation’s manufac-

turing sector has contracted for

the first time in a decade, and

sales of U. S. exports have de-

creased at the fastest pace since

2009. For the first time since the
      run-up to the Great Recession,
      the yields — or returns — on
      short-term U.S. bonds eclipsed
      those of long-term bonds. The
      phenomenon, known as an in-
      verted yield curve, has preceded
      every recession since 1955 and
      signals that investors are piling
      into safer assets.
      On Thursday, the Commerce
      Department said U.S. economic
      growth had slowed more in the
      second quarter than previously
      thought. Gross domestic product
      grew at an annualized rate of
      2 percent, the department said,
      revised down from an estimate of
      2.1 percent last month.
      “Consumers bought more
      non-durable goods and spent
      more on services, but exports
      were a touch weaker and spend-
      ing by state & local governments
      added less than the first GDP
      estimate a month ago,” Chris
      Rupkey, chief financial econo-
      mist at MUFG Union Bank,
      wrote in note to investors Thurs-
      day. “The economy is still on
      cruise control and growing a
      steady 2.0% in the second quar-
      ter as the trade wind skies con-
      tinue to darken.”
      Just as the trade war is taking
      its toll on the U.S. economy, the
      conflict’s effects are also rippling
      across the globe. China’s eco-
      nomic growth has slowed to its
      lowest rate in 27 years, as factory
      output declines and unemploy-
      ment rises, and central bank
      leaders in Europe, Asia and Aus-
      tralia have cut interest rates in
      recent weeks, citing the need for
      economic stimulus.
      [email protected]
      [email protected]

As trade war rhetoric cools on both sides, markets get a late-August lift

QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Vehicles move along highways at dawn in Shanghai. On a dramatic day in the U.S.-China trade war last

week, among other moves China announced it would reinstate levies on auto products, followed by

U.S. action. The clouds seemed to lift Thursday as both countries mentioned future negotiations.