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The Morning Ledger: Corporate Guidance Takes Center Stage |
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Lukewarm figures from China and Europe have spooked investors, triggering a razor-sharp focus on corporate guidance. PHOTO: KOJI SASAHARA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Good day. Investors are zeroing in on corporate guidance after a slew of negative economic reports spurred fears about demand for U.S. goods and services, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Digging deeper. Investors have become eager for clues about how the U.S.-China trade fight is affecting companies. That is being sought especially after more tariffs took effect last quarter, potentially hurting corporate-earnings and growth prospects. Still fresh on investors’ minds is a surprise cut by Apple Inc. on Jan. 2 to its quarterly revenue guidance, a move prompted by a downturn in iPhones sales in China.
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Rewarding conservatism: Some beaten-down companies that lowered forecasts have seen their stocks rise afterward, partly because of the lower valuations, and in some cases, because the news wasn’t as bad as some investors had been bracing for. Apple supplier Skyworks Solutions Inc.’s shares rose 3.8% Wednesday after the semiconductor maker lowered its quarterly sales and profit targets.
Economic impact: Investors are scouring corporate guidance after a slew of lukewarm figures from China and Europe. Worries that weaker economies overseas will slow U.S. activity have led to seesaw stock trading recently, according to analysts. For instance, a drop in China’s exports and imports in December, released Monday, pushed U.S. stocks lower for a second straight day after rising in the five previous sessions.
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British Prime Minister Theresa May faces a likely defeat in a vote on her plan to leave the European Union, setting the stage for further political turmoil that will test the U.K.’s historically stable political institutions and arcane constitution.
The U.S. Labor Department will release its producer price index for December at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists surveyed by the WSJ predict wholesale prices slipped 0.1% compared with a 0.1% increase in November.
The New York Federal Reserve's Empire State Manufacturing Survey for January is also due out at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists predict factory activity in the region slowed to 9.0 from 10.9 in December.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., Delta Air Lines Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and United Continental Holdings Inc. are among the companies reporting earnings Tuesday.
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PG&E workers taking apart broken power lines in November after the Camp Fire, California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire, ripped through Paradise, Calif. PHOTO: JOEL ANGEL JUAREZ/ZUMA PRESS
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Trading in PG&E Corp. securities signals that Wall Street believes there is a significant likelihood the company’s planned bankruptcy could wipe out its shares while inflicting losses on bondholders. Also: Utilities have long been considered ultrasafe bets, but PG&E’s bankruptcy announcement is teaching investors that isn’t always true.
Ren Zhengfei, the founder and CEO of Huawei Technologies Co., said his company has never spied for the Chinese government—and never would—as he made a rare public appearance following the arrest of his daughter in Canada.
Citigroup Inc. bounced back from a year-earlier loss with a fourth-quarter $4.3 billion net profit, but its vital trading business struggled with tough market conditions in the tail end of 2018.
The president of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. expressed confidence in the country’s consumer market despite recent data showing a deepening economic slowdown.
Swiss mining giant Glencore PLC provided nearly $1 billion in loans and advances to companies associated with an Israeli businessman accused of having corrupt ties to government officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
JAB Ltd., the consumer-goods powerhouse that owns Krispy Kreme, Dr Pepper and Peet’s Coffee, said its Chairman Bart Brecht—one of the architects of its push into some of the world’s best-known food and drink brands—is stepping down.
Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal said it plans to launch an ad-supported streaming video service that will be free for pay-TV subscribers, adding to a plethora of coming options for consumers from big media companies.
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Drones were on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month. PHOTO: JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES
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U.S. federal air-safety regulators for the first time proposed allowing small drones to routinely fly over crowds of people and at night, long-awaited steps toward opening up more airspace and commercial opportunities for unmanned aircraft.
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The Tokyo District Court rejected Carlos Ghosn’s request to be released on bail, meaning the former Nissan Motor Co. chairman could remain in jail for at least several months awaiting trial.
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FedEx Corp.’s ground-delivery unit agreed to pay New York City and state $35 million Monday to settle three lawsuits that alleged the company knowingly transported hundreds of thousands of untaxed cigarettes.
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The U.S. is evaluating whether to impose tougher sanctions against Venezuela’s military and vital oil industry, a senior White House official said Monday, as it seeks to ratchet up pressure on authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro to hold free and fair elections.
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A farmer harvests potatoes in Rexpoede, France. The country, which has a powerful farm lobby, has said any U.S. trade talks must exclude agriculture. PHOTO: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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The U.S. and European Union are staking out sharply different goals for coming trade negotiations, raising the prospect for renewed trans-Atlantic commercial tensions.
President Trump on Monday said that China is feeling the pain from U.S. tariffs, boding well for a trade deal, but talks so far between the two nations haven’t yielded concrete results.
U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida reiterated Monday that the central bank can afford to be patient this year with interest-rate increases as the U.S. economy maintains solid momentum heading into 2019.
The U.S. and many other large economies are set for a further slowdown this year, although there are signs of stabilization in China, according to leading indicators released Monday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Germany’s economy slowed sharply last year, shaken by softening consumer spending at home and weakness in several key export markets, in an ominous sign for the health of the world economy.
Hemp is returning to U.S. farm fields this spring, after President Trump signed a new $867 billion farm bill that removed hemp from a list of federally controlled substances, as farmers and processors wager that growing demand for cannabidiol will turn the fast-growing plant into a lucrative cash crop.
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Red Lion Hotels Corp., the Denver-based hotel management company, named Julie Shiflett as chief financial officer and executive vice president. She succeeds Douglas Ludwig, who resigned in October for personal health issues.
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Ms. Shiflett was most recently principal of NorthWest CFO, an outsourced financial expert consultancy she founded in 2008. She had served as RLH’s vice president of finance from October 2010 to September 2011 and as CFO from September 2011 to October 2014.
Ms. Shiflett’s compensation will include salary of $375,000 and a 2019 bonus targeted at 70% of her base salary. In recognition of her past work with the company as a consultant, she is also eligible for a 2018 bonus targeted at 35% of her base salary. She will also receive 88,000 restricted stock units, which will vest in equal parts over four years. She will also receive an annual equity grant valued at 80% of her base salary, a portion of which will be paid in restricted stock units, according to a filing.
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