The Wall Street Journal - 09.03.2020

B2| Monday, March 9, 2020 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

was inspired by director Dan

Scanlon’s own childhood expe-

rience. The movie has received

strong reviews and an A- Cine-

maScore.

“We’re very encouraged by

how the audiences are re-

sponding with really good word

of mouth, and as families start

their spring-break holidays, it

looks to set us up for a good

long run,” said Cathleen Taff,

Disney’s head of distribution.

To be fair, ticket sales for

“Onward” could have also been

affected by its unique release

date, according to Comscore

analyst Paul Dergarabedian. It

is the “first Pixar movie in the

studio’s 25-year history to open

outside of the summer or holi-

day corridor,” he said.

Theater owners in North

INDEX TO BUSINESSES

These indexes cite notable references to most parent companies and businesspeople
in today’s edition. Articles on regional page inserts aren’t cited in these indexes.

A

Acorns Advisers..........R3
Alphabet......................A3
Amazon.com..........A3,R6
AMC Entertainment
Holding......................B9
American States Water
R5
Apple...........................R6
B

Barclays.......................B8
Berry Global Group.....B3
Betterment.................R3
BeyondHQ...................A3
Boeing....................B1,B4
Bonnier Group.............B5
BP................................B1
C

Carnival.......................B9
Causeway Media
Partners....................R6
Cavalry Ventures
Management.............B5
Charles Schwab..........R3
Cinemark Holdings.....B9
Cisco Systems.............R2
D

DoorDash....................A6
E
Ellevest.......................R3
Elliott Management...B1
Essential Utilities.......R5
Evergy..........................B1
Exor.............................B5
F

Fiat Chrysler........A6, B9
G-H
General Motors.....A6,B9
Global X Nasdaq 100
Covered Call ETF......R6
Hanesbrands...............A6

Hedgeye Risk

Management.............R7

Hubbell........................B4

Hyundai Motor............A6

I

Imax.............................B9

Instacart......................A6

J

Janus Henderson Group

R7

J.P. Morgan.................B1

K

Krohne Group..............B5

L

LendingHome..............A3

LG Chem......................B9

LG Electronics.............A6

Live Nation

Entertainment A3, A6.

B9

LLamasoft...................A6

Ludwig Krohne & Sohn

B5

Lyft........................A6,R8

M

MGM Holdings............B2

Microsoft...............A3,R6

Monadnock Non-Wovens

B3

Morgan Stanley..........B8

N

Newday Investing.......R3

Nintendo.....................A6

Norwegian Cruise Line

Holdings....................B9

O

Obesity ETF................R7

One America Works...A3

Onus Group.................A6

Organics ETF...............R7

P

Panasonic....................B9

Peloton Interactive.....R8

Personal Capital..........R3

Personio......................B5

PG&E...........................B1

Pinterest.....................R8

Postmates...................A6

Prudential....................B1

PSA Groupe.................B9

R

Rouven Dresselhaus...B5

Royal Caribbean Cruises

B9

S

Sanofi..........................A6

Saudi Arabian Oil.......A1

Siemens.......................B5

Snap............................R8

T

TD Ameritrade Holding

R3

Tesla............................B9

Third Point..................B1

3M...............................B3

Total SA......................B9

Toyota Motor..............B9

Tupperware Brands.....B3

U

Uber Technologies......A6

UBS Group...................B8

V

Vanguard Group..........R3

Viessmann...................B5

Volkswagen.................B9

W

Walt Disney...........B2,B9

Wealthfront................R3

Y

York Water..................R5

INDEX TO PEOPLE

BUSINESS & FINANCE

ing into markets,” said Bill Cal-

lahan, investment strategist at

Schroders PLC.

If there is an upside to the

selling, it is that parts of the

markets that had looked expen-

sive are now trading at more

modest valuations.

Technology stocks, long the

leaders of the bull market, had

run up so quickly the past few

years that some investors

worried they were vulnerable

to a violent reversal that could

take down the broader market.

But now many dominant com-

panies are only up modestly

for the year, with Microsoft

Corp. up 2.5% and Ama-

zon.com Inc. up 2.8%. In some

ways, the pullback appears to

have brought valuations back

to levels that seem more real-

istic given the current eco-

nomic environment.

Not all investors have

viewed recent declines as nec-

essarily the start of a more

painful downturn.

“If you look at this bull

market over the past decade

plus, there’ve been so many

market spasms, and the typi-

cal pattern is that the market

goes through a mini-correction

and then comes out on the

other side,” said Dave Don-

abedian, chief investment offi-

cer at CIBC Private Wealth

Management.

Still, that hasn’t stopped

nervousness from rippling

across the investing world, af-

fecting everyone from sea-

soned traders to individual in-

vestors rushing to log into

their brokerage accounts.

“I’m a little tired,” joked R.J.

Grant, director of equity trad-

ing at KBW Inc. He noted the

irony of working a job in which

punishing bouts of selling are

actually a boon for business. “I

haven’t opened my personal ac-

count,” Mr. Grant said.

Financial-planning company

Edelman Financial Engines

LLC, which counts more than a

million 401(k) investors among

its clients, said its call center

staffed by financial advisers

got four times the number of

usual phone calls on Feb. 28.

Even those who believe the

market will rebound are reluc-

tant to predict when the worst

of the selling will be over.

“One negative headline can

send the market into a tail-

spin, but there’s no one posi-

tive headline that can give us

the all clear,” said Mizuho’s

Mr. Drummey.

slowing sharply in the first half
of the year, then rebounding in
the following quarters.
But in another—in which
the epidemic evolves into a
more disruptive pandemic—
Goldman believes the U.S.
economy could fall into reces-
sion and the bull run in stocks
could end.
Index provider MSCI Inc.
built a model to predict how
much more stocks could fall if
reduced spending due to coro-
navirus shaves 2 percentage
points off global growth in the
short term. Under such a sce-
nario, the company believes
U.S. stocks could fall as much
as 22% from their Feb. 19 high.
However it all unfolds, it ap-
pears that Wall Street agrees
on one thing. The epidemic has
displaced prior threats like
stretched valuations, a run-up
in growth stocks and a bitter
trade feud between the U.S.
and China as the No. 1 threat to
the bull market.
“This is something different.
It affects the way people go
about their lives and I think
that’s what’s causing angst in
the broader economy and feed-

Continued from page B1

Bull Market

Is Put to

The Test

The activists who are em-
phasizingESGsayitisanex-
tension of their focus on corpo-
rate governance.
In the past decade, the inves-
tors largely shifted away from
demanding capital redistribu-
tion, positioning themselves in-
stead as advocates of improving
governance shortcomings.
“ESG is so top-of-mind right
now throughout the investment
world, but with the exception of
board diversity, we have yet to
really see the E and S be the

Continued from page B1

America and abroad are facing

a particularly unpredictable set

of hurdles as authorities and

medical professionals attempt

to contain the coronavirus out-

break.

MGM Holdings Inc. said a

few days ago it was postponing

the release of the 25th James

Bond film “No Time to Die” un-

til November. The movie had

originally been slated to pre-

miere around the globe in

April.

Even before the outbreak,

Disney was facing a potentially

down year. In 2019, the studio

dominated the market with a

string of hits including Pixar’s

“Toy Story 4,” “The Lion King,”

“Frozen 2” and “Star Wars: The

Rise of Skywalker.” This year,

Disney’s slate features fewer

remakes and sequels from es-

tablished brands.

This week’s second-best-per-

forming film at the domestic

box office was the thriller “The

Invisible Man,” starring Elisa-

beth Moss. Produced by low-

budget horror-hit factory

Blumhouse Productions, the

movie—which cost just $7 mil-

lion to make—has grossed a to-

tal of $52.7 million in the U.S.

and Canada after two weeks in

theaters, according to Com-

score.

sales in 2018, according to me-

dia-measurement company

Comscore.

“Onward” also grossed an

additional $28 million from 47

overseas markets, bringing its

global total to $68 million, ac-

cording to Comscore. Due to

coronavirus concerns abroad,

Disney wasn’t able to open

“Onward” in markets such as

Japan, South Korea and Italy.

Releasing “Onward” in

China, the world’s second-big-

gest box-office market, remains

up in the air as the nation’s

nearly 70,000 theaters have

been shut due to the outbreak.

With characters voiced by

Chris Pratt and Tom Holland—

who breathe life into animated

elf siblings dealing with the

loss of their father—“Onward”

Walt Disney Co.’s latest

Pixar movie “Onward” took the

No. 1 spot at the box office

over the weekend.

Mustering decent ticket

sales for a March opening, “On-

ward” grossed $40 million in

the U.S. and Canada, according

to preliminary studio esti-

mates.

By regular standards, “On-

ward” may have performed

reasonably during its first

weekend at the box office, es-

pecially considering that some

health officials have cautioned

against public gatherings due

to the coronavirus.

But when comparing “On-

ward” with its peers, the movie

logged the third-worst domes-

tic opening among the more

than 20 films released by the

prolific Pixar Animation Stu-

dios, most famous for having

created the much-loved Toy

Story franchise.

Without adjusting for infla-

tion, Pixar’s worst opening so

far has been its first film,

1995’s “Toy Story,” which

grossed $29.1 million in its first

weekend in North American

theaters. The studio’s best de-

but was “Incredibles 2,” which

earned $182.7 million in ticket

A
Abbasi, Yousef............B9
B
Barra, Mary.................B9
C

Calhoun, Dave.............B4
Carlson, Charles..........R4
F

Fisman, David.............A7
Fürstenberg, Jeannette
G
Gaugler, Michael.........R5
Griffin Rubin, Elaine...R3
Grousbeck, Wyc..........R6
Guyton, Jonathan.......B8
H
Hanage, William.........A7
Hayward, Keith...........B3
Hogan, Art..................R7
Horneman, Megan......B9

Hylton, Scott..............B4

I

Itkin, Laurie................R4

K

Kolovos, John..............B9

L

Lake, Andrea...............A6

Lamont, Kenneth........R7

Lux, Michael................R3

M

McCullough, Keith......R7

Musk, Elon..................B9

O

O'Brien, Christine.......B2

P

Panayotov, Stoyan......R4

Pfau, Wade.................B8

Powers, Timothy........A6

R

Reddy, Rohan..............R6

Richardson, Nela.........B9

Rosenbluth, Todd..R6,R7

S

Salmon, Thomas.........B3

Schapiro, Ken..............R3

Schmidt, Lars.............A6

Schutte, Brent............R4

Stefanescu, Doru........B4

Storozynski, Angie.....R5

T

Taff, Cathleen.............B2

Tavares, Carlos...........B9

Tierney, Jim................R4

Toroian, Cassandra.....R4

U

Ubben, Jeff.................B1

W

Wauck, Kate................R3

Whitby, Ray................B3

BYR.T.WATSON

Disney’s ‘Onward’ Is the Top Draw

The movie logged the third-worst domestic opening among the more than 20 films released by the prolific Pixar Animation Studios.

WALT DISNEY/EVERETT COLLECTION

Estimated Box-Office Figures, Through Sunday

SALES, IN MILLIONS

FILM DISTRIBUTOR WEEKEND* CUMULATIVE % CHANGE

1.Onward Disney $40.0 $40.0 —

2.The Invisible Man Universal $15.2 $52.7 -46

3.The Way Back Warner Bros. $8.5 $8.5 —

4.Sonic the Hedgehog Paramount $8.0 $140.8 -51

5.The Call of the Wild 20th Century $7.0 $57.5 -48

*Friday, Saturday and Sunday Source: Comscore

center of an activism cam-

paign,” said Andrew Freedman,

a lawyer at Olshan Frome Wolo-

sky LLP who works with activ-

ists.

“In the next year, we believe

we’ll see campaigns where

those factors are front and cen-

ter,” Mr. Freedman added.

Critics say the firms aren’t

pivoting out of a desire to save

the world, and to be sure, their

ultimate goals remain the same:

higher stock prices and, in

many cases, bigger payouts to

shareholders.

“Activists will try to co-opt

what index funds care about,”

said Avinash Mehrotra, global

head of activism defense at

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

It is far from guaranteed that

the efforts will yield more as-

sets or better returns for a

group that has struggled to

keep up with the surging stock

market in recent years.

Jana Partners LLC has de-

layed its goal of launching a

new vehicle focused on ESG af-

ter it found more demand for

case-by-case partnership in-

vestments with an ESG thrust,

according to a person familiar

with the matter.

Jana was an early mover in

activist ESG, pushing Apple Inc.

to address concerns about teen-

age iPhone addiction in 2018 in

partnership with the giant

union California State Teachers’

Retirement System, or Calstrs.

Other activists haven’t gone

out of their way to talk about

environmental or social failings

at the companies they target,

with some saying it is not their

place to do so. Carl Icahn and

Jeff Smith of Starboard Value

LP rarely incorporate such com-

plaints in their campaigns.

That contrasts with the likes

of Elliott and Third Point. El-

liott made Christine O’Brien, a

former research analyst at the

fund, head of investment stew-

ardship last year, while Third

Point carved out a similar role

for firm veteran Elissa Doyle.

And earlier this year, Mr. Ub-

ben, a founder of ValueAct Cap-

ital Management LP, officially

stepped down from his role as

chief executive to focus on man-

aging the firm’s $1 billion so-

cially responsible Spring Fund.

Other funds that have taken

into consideration environmen-

tal and social issues, include

Barington Capital Group LP,

which has a formal ESG policy.

Its campaign at L Brands

Inc. centered on pushing the

Victoria’s Secret parent to

break up, and it criticized the

fashion icon as “tone deaf”

given women’s views of inclu-

sion.

Funds Play

Up Growing

Social Role

S&P 500 Futures,

Treasury Yields Fall

The turmoil in global mar-

kets ratcheted up, with the

prospect of an energy glut

sparking steep selloffs in

shares and oil, roiling currencies

and fueling a stampede for the

safety of government bonds.

Investors were responding

to Saudi Arabia’s decision to

cut most of its oil prices and

boost output, despite existing

threats to demand from the

coronavirus epidemic. The move

escalates a clash with Russia.

“The fear today is about a

global recession,” said Thomas

Hayes, chairman of Great Hill

Capital, a hedge-fund-manage-

ment firm based in New York.

He said lower oil prices made it

more likely some companies

would default on their debts.

Trading in futures tied to

the S&P 500 fell by the maxi-

mum 5% allowed in a single

session, meaning trading was

limited for the first time since

shortly after President Trump

won the U.S. presidential elec-

tion in 2016.

U.S. government bonds,

which have already rallied to

record levels, extended gains.

The yield on the benchmark 10-

year U.S. Treasury note briefly

fell below 0.5% and later stood

at 0.516%.

In the Asia-Pacific region,

the S&P/ASX 200 index in Aus-

tralia dropped more than 5%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined

more than 6%, while bench-

marks in Hong Kong and

Shanghai dropped more than

3% and 2%, respectively.

The WSJ Dollar Index, a

measure of the currency

against 16 others, was down

0.4%.

—David Winning,

Akane Otani

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