The Washington Post - 31.07.2019

A16 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, JULY 31 , 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.

2.

1.

1.

2.

10-year note

Yield:

5-year note

Yield:

2-year note

Yield:

6-month bill

Yield:

Treasury Performance Over Past Three Months

8273.61 –0.2 +24.

3013.18 –0.3 +20.

27,198.02 –0.1 +16.

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 JJMAMFJDNOS

8400

7800

7200

6600

6000

27,

26,

24,

23,

21,

Industry Group

Daily

% Chg

Daily

% Chg –8.0%^0 +8.0%

Construction Materials 6.

Household Products 2.

Energy Equipment & Svcs 2.

Electrical Equipment 1.

Household Durables 1.

Life Sciences –1.

Tobacco –1.

Consumer Finance –1.

Electrnc Eqp, Instr, Comp –2.

Wireless Telecomm Svcs –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

2.26%

2.50%

5.50%

3.61%

3.21%

3.86%

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 30,977.20 –0.1 20.

Russell 2000 1585.57 1.1 17.

Post-Bloomberg DC Area Index 620.18 –0.6 32.

CBOE Volatility (VIX) 13.95 8.7 –45.

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%

102,932.80 –0.

16,466.05 –0.

41,118.33 –0.

385.11 –1.

5511.07 –1.

12,147.24 –2.

7646.77 –0.

6845.08 0.

3870.32 0.

28,146.50 0.

21,709.31 0.

International Stock Markets

Daily

Close% Chg

Daily

Gainers Losers Close% Chg

Nabors Industries $2.72 29.

LSB Industries Inc $5.13 29.

Consol Energy $7.82 26.

US Silica Holdings $12.78 24.

Noble Corp plc $2.15 20.

C&J Energy Services $10.85 20.

Trex Co Inc $81.03 19.

AK Steel Holding $3.00 18.

Medpace Holdings $79.61 17.

Gulfport Energy $3.77 17.

Range Resources $5.57 16.

Ensco Rowan plc $8.27 16.

Diamond Offshore $8.85 16.

Laredo Petroleum $3.04 15.

Zebra Technologies $218.20 15.

Oil States $15.04 15.

Southwestern Energy $2.19 14.

Denbury Resources $1.18 14.

Invacare Corp $5.21 14.

J&J Snack Foods $185.12 13.

McDermott $6.52 –35.

Gartner Inc $138.26 –19.

Granite Constr $36.49 –17.

LSC Communications $1.14 –15.

Under Armour Inc $21.05 –13.

TrueBlue Inc $19.54 –13.

Under Armour Inc $24.08 –12.

Dorman Products Inc $73.05 –11.

Ligand $95.22 –11.

CommVault Systems $44.84 –11.

Ryder System Inc $53.38 –10.

SunCoke Energy Inc $8.15 –9.

Simpson Mfg $59.31 –9.

HCA Healthcare Inc $132.80 –9.

DISH Network Corp $34.95 –8.

Tile Shop Holdings $2.65 –8.

PerkinElmer Inc $87.53 –8.

Garrett Motion Inc $13.71 –8.

Harmonic Inc $7.31 –7.

Corning Inc $31.40 –7.

Gainers and Losers from the S&P 1500 Index

Daily

% Chg

YTD

Company Close % Chg

Daily

% Chg

YTD

Company Close % Chg

3M Co 177.63 0.5 –6.

AmExp 126.47 –0.6 32.

Apple Inc 208.78 –0.4 32.

Boeing 347.46 2.1 7.

Caterpillar 132.95 –1.1 4.

Chevron Corp 124.34 0.1 14.

Cisco Systems 56.47 –0.8 30.

Coca-Cola 53.72 –0.5 13.

Dow Inc 48.40 0.

Exxon Mobil 75.35 0.0 10.

GoldmnSchs 221.40 0.5 32.

Home Depot 217.36 –0.3 26.

IBM 149.77 –0.7 31.

Intel Corp 51.70 –1.5 10.

J&J 132.08 –0.7 2.

JPMorg Ch 115.59 –0.2 18.

McDonald's 212.34 –1.2 19.

Merck 83.27 0.9 9.

Microsoft 140.35 –0.5 38.

Nike 87.20 –0.5 17.

P&G Co 120.41 3.8 31.

Pfizer Inc 38.79 –6.4 –11.

Travelers 147.62 –0.8 23.

United Tech 135.30 –0.3 27.

UnitedHealth 254.93 0.4 2.

Verizon 56.63 –1.3 0.

Visa Inc 181.53 –0.9 37.

Walgreen 55.40 0.5 –18.

WalMart 112.06 –0.2 20.

Walt Disney 144.93 –1.0 32.

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 $

1.1155 0.0092 1.2153 0.2639 0.7607 0.

0.8965 0.0083 1.0894 0.2365 0.6820 0.

108.6200 121.1600 132.0030 28.6610 82.6380 5.

0.8229 0.9178 0.0076 0.2171 0.6260 0.

3.7897 4.2278 0.0349 4.6057 2.8832 0.

1.3145 1.4661 0.0120 1.5974 0.3468 0.

19.0624 21.2635 0.1750 23.1662 5.0300 14.

Cross Currency Rates

Exchange-Traded (Ticker) $

Daily

% Chg

Value of $1000 invested for the past: day month

$900 $

Coffee (COFF.L) –2.

Copper (COPA.L) –1.

Corn (CORN.L) –1.

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 $2.6785 –1.

Corn $4.2100 –1.

Crude Oil $58.05 +2.

Gold $1,441.80 +0.

Natural Gas $2.14 +1.

Orange Juice $1.0235 +0.

Silver $16.56 +0.

Soybeans $8.9675 –0.

Sugar $0.1215 +0.

Wheat $4.9725 –1.

Commodities

BY DAVID J. LYNCH

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome
H. Powell has spent several
months fending off President
Trump’s demands to lower the
value of the dollar to help
American manufacturers sell
their goods abroad. Under a
bipartisan Senate bill due
Wednesday, the central bank
chief no longer would have any
choice.
Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-
Wis.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)
are introducing legislation that
would require the Fed to bal-
ance the nation’s current ac-
count, the broadest measure of
the trade balance, within five
years. Under the bill, the task
would become a third official
mandate for the Fed, along with
maintaining stable prices and
promoting full employment.
The legislation would em-
power the Fed to impose a
“market access charge” on all
foreign purchases of U.S. stocks,
bonds, property and other as-
sets. Supporters say the modest
fee would discourage specula-

tive short-term investments, re-

ducing demand for dollars and

causing the greenback to settle

at a lower value, while not

discouraging purchases of long-

term assets such as factories.

Foreign investors purchased

more than $21 trillion worth of

U.S. stocks and bonds last year,

according to Fed data.

Those backing the cross-

border tax say the dollar’s value

has been persistently elevated

for decades, making American

goods more expensive on world

markets and encouraging U.S.

consumers to buy imports. The

resulting trade deficits have

erased millions of U.S. factory

jobs, they say.

“Exchange rates are the tec-

tonic plates upon which the rest

of trade and economic policy are

built. You’ve got to fix that first,”

said Michael Stumo, chief exec-

utive of the Coalition for a

Prosperous America, a nonprof-

it organization that favors re-

strictive trade policies.

The Baldwin-Hawley propos-

al, which will probably face stiff

opposition from the financial

industry, will be introduced as

the Fed’s Board of Governors

wraps up a two-day meeting

widely expected to reduce the

benchmark U.S. interest rate by

a quarter of a percentage point,

the first cut since 2008. Coming

after an 18-month blitz of Trump

tariffs, the initiative shows that

the trade debate is devoting

greater attention to global cur-

rency issues.

On Tuesday, the president

said he was “very disappointed

in the Fed,” which he blames for

keeping interest rates higher

than key U.S. trading partners

such as the euro-using countries

in Europe. Higher rates attract

more capital and push the dollar

up, according to economists.

“The E.U. and China will fur-

ther lower interest rates and

pump money into their systems,

making it much easier for their

manufacturers to sell product.

In the meantime, and with very

low inflation, our Fed does

nothing — and probably will do

very little by comparison. Too

bad!” Trump tweeted one day

earlier.

There is wide agreement that

the dollar is overvalued, though

economists differ on both the

extent and the significance. Rob

Scott, an economist with the

Economic Policy Institute, a lib-

eral group, said the dollar needs

to sink by 25 to 30 percent. The

International Monetary Fund

this month said the dollar was

6 to 12 percent too high.

Global currency values reflect

a long-standing imbalance in

the global economy. Countries

such as Germany and China

keep wages relatively low, dis-

couraging consumption. They

export their national savings to

the United States, which con-

sumes more than it produces

and runs a trade deficit.

American consumers, in

short, absorb the excess produc-

tion that keeps Chinese and

German factory workers em-

ployed, according to the bill’s

supporters.

Still, today’s account deficit is

just 2.5 percent of GDP, down

from a high of more than 6 per-

cent in 2005.

Hawley accused China and

other countries he said manipu-

lated their currency with wag-

ing “financial war” on the Unit-

ed States.

“Foreign investors have driv-

en up the American dollar, help-

ing Wall Street profit but hold-

ing back stronger economic

growth,” Baldwin said in a state-

ment. “We need reforms that

create a competitive American

dollar and an even playing field

for manufacturers, farmers and

workers.”

During the 2016 campaign,

Trump vowed to target China for

reducing the value of the yuan to

gain a trade advantage. But the

Treasury Department has shied

from officially labeling Beijing a

currency manipulator.

Likewise, despite his attacks

on the Fed, the president has for

now rejected proposals from

Peter Navarro, one of his eco-

nomic advisers, to drive down

the dollar’s value. A Commerce

Department plan to impose du-

ties on trading partners that

effectively subsidize exports by

depressing the value of their

currency also may be stillborn.

It has been opposed by the U.S.

Chamber of Commerce and is

expected to be blocked by the

Treasury.

Wall Street also is certain to

oppose the proposed tax on

capital flows. The measure

could make it harder to buy and

sell securities, increasing finan-

cial market volatility, said Clay

Lowery, executive vice president

of policy and research at the

Institute of International Fi-

nance, an industry group.

“Instead of welcoming for-

eign investors, we’d say we’re

going to tax you for being for-

eign,” said Lowery, a former

treasury official. “That’s a recipe

for the uncompetitiveness of

U.S. markets and the economy.”

[email protected]

Senators pursue foreign investor tax, saying goal is competitive U.S. dollar

ANDREW HARNIK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

“We need reforms that create a competitive American dollar and an

even playing field for manufacturers, farmers and workers,” said

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), a co-sponsor of the legislation.

Bill to reset trade balance

is likely to be opposed

by financial industry

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