Dean Foods Co.
DF, +2.29%
has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, with the dairy company saying it was working toward an "orderly" sale of the company. The company, which brands include DairyPure, Land O Lakes and Lehigh Valley Dairy Farms, said it has secured commitments for $850 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing to support its operations during the process. The company said it has been in advanced discussions with the Dairy Farmers of America Inc. regarding the potential sales of substantially all of its assets. "The actions we are announcing today are designed to enable us to continue serving our customers and operating as normal as we work toward the sale of our business," said Chief Executive Eric Beringause. "Despite our best efforts to make our business more agile and cost-efficient, we continue to be impacted by a challenging operating environment marked by continuing declines in consumer milk consumption." The stock, which was halted for news, had closed Monday at 80 cents. It had plunged 79% year to date, while the S&P 500
SPX, -0.20%
has climbed 23%.
LONDON (Reuters) - World shares inched higher on Tuesday as investors awaited a speech by President Donald Trump on U.S. trade policy and on news he was likely to delay a decision on European auto tariffs.
Bond markets also seemed increasingly confident a recession will be avoided as EU officials said Trump was expected to announce this week that he was delaying the tariff decision on EU cars and parts for another six months.
The news boosted expectations about Trump's speech later in the day and for some resolution to his administration's long-running trade war with China.
The pan-European shuffled 0.2% higher, back towards 4-year highs helped by upbeat chipmaker shares. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan had climbed 0.5%, following a sharp 1.2% pullback on Monday.
Japan's , which dithered either side of flat most of the day, ended 0.8% higher. But Shanghai blue chips eased 0.2% after bank lending growth undershot analysts' estimates, while Australian shares were down, too.
A positive signal on U.S.-China trade would likely satisfy traders even without specific details, said Rob Marshall-Lee investment leader for Emerging Market and Asian Equities at Newton Investment Management.
"I think that there will be some kind of deal that comes of all of this," Marshall-Lee said, adding that whatever emerges both Washington and Beijing will want to claim it as a win domestically.
Trump wrongfooted markets over the weekend when he said there had been incorrect reporting about U.S. willingness to lift tariffs on China.
Investors were also anxious about the situation in Hong Kong after a violent escalation of protests had knocked 3% off the and nearly 2% off Asia-exposed banks HSBC and StanChart in recent days.
Hong Kong's embattled leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday said protesters who are trying to "paralyze" the city were extremely selfish and hoped all universities and schools would urge students not to participate in violence.
Lam was speaking a day after police shot a protester and a man was set on fire in some of the most dramatic scenes to grip the city during the more than five months of civil unrest. The Hang Seng managed to claw back 0.5%.
BORIS GETS BREXIT BOOST
Bond markets were also stirring again.
A partial holiday in the United States had closed the Treasury market on Monday but there was an early milestone on Tuesday with the gap between short-term 3-month and longer-term 10-year yields hitting the widest level of the year so far.
That widening, or steepening of the 'curve' as it is also known, adds to signs that faith in the global economy in gaining again after fears it was heading into recession.
Treasury yields on 10-year notes were fractionally higher at 1.9350% having dropping away from last week's three-month top of 1.97%. European yields were also a touch higher.
Wall Street futures for the inched up 0.1%. Monday's partial holiday had made for a quiet session after the record highs of last week. The ended up 0.04%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.20% and the Nasdaq 0.13%.
In currency markets, the main mover was sterling which gave back ground after surging on Monday after the Brexit Party said it would not contest previously Conservative held seats in the last UK election.
It had jumped to a 6-month high versus the euro and as much as 1% on the dollar but shed around 0.3% to 0.86 per euro and $1.2823 when Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage then said on Tuesday he would not give any more ground.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar steadied at 98.224. The euro hovered around $1.1030 just away from a three-week low of $1.1015, while the dollar faded to 109.26 yen.
Gold looked to be heading for a third day of declines, touching its lowest since early August at $1,447.89 per ounce. It was last trading at $1,453.01.
gained 28 cents to $57.14 a barrel, while futures added 35 cents to $62.53.
European stocks edged higher on Tuesday ahead of a critical speech on China trade relations from President Donald Trump, supported by generally well-received earnings.
The Stoxx Europe 600
SXXP, +0.20%,
which finished Monday only 2% below its record close, increased 0.12% to 405.81.
The German DAX
DAX, +0.47%
increased 0.29% to 13236.76, the French CAC 40
PX1, +0.28%
gained 0.15% to 5902.52 and the U.K. FTSE 100
UKX, +0.32%
rose 0.28% to 7349.30.
Trump at 12 p.m. Eastern is due to deliver a speech to the Economic Club of New York. “Whatever the tone of the remarks, the effect on markets is likely to be short term. We are just a tweet away from a policy change, and the next communication on trade could reverse market assumptions,” said Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management.
Infineon Technologies
IFX, +6.97%
climbed 5% as the German chip maker reported better fourth-quarter revenue and operating profit than forecast, helped by its unit that produces chips for smartphones. Infineon’s outlook implies strong sales growth in the second half of its fiscal year, according to Gianmarco Bonacina, an analyst at Equita, the Italian broker.
B&M European Value Retail
BME, -6.24%
tumbled 7.3%. The discount retailer experienced a worse than expected 2.8% decline in adjusted pretax profit as the company reported “continued disappointing financial performance in Germany” and slowing same-store sales growth at its U.K. stores.
Electrocomponents
ECM, -11.16%
shares slumped 13.6% as the distributor of industrial and electronics products said the second half started with “modest growth” with “ongoing softness in electronics.”
(Reuters) - The latest bargaining chip in U.S.-China negotiations to cool a 16-month-old trade war is whether President Donald Trump would roll back tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese imports, and how soon.
FILE PHOTO: A 100 yuan banknote (R) is placed next to a $100 banknote in this picture illustration taken in Beijing November 7, 2010. REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic/File Photo
The Trump administration began imposing the tariffs in July 2018 on industrial components and technology goods from China. After Beijing retaliated with higher duties on U.S. farm goods, Trump struck back with more tariffs - many already enacted, some still threatened - under which the vast majority of Chinese imports could be affected by the end of 2019.
As U.S. and Chinese negotiators close in on a “phase one” trade deal, expectations are rising that at least some of these tariffs will be removed.
China’s Commerce Ministry and a U.S. official said on Nov. 7 that a deal would include tariff rollbacks, but Trump undercut the idea after pushback from China hawks in his administration, saying he has not decided to do so.
Following is a look at current and planned U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, listed in reverse chronological order. Trade experts say the most recent tariffs would be the likeliest to be removed.
The United States is scheduled to levy 15% tariffs on about $156 billion of Chinese products on Dec. 15, including cellphones, laptop computers, toys and clothing - known as “List 4B.”
People briefed on the trade talks say the United States has effectively agreed not to proceed with this round of tariffs as part of the phase one trade deal. A U.S. official has said the fate of these tariffs would be considered as part of the final negotiation over the deal’s text.
CANCELED OCT. 15 RATE INCREASE
After an early October round of talks led to a White House handshake on the interim deal with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, Trump decided not to proceed with an Oct. 15 increase on tariffs on about $250 billion worth of Chinese goods to 30% from the 25% rate already imposed.
If talks to complete the text for the phase one trade deal collapse, Trump could move to reimpose this increase. Affected goods range widely from industrial components and semiconductors to furniture and building materials.
The United States imposed a 15% tariff on about $125 billion of goods on Sept. 1, 2019, including flat-panel television sets, flash memory devices, smart speakers, Bluetooth headphones, bed linens, multifunction printers and many types of footwear.
Trump imposed these tariffs, and set the Dec. 15 duties in motion, after a late-July round of negotiations failed to result in a major increase of Chinese purchases of U.S. farm goods. The phase one trade deal now being discussed would roughly double such purchases from pre-trade-war levels over a period of time, according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
People familiar with the discussions say that China has asked for these Sept. 1 tariffs to be removed as part of the deal and the request is being considered.
MAY 10 TARIFF RATE INCREASE
On May 10, 2019, Trump increased tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25% from 10% after China pulled back from a proposed deal that U.S. officials said was nearly completed.
The higher tariffs applied to nearly 6,000 products that were originally taxed in September 2018, from computer modems and routers to vacuum cleaners, lighting fixtures and furniture.
The U.S. trade representative’s office issued exclusions on hundreds of these products in September 2019, including some computer circuit boards, laminated wood flooring and dog collars.
SEPT. 24, 2018, $200 BILLION TARIFF ACTION: "LIST 3" here
Trump imposed tariffs on a $200 billion list of Chinese imports on Sept. 24, 2018, after Beijing retaliated against an initial U.S. volley of tariffs with its own duties on American farm products and manufactured goods.
This list of product tariffs, and the two previous lists below, may be the least likely to be rolled back, trade experts and people familiar with the talks say, adding that keeping some tariffs in place would maintain leverage over China for future negotiations. Trump has said he will not do a complete rollback of tariffs on Chinese goods.
AUG/SEPT 2018 TARIFFS, $50 BILLION "LIST 1" here "LIST 2" here
The first U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports imposed in the summer of 2018 covered $50 billion of Chinese goods considered core to U.S. “Section 301” allegations that China systematically steals and forces the transfer of American intellectual property to Chinese firms.
These initial lists were composed primarily of Chinese-made industrial components, machinery, semiconductors and other non-consumer goods aimed at inflicting pain on Chinese exporters while minimizing the impact on U.S. manufacturers.
The “List 1” tariffs on an initial $34 billion in Chinese goods were imposed on July 6, 2018, while a second list of $16 billion “List 2” tariffs went into effect on Aug. 23, 2018.
Reporting by David Lawder and Heather Timmons in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Leslie Adler
The planet’s biggest shopping day is upon us, and Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce behemoth, is poised again to show the world how many mountains of stuff it can persuade people to buy in the 24 hours of Nov. 11, also known as Singles Day. Last year, more than $30 billion worth of merchandise was sold on Alibaba’s platforms, by the company’s own count, making Black Friday look like a yard sale.
On Monday, sales volume had already surpassed the 2018 total by late afternoon, Alibaba declared.
The eye-popping numbers, which Alibaba manages to make even more eye-popping year after year, reflect the changing times since the company invented the retail event a decade ago.
China has grown richer and more digitally connected. Alibaba has become a technology powerhouse — a sprawling, sector-straddling colossus no less ambitious than Amazon or Alphabet. Along the way, the company has made a few famous friends. Its live-streamed evening gala in Shanghai on Sunday featured the singer Taylor Swift.
Eminences who have graced the Singles Day stage in previous years include the model Miranda Kerr and the actors Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.
Ms. Swift’s presence this year was its own indicator of the times. Despite the tariff war with the United States and Beijing’s willingness to punish foreign brands that do not bend to the views of the Communist Party, Singles Day shows that the world still wants to come to China, at least when giant buckets of money are involved.
The buckets may not be so giant forever. The Chinese economy is not exactly going great guns. Washington and Beijing have entered a new age of competition and distrust.
The big numbers that Alibaba likes to show off on Singles Day are not a perfect gauge of how all this might be affecting middle-class China’s appetite for retail therapy.
The company reports something called gross merchandise volume, which is meant to represent the total value of orders on its platforms. But there is no standardized way of measuring it, and Alibaba’s Nov. 11 figures are not audited. The company’s Singles Day accounting has previously attracted the scrutiny of financial regulators in the United States, where Alibaba’s shares are listed.
Wang Shuting, a designer in Shanghai who is in her early 30s, said American brands such as Patagonia and North Face had lost none of their appeal since things became tense between her country and the United States. The whole trade war thing? It feels pointless, she said.
“China has China’s advantages, and the U.S. has the U.S.’s advantages,” Ms. Wang said. “There’s no need for both sides to lose.”
Alibaba executives sound confident that Chinese shoppers will continue spending merrily. The company has certainly worked hard to ensure that they keep spending with Alibaba, and not somewhere else. Alibaba now calls itself a data and technology company, one that provides digital tools to help the businesses on its platforms. That, in turn, leads consumers to look to those platforms for their every need, from shopping and services to entertainment and travel.
Alibaba’s sheer bigness is another change. In 2009, two weeks before the company held its first Nov. 11 shopping festival, Jack Ma, who was its chief executive at the time, wrote an op-ed piece in The International Herald Tribune in which he predicted that the internet would soon allow small businesses to compete head-to-head with giant corporations. Alibaba’s platforms were helping to bring this about, Mr. Ma wrote.
Investors dumped Hong Kong stocks after demonstrators targeted public transportation in Asia's top financial hub and police shot a protester, a daylight escalation of violence that comes after five months of unrest.
The Hang Seng Index dropped more than 2.6% on Monday, its worst single-day percentage decline since the beginning of August. The city's real estate stocks were hit particularly hard, with big property developers like Swire Pacific, Wharf Real Estate, Sun Hung Kai Properties and New World Development all dropping more than 4%.
Why investors are worried: Widespread protests blocked roadways and several subway lines experienced delays. A police officer shot a 21-year-old protester. Elsewhere in the city, a man who confronted a group of protesters was set on fire.
More trouble ahead: The disruption caused by months of pro-democracy protests have slammed luxury retailers, property developers and the tourism industry and plunged Hong Kong into its first recession in a decade. Yet there's no sign that protesters or government officials in Hong Kong or Beijing are preparing to back down.
Plus, the latest on trade: Monday was the first opportunity that markets in Asia had to respond to comments from US President Donald Trump, who said Friday in the United States that he has yet to agree to rolling back tariffs.
That undercut a statement from China's Commerce Ministry that indicated a willingness to make such a concession as part of the first phase of a trade deal between the two countries.
"They'd like to have a rollback," Trump said. "I haven't agreed to anything. China would like to get somewhat of a rollback, not a complete rollback because they know I won't do it."
A day earlier, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce told reporters that US and Chinese negotiators had discussed rolling back tariffs, saying that could happen even before a "phase one" trade deal is signed.
Despite Trump's remarks, Wall Street ended last week at record highs.
What a huge shopping day says about China's economy
The country's biggest e-commerce company topped last year's record in 16 1/2 hours. While the event regularly racks up bigger sales than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, total spending across the industry will take a while to tabulate.
A recent survey from Oliver Wyman found that buyers are expecting to spend nearly 10% more on Singles Day this year compared to 2018. That could be a sign of weakening growth, though. Last year, Alibaba reported a 27% uptick in Singles Day revenue.
"Singles Day is being held up as a bellwether of Chinese consumers' willingness to spend in the face of a domestic slowdown," wrote Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst for Asia Pacific at Oanda, in a note Monday. But "deeply discounting prices always brings consumers out to play, no matter how bad the economy might be," he added.
How to pick the best streaming service
Some of the biggest companies in tech and media are waging an all-out war in the streaming market. The prize: Your time and your money.
Apple, CBS, Comcast, Disney and CNN's parent WarnerMedia are all trying to compete with Netflix and Amazon — two powerful companies that have transformed the entertainment industry.
The insurgents and the incumbents alike are poaching top-tier talent, spending billions of dollars and making flashy, celebratory announcements about exclusive content deals to lure as many subscribers to their service as possible.
How to choose: This can be difficult for consumers to navigate. Which service has the best children's program? Which one is best for classic films? Where can I watch "Friends?" How much will this all cost me?
Fear not — CNN Business is here to help. We've created a guide that breaks down your options by price as well as content. You can access it by clicking here.
Tencent Music(TME) reports earnings after the closing bell.
Coming tomorrow: Disney+ launches; German economic sentiment; Earnings from CBS(CBS), Overstock(OSTBP), Tyson Foods(TSN) and Tilray(TLRY).
