Ford Motor Company president and CEO James Hackett
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
Ford Motor said Monday that it is laying off about 7,000 workers, about 10% of its global workforce, as part of a restructuring plan designed to save the No. 2 automaker $600 million annually.
Ford's CEO Jim Hackett said in an email to employees on Monday that about 2,300 of the jobs being cut are in the United States.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 16, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
By Shreyashi Sanyal
(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell on Monday, as fears over the impact on major technology companies from Washington's crackdown on China's Huawei Technologies added to concerns over worsening trade dispute between the world's two biggest economies.
Apple Inc's shares were down 2.4% premarket, while U.S. suppliers of Huawei including Qualcomm, Micron Technology and Broadcom Inc fell about 3%.
An HSBC warning that higher prices for Apple's products following the increases in China tariffs could have "dire consequences" on demand also pressured the iPhone maker's stock.
Huawei was officially added to a trade blacklist by the Trump administration on Thursday, escalating the already bitter trade war between the two parties, while China on Monday accused the United States of harboring "extravagant expectations" for a trade deal.
Alphabet Inc's Google has suspended some business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware, software and technical services, Reuters reported over the weekend.
Chipmakers including Intel Corp, Qualcomm, Xilinx Inc and Broadcom have told their employees they will not supply Huawei until further notice, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.
Shares of Alphabet, Facebook Inc and Microsoft Corp were all down 1.1%.
At 7:23 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 121 points, or 0.47%. S&P 500 e-minis were down 16.25 points, or 0.57% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 90.5 points, or 1.2%.
Heightening trade tensions pushed the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to their second successive weekly declines on Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average index capped a fourth straight week of losses, the longest such losing streak in three years.
Investors will also look for comments from a clutch of retailers reporting this week on the impact of the tariff war.
Home Depot, Nordstrom, Kohl's and Target are among retailers scheduled to report.
With 460 of S&P 500 companies having posted first-quarter results, 75.2% have topped analysts' profit expectations. Analysts now expect first-quarter earnings growth of 1.4%, a significant turnaround from the 2% loss expected on April 1, according to Refinitiv data.
Also on the radar is Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech on "Assessing Risks to our Financial System" at an Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank conference at 7 p.m. ET (2300 GMT).
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
Millions of seniors collect Social Security in retirement, and for a large chunk, those benefits constitute the bulk of their income. Unfortunately, those who rely on Social Security too heavily risk struggling financially during their golden years, and new data from the nonpartisan Senior Citizens League is further driving home this point.
Social Security benefits have lost a whopping 33% of their buying power since 2000, according to a new report. And even though recipients saw a pretty generous cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, in 2019, that boost was effectively negated by other rising expenses.
Food and medical costs -- things seniors tend to spend a large of their income on -- rose more so than other common expenses, leaving beneficiaries to bear the brunt. And despite the fact that the average monthly Social Security benefit rose by $39 this year, that increase wasn't enough to compensate for the fact that the overall cost of living is rising more rapidly.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
The problem is compounded by the fact that many seniors don't have access to income outside of Social Security, and so when benefits fall short, recipients are apt to struggle to pay their bills. And while today's seniors can take steps to lower their living expenses, whether by downsizing, relocating, or other such relatively drastic measures, many are already at a point where they're just paying for basics and nothing more.
That said, it's not too late for workers with time between now and retirement to start saving independently for their golden years. This way, they're less likely to fall behind financially if Social Security continues to have a hard time keeping up.
Supplementing Social Security with savings
Many people mistakenly think that they can live on Social Security alone, and plenty of seniors try to do just that. Those benefits, however, are only designed to replace about 40% of the average worker's pre-retirement income, and most seniors need roughly double that amount to live comfortably. Saving independently is therefore the best way to bridge that gap.
Workers who start building a nest egg early enough in life can amass a nice amount of wealth by saving modest amounts over time, as the following table illustrates:
Age to Start Saving $300 a Month
Ending Balance by Age 67 (Assumes an 8% Average Annual Return):
27
$933,000
32
$620,000
37
$408,000
42
$263,000
47
$165,000
Data source: AUTHOR.
Note that these calculations assume an average annual 8% return, which is just below the stock market's historical average. Those with a savings window of 10 years or longer should load up on stocks when building their nest eggs, since that's enough time to ride out the market's downturns and come out ahead. Furthermore, that 8% well outpaces the general rate of inflation -- something Social Security has apparently failed to do. Furthermore, while parting with $300 a month over time isn't easy per se, it's also not impossible for average earners who are willing to keep their spending in check.
Many workers will argue that they don't need savings of their own, but rather, they'll just cut back on luxuries and live on Social Security in retirement. That plan, however, is a dangerous one, as evidenced by the millions of seniors today who are teetering dangerously close to the poverty line with no easy way of turning things around.
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Asian shares clawed back some of last week's losses as investors cheered apparent election wins for conservative incumbents in Australia and India, while broader global trade worries eased after Washington offered to lift some tariffs in North America.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.54%, reflecting modest gains in markets across the region after the broad index finished at its lowest since Jan. 24 on Friday, down 3% for the week.
However, the rally looks unlikely to extend to Europe. In early European trades, pan-region were down 0.21% at 3,393, German slipped 0.16% to 12,227, futures were 0.01% lower at 7,334.5, and France's lost 0.2% to 5,361.5.
Australian shares underpinned the firmer mood in the region, jumping 1.74% after the center-right Liberal National Coalition pulled off a shock win in federal elections, beating the center-left Labor party.
Elections also lifted markets in India. The benchmark BSE index rose 2.71% and the rupee strengthened after exit polls showed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to return to power with an even bigger majority in parliament.
U.S. turned higher, rising 0.23% following losses on Wall Street on Friday.
"We've had such a volatile few days in terms of pronouncements and interpretations of what's going on with this potential trade war. And I think the news bites that we had over the weekend seem to indicate a softening of Trump's approach toward tariffs internationally," said Jim McCafferty, head of equity research, Asia ex-Japan at Nomura.
The U.S. announced on Friday that it would remove tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, prompting Canada's foreign minister to vow the quick ratification of a new North American trade agreement.
"I think people might take the view that perhaps a similar strategy might be applied to Asia," McCafferty said, referring to the lifting of tariffs.
The cautious optimism failed to lift Chinese blue chips, which fell 1%.
Japan's stock index added 0.24%, after data showed growth in the world's third-biggest economy unexpectedly accelerated in the first quarter.
Modest gains in Asia on Monday came even as financial markets remained on edge over the intensifying Sino-U.S. trade war, with the Trump administration last week adding Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to a trade blacklist.
The repercussions of that move were evident as Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Inc's Google suspended business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware, software and technical services except those publicly available via open source licensing.
Noting the festering trade war, Greg McKenna, strategist at McKenna Macro, said investors are currently "headline trading" given the continued uncertainty over Brexit and rising tensions between the United States and Iran.
"(It's) too soon to see the economic consequences of the battle escalating. And so belief can be suspended until that time," McKenna said in a note to clients.
OIL JUMPS
Rising tensions in the Middle East, which have supported oil prices, ratcheted up another notch on the weekend as Trump issued new threats, tweeting that a conflict with Iran would be the "official end" of that country.
But it was comments from Saudi Arabia's energy minister that had the most immediate effect on crude prices on Monday.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said that there was consensus among the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to maintain production cuts to "gently" reduce inventories.
Both and jumped more than 1.3% on Monday, with West Texas Intermediate fetching $63.58 a barrel and Brent crude at $73.19 per barrel.
In currency markets, China's rebounded after touching its weakest against the dollar since November on Friday. It was last trading at 6.9390 per dollar.
In onshore trading on Friday, the yuan weakened past the psychologically important 6.9 per dollar level to end at its softest in 19 weeks. However, sources told Reuters the country's central bank is expected to use foreign exchange intervention and monetary policy tools to stop it weakening past the 7-per-dollar level in the near term.
The People's Bank of China said on Sunday that it would maintain basic stability of the yuan exchange rate within a "reasonable and balanced range."
The strengthened to 6.9125 per dollar on Monday.
The dollar added 0.08% against the yen to 110.16, while the euro eased to $1.1152. The , which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was up a hair's breadth at 98.028.
The yield on benchmark rose to 2.4033% compared with a U.S. close of 2.393% on Friday, while the two-year yield touched 2.2146%, up from Friday's U.S. close of 2.202%.
Gold trimmed earlier gains on the modest revival in risk appetite, losing 0.1% to $1,275.91 per ounce.
Billionaire Robert F. Smith announced to a class of about 400 graduating seniors that he and his family plan to pay off the entire class’s student loans.
Smith is the CEO and chairman of Vista Equity Partners, a software and technology investment firm, and a philanthropist who spoke at the class of 2019 commencement Sunday morning. He also received an honorary degree from the school and had committed to a $1.5 million gift to the school that Morehouse College planned to use for scholarships and a new park, the school said in a statement.
The fourth-generation Coloradan grew up in a mostly black, middle-class neighborhood, according to his Facebook page, and he attended a school that had been recently integrated.
Smith was the commencement speaker at the University of Colorado Denver's graduation in 2017, the university where his father earned his doctorate 45 years prior. He talked about the "profound impact" the university had on his father and his family.
He spoke about his neighborhood in northeast Denver, across the street from City Park, and the experience as a child attending a newly desegregated school. He talked about the way the whole neighborhood came together to celebrate his father's achievement during the civil rights movement, and how much upbringing and community support contribute to future successes.
“They believed that our imperfect nation was becoming more perfect every day. And they believed that by conducting themselves and raising their families with integrity, they were contributing to that process of perfection in a very real way,” he said. “So we celebrated every sign that the barriers of inequality were collapsing that the doors of opportunity were opening.”
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Sunday he recommended “gently” driving oil inventories down at a time of plentiful global supplies and that OPEC would not make hasty decisions about output ahead of a June meeting.
Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih speaks to the media before the OPEC 14th Meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 19, 2019. REUTERS/Waleed Ali
“Overall, the market is in a delicate situation,” Falih told reporters before a ministerial panel meeting of top OPEC and non-member oil producers, including Saudi Arabia and Russia.
While there is concern about supply disruptions, inventories are rising and the market should see a “comfortable supply situation in the weeks and months to come”, he said.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which Saudi Arabia is de facto leader, would have more data at its next meeting in late June to help it reach the best decision on output, Falih said.
“It is critical that we don’t make hasty decisions – given the conflicting data, the complexity involved, and the evolving situation,” he said, describing the outlook as “quite foggy” due in part to a trade dispute between the United States and China.
“But I want to assure you that our group has always done the right thing in the interests of both consumers and producers; and we will continue to do so,” he added.
OPEC, Russia and other non-OPEC producers, an alliance known as OPEC+, agreed to reduce output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from Jan. 1 for six months, a deal designed to stop inventories building up and weakening prices.
The ministerial panel will not recommend a course of action on output policy on Sunday but will highlight the need to monitor the market until June, one source familiar with the discussions said.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that different options were available for the output deal, including a rise in production in the second half of the year.
Saudi Arabia and Russia are discussing two main scenarios for the June meeting that propose higher output from the second half of this year, two other sources said.
One scenario was to eliminate over-compliance with agreed cuts, which would increase output by some 0.8 million bpd, while the other option was to ease the agreed cuts to 0.9 million bpd.
United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei had told reporters that producers were capable of filling any market gap and that relaxing supply cuts was not “the right decision”.
Mazrouei said the UAE did not want to see a rise in inventories that could lead to a price collapse and that OPEC would act wisely to maintain sustainable market balance.
“As UAE we see that the job is not done yet, there is still a period of time to look at the supply and demand and we don’t see any need to alter the agreement in the meantime,” he said.
U.S. crude inventories rose unexpectedly last week to their highest since September 2017, while gasoline stockpiles decreased more than forecast, Energy Information Administration data showed.
DELICATE BALANCE
Saudi Arabia sees no need to boost production quickly now, with oil at around $70 a barrel, as it fears a price crash and a build-up in inventories, OPEC sources said earlier. The United States, not a member of OPEC+ but a close ally of Riyadh, wants the group to boost output to lower oil prices.
Falih has to find a delicate balance between keeping the oil market well supplied and prices high enough for Riyadh’s budget needs, while pleasing Moscow to ensure Russia remains in the OPEC+ pact, and being responsive to the concerns of the United States and the rest of OPEC+, sources said.
The meeting of the ministerial panel, known as the JMMC, comes amid concerns of a tight market. Iran’s oil exports are likely to drop further in May and shipments from Venezuela could fall again in coming weeks due to U.S. sanctions.
Oil contamination forced Russia to halt flows along the Druzhba pipeline - a key conduit for crude into Eastern Europe and Germany - in April, leaving refiners scrambling for supplies.
Russia’s Novak told reporters that supplies to Poland via the pipeline would start on Monday.
OPEC’s agreed share of the cuts is 800,000 bpd, but its actual reduction is far larger due to the production losses in Iran and Venezuela. Both are under U.S. sanctions and exempt from the voluntary reductions under the OPEC-led deal.
REGIONAL TENSIONS
Oil prices edged lower on Friday due to demand fears amid a standoff in Sino-U.S. trade talks, but ended the week higher on rising concerns over disruptions in Middle East shipments due to U.S.-Iran political tensions.
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran are running high after last week’s attacks on two Saudi oil tankers off the UAE coast and another on Saudi oil facilities inside the kingdom.
Riyadh accused Tehran of ordering the drone strikes on oil pumping stations, for which Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group claimed responsibility. The UAE has blamed no one for the tanker sabotage. Iran has distanced itself from both sets of attacks.
Slideshow (6 Images)
“Although it has not affected our supplies, such acts of terrorism are deplorable,” Falih said. “They threaten uninterrupted supplies of energy to the world and put a global economy that is already facing headwinds at further risk.”
The attacks come as the United States and Iran spar over Washington’s tightening of sanctions aimed at cutting Iranian oil exports to zero, and an increased U.S. military presence in the Gulf over perceived Iranian threats to U.S. interests.
Additional reporting by Dahlia Nehme and Stephen Kalin; Writing by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Dale Hudson
Shoppers flooded Target’s website and stores on Saturday to get their hands on the Vineyard Vines collection, but many of the designer pieces were already sold out online within an hour of the launch.
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The limited-time collection went on sale online at about 3 a.m. Saturday, giving customers the chance to shop the highly-anticipated collaboration before stores opened.
“#vineyardvinesForTarget is here! Shop this limited-time collection now,” Target tweeted 20 minutes after the official launch began.
Within an hour, however, many of the items were already sold out. Several people replied to Target’s tweet slamming the company for “not stocking” the items properly after experiencing a similar issue in 2015 when the retail giant’s Lily Pulitzer collaboration sold out within minutes.
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“Ummm how is it all sold out already???? You guys knew this was going to be a big one yet once again you did not stock properly,” a woman tweeted, while another shopper said, “Posts 19 minutes after it drops... where everything is mostly sold out.”
“I’d loooooove to except literally every single thing says it is not available for delivery to my address. Why??” another user asked.
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The retail giant attempted to address the disappointment by tweeting from its “Ask Target” Twitter guest service account and reassure shoppers they had the option to purchase the items at one of its stores. The representatives also urged customers to "keep checking back for updates as items may be returned both in-store and online."
“We've heard the over-whale-ming excitement for our #vineyardvinesForTarget collection! Many items are sold out online at this time. Did you know the collection is available in stores this morning as well? We hope you'll stop in for some great Summer style!” a customer service representative wrote.
“Our collaborations tend to be very popular, and it looks like some items went pretty quick. This collection will be available in all Target stores while supplies last. Items returned or canceled or not previously used to fulfill orders may become available again,” another representative tweeted when a user asked if the collection will be restocked.
Customers also reported waiting in long lines at the stores, only to find many of the must-have items were already gone. By Sunday morning, more than 9,500 items from the collaboration were being sold on eBay.
“Wow @Target I stand in line for over an hour and then get told they didn’t get any Vineyard Vine plus size items in this store. #target #vineyardvines,” a person wrote.
Another person also tweeted, “And I thought nothing could top the Lilly Pulitzer collaboration with Target from a years ago until watching today’s lines for the @vineyardvines collaboration #vineyardvinesForTarget.”
More than 300 items — from clothes for women, men, children and babies, to pet accessories, home décor and kitchen items — were available for sale and prices ranged from $2 to $120. Most items in the collection cost $35 and under, compared to the usual Vineyard Vines pricing that generally starts at $50 or more for clothing items.
The collection will be on sale until July 13 while supplies last.
This is not the first time Target has collaborated with well-known fashion labels. Lilly Pulitzer, Missoni, Alexander McQueen and Justin Timberlake’s William Rast also sold collections at Target.
Fox Business’ Kathleen Joyce contributed to this report.
