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Stocks fell sharply Mon-
day on Wall Street, knocking
nearly 400 points off the Dow
Jones industrial average.
The benchmark S&P 500
had its worst day in a week as
the sell-off put the market
deeper into the red for Au-
gust. The selling was wide-
spread, with technology
companies and banks ac-
counting for a big share of
the decline.
Investors sought safety
in U.S. government bonds,
sending their yields tum-
bling. The price for gold, an-
other traditional safe-haven
asset, closed higher.
The costly trade war be-
tween the U.S. and China
has rattled markets this
month. An escalation in ten-
sions between the world’s
largest economies has
stoked worries that the long-
running trade conflict will
undercut an already slowing
global economy.
“Trade and the concern
that as this escalates it con-
tinues to wear on confidence
to a point that this actually
causes a recession, that’s
what people are wrestling
with,” said Ben Phillips,
chief investment officer at
EventShares.
The latest wave of anx-
ious selling left the S&P 500
index down 35.56 points, or
1.2%, at 2,883.09. The Dow fell
391 points, or 1.5%, to
25,896.44. The average was
briefly down 462 points.
The Nasdaq composite
dropped 95.73, or 1.2%, to
7,863.41. The Russell 2000 in-
dex of smaller company
stocks lost 18.58 points, or
1.2%, to 1,494.46.
The major indexes are
down more than 3% for Au-
gust. Even after this month’s
stumble, they are up solidly
this year, led by the Nasdaq
with a gain of 18.5%. The
S&P 500 is up 15%, though
it’s down 4.7% from its all-
time high set at July’s end.
Anxiety and fear over the
U.S.-China trade war con-
tinue to hover over the mar-
ket and have taken stocks on
a wild ride in August.
The S&P 500 index
zoomed up and down last
week, ending with its second
straight weekly loss. The
wild swings follow President
Trump’s threat to impose

more tariffs on Chinese

goods, followed by China’s

move to allow its currency to

weaken.

Trump has promised 10%

tariffs on some $300 billion in

Chinese imports that

haven’t already been hit with

tariffs of 25%. The new tariff

would go into effect Sept. 1

and more directly affect U.S.

consumers. Last week,

Trump said he’d be “fine” if

the U.S. and China don’t go

ahead with a meeting next

month, dampening in-

vestors’ hopes for a path to

resolving the economically

damaging trade war.

The longer the trade con-

flict drags on, the more it has

the potential to threaten the

weakening global economy

by discouraging trade and

causing businesses to pull

capital spending plans on

hold. The International

Monetary Fund expects

world trade to slow in 2019 for

a second straight year.

“We’re hearing from man-

agement teams that there’s

just caution on investing, es-

pecially globally,” Phillips

said. “Multinationals are be-

ing very cautious. Their view

is if the rest of the world

slows down, the U.S. won’t

be insulated from that.”

Traders continued to

shift money into bonds Mon-

day, sending bond prices

sharply higher. That pulled

down the yield on the 10-year

Treasury to 1.64% from 1.73%

late Friday, a big move. The

yield is used as a benchmark

for interest rates on mort-

gages and other consumer

loans.

The drop in bond yields

weighed on financial sector

stocks. Bank of America fell

2.4% and Citigroup gave up

2.7%.

Technology, healthcare

and consumer discretionary

sector stocks accounted for

much of the market’s de-

cline. Symantec dropped

5.7%, Nektar Therapeutics

slumped 11.2% and Tractor

Supply fell 4.7%.

Energy futures were

mixed. Benchmark crude oil

rose 43 cents to settle at

$54.93 a barrel. Brent crude

oil added 4 cents to close at

$58.57 a barrel.

Gold rose $8.70 to

$1,505.30 per ounce, silver

rose 14 cents to $17.04 per

ounce and copper was un-

changed at $2.58 per pound.

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 %

25,896.44 -391.00 -1.49 +11.01

2,883.09 -35.56 -1.22 +15.01

7,863.41 -95.73 -1.20 +18.51

1,872.38 -28.95 -1.52 +12.59

1,494.46 -18.58 -1.23 +10.82

3,057.63 -2.93 -0.10 +10.78

20,684.82 — — +3.35

25,824.72 -114.58 -0.44 +0.02

Major stock indexes

change change

Source: AP

MARKET ROUNDUP

Stocks stumble

as U.S.-China

tensions grow

associated press

alition of Kaiser Perma-

nente Unions announced

Monday. Two-thirds of the

union’s members voted, and

98% of those voted yes, it

said.

The vote does not mean a

strike will take place; rather,

it gives union leaders the

ability to call one whenever

they want, which provides

extra leverage in negotia-

tions. Leaders have floated

early October as a possible

time for a strike.

Workers in other unions

represented by the coalition,

including those in five other

states and Washington,

D.C., as well as four in Cali-

fornia, are scheduled to vote

in the coming weeks.

The coalition says the

nonprofit healthcare giant’s

focus on high margins in re-

cent years has led to unfair

labor practices and refusals

to bargain in good faith.

“Workers are rejecting

what Kaiser has become,”

said Sean Wherley, a spokes-

man for the coalition. “It has

moved away from its com-

mitments to patients and

staffing and is instead em-

phasizing huge profits and

executive salaries.”

Kaiser pushed back

against that idea.

“Our first priority is al-

ways continuity of care for

our patients and members,”

and Kaiser is offering wages

and benefits that exceed

market rates, John Nelson,

its vice president of commu-

nications, said in an emailed

statement.

Oakland-based Kaiser is

one of the nation’s largest

not-for-profit health plans;

it has 12.3 million members,

including 4.6 million in

Southern California. The

health maintenance organi-

zationgenerated nearly $80

billion of revenue and $2.5

billion of net income last

year, according to its annual

report.

An analysis by the coali-

tion found that Kaiser chief

executive’s annual salary

had risen from $6 million in

2015 to $16 million in 2017.

It also found that Kaiser

had 36 executives making

over $1 million a year, while

the Blue Cross Blue Shield

Assn. and the St. Jude Chil-

dren’s Research Hospital

have only three executives

each compensated at that

level.

AKaiser representative

did not dispute those figures

but said that the organiza-

tion pays what it must to at-

tract and retain the leaders

it needs and that Kaiser’s

size and complexity make it

not comparable to other

healthcare nonprofits.

Nelson called the strike

authorization a divisive bar-

gaining tactic “designed to

divide employees and mis-

characterize Kaiser Perma-

nente’s position.”

The leadership of the

union that passed the strike

vote “is more interested in a

power play to position them-

selves vis a vis other Kaiser

Permanente unions —

rather than focusing on

what is best for their mem-

bership,” Nelson said in the

statement. “At a time when

we are working hard to keep

our care affordable, the Co-

alition’s demands are not

fair to our members and the

communities we serve. Co-

alition-represented employ-

ees are already compen-

sated 23% above market

rates — we pay well and we

have markets where our

wage rates are challenging

our ability to be affordable.”

The workers represented

by the coalition include li-

censed vocational nurses;

technicians who work in ra-

diology, X-rays, pharmaceu-

ticals and other fields; and

employees involved with

food services and environ-

mental services such as

laundry service and room

cleaning.

Eric Jines, an X-ray tech-

nician at Kaiser Los Angeles

Medical Center in Holly-

wood and member of the

union bargaining commit-

tee, said he and other work-

ers are protesting what they

perceive as a new profit-cen-

tric culture among the com-

pany’s leaders.

Jines said that because

going on strike would mean

forgoing pay, he and some

other workers have been

saving up money since last

year. But many of his col-

leagues couldn’t do that, he

said.

And if a strike is called, he

said, some workers will be

able to find ways to scare up

some income, while others

will struggle.

“There’s options for peo-

ple to drive for Uber or Lyft,

or try to pick up other work

on the side, but for someone

with three or four kids it’s a

lot harder.”

Separately, Kaiser men-

tal health workers — repre-

sented by the National

Union of Healthcare Work-

ers, which is not part of the

coalition — are in their own

contract dispute with the

healthcare giant. In July, the

union’s members in Califor-

nia voted to reject Kaiser’s

latest offer.

“Kaiser has never been

more stable economically,

but they continue to treat

mental health as second-

class,” said Sal Rosselli,

president of the National

Union of Healthcare Work-

ers.

Criticism that Kaiser

does not provide mental

health care on a timely basis

goes back years, and the or-

ganization was fined in 2013

for “serious deficiencies in

providing access to mental

health services.”

Kaiser said in June that it

had hired hundreds of thera-

pists since 2015 and was

seeking to hire more, and

that it has embarked on a

project to expand its mental

health facilities.

Leaders at the National

Union of Healthcare Work-

ers are putting together a re-

sponse to Kaiser’s proposal,

with further talks scheduled

for Friday, Rosselli said.

If the coalition strikes in

October, his union may coor-

dinate a strike at the same

time, he said.

MENTAL HEALTH WORKERSand supporters rally Dec. 10 outside Kaiser Permanente in L.A. A union of

other Kaiser employees voted to approve a strike that could draw more than 80,000 members nationwide.

Christina HouseLos Angeles Times

Amid contract talks, Kaiser

workers OK strike option

[Kaiser,from C1]