The Wall Street Journal - 08.11.2019

** FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2019 ~ VOL. CCLXXIV NO. 111 WSJ.com HHHH$4.

DJIA27674.80À182.24 0.7% NASDAQ8434.52À0.3% STOXX 600406.56À0.4% 10-YR. TREAS.À4/32, yield 1.924% OIL$57.15À$0.80 GOLD$1,464.20g$26.00 EURO$1.1051 YEN109.

China,

U.S. Give

Mixed

Signals

On Trade

Markets rise as Beijing

cites progress on tariffs,

but Washington offers

no firm commitment

WSJ.

MAGAZINE

the innovators

issue

DoubleClick acquisition

Google advertising revenue

Source: company filings

$125 billion

0

25

50

75

100

2002 ’05 ’10 ’15 ’

TOMORROW

with low interest rates?” said

Duncan Hale, a portfolio man-

ager at Willis Towers Watson,

which offers insurance broker-

ing, risk management and in-

vestment advisory services. He

said he looks for tried-and-

tested investment avenues

that are “slightly outside of

where you’ve seen pension

funds usually invest.”

Government-bond yields,

which have climbed world-

wide in recent days from the

lows that they plumbed over

the summer, still continue to

reflect historically unprece-

dented levels of weakness.

Globally, about $12.5 trillion in

debt offer subzero yields, ac-

cording to Deutsche Bank Se-

curities, though that is down

Please turn to page A

Some pension-fund manag-

ers are venturing further into

unusual investment territory

as this year’s plunge in bond

yields makes it harder to find

decent long-term returns.

Funds are dabbling in risk-

ier asset classes, including pri-

vate markets, real-estate proj-

ects, infrastructure financing

and direct lending. Some are

making riskier fixed-income

bets, buying volatile assets

such as 100-year Argentine

government bonds. Others are

going farther afield, investing

in greenhouses and waste

management.

“How do we get those types

of return in an environment

BYAVANTIKACHILKOTI

ANDCAITLINOSTROFF

No Mice for Me, Thanks, I’m Vegan

iii

Cat owners serve up meatless meals; tofu for Trixie

straight up.”

Ms. O’Carroll, who has nine

other cats, all on vegan diets,

now reserves Ami for treats.

Ami didn’t respond to requests

for comment.

Humans who are vegan—

meaning they abstain from

At first, Kecha gave up

canned meat. Soon after, she

stopped eating the fresh stuff

too. Kecha is now strictly ve-

gan. She is also a cat.

Concerned about animal

cruelty, and the carbon

pawprints of their feline

friends, some humans are put-

ting their kitties on vegan di-

ets. And the cats—despite

their carnivorous nature—

seem to like it, owners say.

“They call it kitty crack,”

says Kecha’s owner Gráinne

O’Carroll, of an Italian vegan

cat-food brand called Ami.

“They like it so much they eat

it really quickly and vomit

BYDENISEROLAND meat and animal products like

dairy and eggs—have been ex-

tolling the benefits of vegan-

ism to other humans for de-

cades. Now, they’re pushing

them on their pets. Vegan pet

food is attracting support

from deep-pocketed investors

like PayPal founder Peter

Thiel, who sank nearly half-a-

million dollars into vegan dog-

food startup Wild Earth Inc.

last year. A third of pet own-

ers, vegan and non-vegan, ex-

pressed interest in feeding

their animals a plant-based

diet, according to a survey

published this year by re-

searchers at the University of

Guelph in Canada. A Facebook

Please turn to page A

What’s

in this

dish?

 Burisma’s U.S. hires go

beyond Biden’s son................ A

 U.S. diplomat says Giuliani

spread ‘lies’................................. A

WASHINGTON—Beijing’s

statement Thursday that the

U.S. and China have mutually

agreed to roll back tariffs as

part of a “phase one” trade ac-

cord lifted financial markets,

but questions remained over

how much ground—if any—the

Trump administration had

agreed to give.

Optimism that the trade war

was finally nearing an end was

raised by comments from a

Chinese Commerce Ministry

spokesman in Beijing.

“If the phase-one deal is

signed, China and the U.S.

should remove the same pro-

portion of tariffs simultane-

ously based on the content of

the deal,” Chinese Commerce

Ministry spokesman Gao Feng

said at a regular press briefing.

“This is what [the two sides]

agreed on following careful and

constructive negotiations over

the past two weeks,” he said.

But there were conflicting

reports from within the Trump

administration whether there

was a firm commitment to re-

duce tariffs.

One U.S. official concurred

that the two sides plan to roll

back tariffs as part of an initial

trade pact—which would sup-

Please turn to page A

ByJosh Zumbrunand

William Mauldinin

Washington andChao

Dengin Beijing

Disney Thrives at Box Office

But Focus Turns to Streaming

Walt Disney Co.’s hit movies,

led by “The Lion King” and

“Toy Story 4,” once again

helped drive strong quarterly

results. But the company is

largely looking beyond the the-

ater for its future, focusing in-

stead on reasons for folks to

stay home.

Disney Chief Executive Rob-

ert Iger has spent billions of

dollars buying franchises, from

the Avengers to Star Wars—

brands that will soon be put to

the test when Disney launches

Disney+, its putative streaming

rival to Netflix Inc.

“We’re making a huge state-

ment about the future of media

and entertainment,” Mr. Iger

said on a conference call with

Wall Street analysts Thursday.

Highlighting the company’s

dueling priorities, Disney’s the-

atrical-movie division posted a

52% rise in revenue and 79%

jump in operating income in

the three months ended Sept.

28.

Overall, Disney’s profit

slumped by more than half to

$1.05 billion, hurt by a sharp

rise in costs stemming in part

from the Disney+ production

costs. But its shares rose in af-

ter-hours trading as earnings

beat analysts’ expectations.

Despite the company’s box-

office riches, a streaming-first

mentality now pervades the

company, if Mr. Iger’s remarks

were any indication. Disney’s

film and television divisions

are producing hundreds of

hours of programming not only

for Disney+ but also a 19-

month-old ESPN streaming ser-

vice and Hulu, a third service

that Disney now controls after

its $71.3 billion acquisition of

the 21st Century Fox entertain-

ment assets.

A team of newly hired engi-

neers have built out an inter-

face and technical underpin-

ning to withstand millions of

subscribers. Former partners

like Amazon.com Inc. are now

streaming rivals, forcing Disney

to negotiate deals to get its

service onto as many platforms

as possible.

In trying to turn every home

into a Mouse House, Disney’s

streaming launch is a long-

game attempt to allay concerns

Wall Street began expressing in

2015 when Mr. Iger acknowl-

edged subscriber losses at

ESPN, the company’s most

Please turn to page A

BYERICHSCHWARTZEL

Inside Google’s Vast Ad Machine

The tech giant is under fire for its dominance in digital

advertising. How did Google edge out its competitors—and why

is it under investigation? A comprehensive illustrated guide. A

Pensions Embrace

Riskier Investments

In Hunt for Returns

 Firm allegedly sold banned

Chinese gear.............................. A

 Apple gadgets grab screen

time on new show.................. B

Bloomberg

Prepares

For White

House Bid

Billionaire Michael

Bloomberg is taking steps to en-

ter the 2020 race for the Demo-

cratic presidential nomination,

one of his advisers said, months

after the former New York City

mayor said he wouldn’t run.

Mr. Bloomberg is preparing a

possible bid out of concern that

the current candidates might

not be able to defeat President

Trump, his adviser Howard

Wolfson said.

“Mike believes that Donald

Trump represents an unprece-

dented threat to our nation,”

Mr. Wolfson said.

“We now need to finish the

job and ensure that Trump is

defeated—but Mike is increas-

ingly concerned that the cur-

rent field of candidates is not

well positioned to do that,”

Mr. Wolfson said.

Mr. Wolfson said Mr.

Bloomberg was making prepa-

rations to appear on Alabama’s

primary ballot. The filing dead-

line is Friday, and Alabama is

one of 14 states holding con-

tests on March 3, known as “Su-

per Tuesday.”

People familiar with Mr.

Bloomberg’s plans said he

hasn’t made a final decision

about whether to run. His en-

try would add a new dimension

to an already crowded field

and offer a well-financed alter-

native to former Vice President

Joe Biden for voters seeking a

more centrist candidate to

challenge the president.

Please turn to page A

BYKENTHOMAS

ANDTARINIPARTI

CONTENTS

Banking & Finance.B

Business News B3,5-

Crossword............... A

Heard on Street. B

Life & Arts....... A10-

Mansion.............. M1-

Markets..................... B

Opinion.............. A13-

Sports........................ A

Technology............... B

U.S. News............. A2-

Weather................... A

World News....... A6-

s2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

What’s

News

Michael Bloombergis tak-

ing steps to enter the race for

the Democratic presidential

nomination, one of his advis-

ers said, preparing a possible

bid out of concern that the

current candidates might not

be able to defeat Trump.A

A State Departmentof-

ficial testified that Giuliani

engaged in a campaign “full

of lies and incorrect infor-

mation” to undercut the

then-ambassador to Ukraine,

according to a transcript.A

The campaignof Ukrai-

nian company Burisma to

clean up its image in the West

reached beyond the 2014

hiring of Hunter Biden to in-

clude other well-connected

operatives in Washington.A

Trump must pay$2 mil-

lion to charities to settle a

lawsuit that accused his foun-

dation of helping his 2016

campaign, a judge ruled.A

A U.S. diplomat asserted

in an internal memo that the

Trump administration didn’t

try hard enough to dissuade

Turkey from intervening mil-

itarily in northeast Syria.A

The Justice Department

has issued civil subpoenas to

four auto makers that reached

a tailpipe emissions deal this

summer with California.A

The U.S. accused Iranof

intimidating nuclear inspec-

tors after a woman from

the U.N. atomic agency was

blocked from the country’s

main enrichment site.A

Prosecutors allegethat

a Long Island firm sold gear

from Chinese manufacturers

that U.S. officials had flagged

as cybersecurity threats.A

B

eijing’s statementthat

the U.S. and China agreed

to roll back tariffs as part of

a “phase one” trade accord

lifted financial markets, but

questions remained over how

much ground, if any, Wash-

ington had agreed to give.A

The Dow gained0.7%

and the S&P 500 added 0.3%,

hitting records. The 10-year

Treasury’s yield jumped.B

Disney’s hit movieshelped

drive strong results in the lat-

est quarter, but the company

is largely looking beyond

the theater for its future.A

Gap saidCEO Peck will step

down immediately and be

replaced on a temporary ba-

sis by the firm’s chairman.B

Saudi Arabia’ssovereign-

wealth fund has pumped

$400 million into Travis

Kalanick’s CloudKitchens.B

PG&E posteda $1.6 bil-

lion third-quarter loss, hit

by costs from wildfires,

bankruptcy and blackouts.B

The owner of the Sears

and Kmart chains said it will

close 96 more Sears or Kmart

locations by February.B

GM has soldits closed

Lordstown, Ohio, assembly

plant to a startup that plans

to make electric trucks.B

Toyota reporteda rise in

profit for its latest quarter.

The auto maker maintained

its full-year outlook.B

Juul Labs saidit was

voluntarily stopping the

sale of its mint-flavored

e-cigarette refill pods.B

Coca-Cola is launching

a new flavored seltzer brand

with caffeinated options, in

a challenge to LaCroix.B

Business&Finance

World-Wide

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Mora, Mexico. They were among the three women and six children killed by gunmen Monday in an attack blamed on drug cartels. A

MARCO UGARTE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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