The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current, November 27, 2018, Image 11

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The times., November 27, 2018, Image 11

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Newspaper Page Text0D BUSINESS Jeff Gill | Business reporter 770-718-3408 | jgill@gainesvilletimes.com The Times, Gainesville, Georgia Tuesday, November 27, 2018 GM to lay off up to 14K FRANK GUNN I Associated Press A worker checks the paint on a Camaro at the GM factory June 10, 2011, in Oshawa, Ontario. General Motors is closing a Canadian plant at the cost of about 2,500 jobs, but that is apparently just a piece of a much broader, company-wide restructuring that will be announced soon. 5 plants may close as company focuses on electric, autonomous cars BY TOM KRISHER Associated Press DETROIT — General Motors will cut up to 14,000 workers in North America and put five plants up for possible clo sure as it abandons many of its car mod els and restructures to focus more on autonomous and electric vehicles, the automaker announced Monday. The reductions could amount to as much as 8 percent of GM’s global work force of 180,000 employees. The restructuring reflects changing North American auto markets as manu facturers continue to shift away from cars toward SUVs and trucks. In October, almost 65 percent of new vehicles sold in the U.S. were trucks or SUVs. That figure was about 50 percent cars just five years ago. GM is shedding cars largely because it doesn’t make money on them, Citi analyst Itay Michaeli wrote in a note to investors. “We estimate sedans operate at a sig nificant loss, hence the need for classic restructuring,” he wrote. The reduction includes about 8,000 white-collar employees, or 15 percent of GM’s North American white-collar work force. Some will take buyouts while oth ers will be laid off. At the factories, around 3,300 blue-col lar workers could lose jobs in Canada and another 2,600 in the U.S., but some U.S. workers could transfer to truck or SUV factories that are increasing production. The company also said it will stop oper ating two additional factories outside North America by the end of next year, in addition to a previously announced plant closure in Gunsan, South Korea. General Motors Co.’s pre-emptive strike to get leaner before the next downturn likely will be followed by Ford Motor Co., which has said it is restruc turing and will lay off an unspecified number of white-collar workers. Toyota Motor Corp. also has discussed cutting costs, even though it’s building a new assembly plant in Alabama. GM isn’t the first to abandon much of its car market. Fiat Chrysler Automo biles got out of small and midsize cars two years ago, while Ford announced plans to shed all cars but the Mustang sports car in the U.S. in the coming years. Shares of GM, the largest automaker in the U.S. which sells the Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC brands, rose nearly 6 percent on the news to $37.98 in Monday afternoon trading. GM doesn’t foresee an economic downturn and is making the cuts “to get in front of it while the company is strong and while the economy is strong,” CEO Mary Barra told reporters. She also noted that tariffs on imported aluminum and steel have hit the com pany, but she stopped short of saying they had anything to do with the restructuring. After the morning announcement, Barra was to head for Washington to meet with White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow in what was described as a previously scheduled meeting, according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the offi cial is not authorized to discuss the meet ing publicly. President Donald Trump said his administration and lawmakers are exert ing “a lot of pressure” on GM. FDA to overhaul criticized medical device system BY MATTHEW PERR0NE Associated Press WASHINGTON - U.S. health officials said Mon day they plan to overhaul the nation’s decades-old system for approving most medical devices, which has long been criticized by experts for failing to catch problems with risky implants and related products. The Food and Drug Administration announced plans aimed at making sure new medical devices reflect up-to-date safety and effectiveness fea tures. The system targeted by the actions gener ally allows manufacturers to launch new products based on similarities to decades-old products, not new clinical testing in patients. The FDA’s move came one day after the publi cation of a global investigation into medical device safety by more than 50 media organizations, includ ing The Associated Press. Led by the International Consortium of Investi gative Journalists, the group found that more than 1.7 million inju ries and nearly 83,000 deaths suspected of being linked to medi cal devices had been reported to the FDA over a 10-year period. “We believe that it’s time to fundamen tally modernize an approach first adopted in 1976,” FDA Commis sioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement, ‘We believe that it’s time to fundamentally modernize an approach first adopted in 1976.’ Scott Gottlieb FDA commissioner noting that the changes under consideration would push companies to com pare their devices to more up-to-date technology. On Twitter, he described the proposal as “the most significant modernization” of the medical device review process in a generation. Some of the reforms proposed by the FDA could take years to implement and potentially include new guidelines and regulations for manufacturers, and the most substantive changes could require action by Congress. Dr. David Challoner, a leading expert on the FDA’s review system, said the changes would likely improve device safety, but worried that manufac turers could scuttle the reform effort. “If the device industry comes back at this full bore with their lobbying efforts, this could all die a slow and painful death,” he told the AP. In 2011, Challoner led a government advi sory panel that recommended the FDA’s “flawed” review system be replaced. At the time, the FDA said it disagreed with the group’s recommendations. Taxes may be a bigger part of online shopping this year BY JESSICA GRESK0 Associated Press WASHINGTON — Shop pers heading online to pur chase holiday gifts will find they’re being charged sales tax at some websites where they weren’t before. The reason: the Supreme Court. A June ruling gave states the go-ahead to require more companies to collect sales tax on online pur chases. Now, more than two dozen have moved to take advantage of the ruling, many ahead of the busy holi day shopping season. “Will your shopping bill look any different? ... The answer right now is it depends,” said Jason Brewer, a spokesman for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, which repre sents more than 70 major retailers. Whether shoppers get charged sales tax on their online purchases comes down to where they live and where they’re shopping. Before the Supreme Court’s recent decision, the rule was that businesses selling online had to collect sales tax only in states where they had stores, warehouses or another physical pres ence. That meant that major retailers such as Apple, Best Buy, Macy’s and Tar get, which have brick-and- mortar stores nationwide, were generally collecting sales tax from online cus tomers. But that wasn’t the case for businesses with a big online presence but few physical locations. Now, states can force out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax if they’re doing a fair amount of business in the state. That means retail ers such as Overstock.com, home goods company Way- fair and electronics retailer Newegg can be required to collect tax in more states. Those companies were involved in the case before the Supreme Court, but a wide range of businesses from jewelry website Blue Nile to clothing and outdoor company L.L. Bean and elec tronics retailer B&H Photo- Video are also affected. Before the Supreme Court’s decision, Overstock was collecting sales tax in eight states. Now, it’s col lecting sales tax nationwide. Jonathan Johnson, a mem ber of Overstock’s board of directors, said a small num ber of customers reached out to ask about the change when it happened but the company now hasn’t had a question about it in months. Wayfair, for its part, was col lecting sales tax in 25 states before the decision. Now it’s collecting sales tax in 36 of the 45 states with a sales tax. Where online shoppers live also can affect whether they’re being charged sales tax. States had a strong inter est in taking advantage of the Supreme Court’s decision by passing laws or publish ing regulations prior to this holiday shopping season if possible, said Richard Cram of the Multistate Tax Com mission, which works with states on tax issues. Those that did have generally been following the lead of South Dakota, which brought the issue to the Supreme Court. South Dakota requires sell ers who don’t have a physi cal presence in the state to collect sales tax on online purchases if they do more than $100,000 in business in South Dakota or more than 200 transactions annually with state residents. A host of states — Ala bama, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Min nesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin — began enforcing their own require ments starting Oct. 1. And about another half a dozen states will start in the next two months. But a number of big states, including California, Texas, New York and Florida, do not yet have similar col lection requirements in place. As a result, consum ers shopping online from those states and others that have yet to act may not be charged sales tax on some websites for a little longer. Online shoppers in those states — particularly those making expensive holiday purchases like televisions, computers and luxury goods — may be motivated to try to purchase from a website that isn’t charging them sales tax. While that may look like a sweet tax savings, shoppers are generally sup posed to pay the tax to the state themselves, but few do. Stock Exchange Highlights NYSE 12,181.25 +145.01 Nasdaq 7,081.85 +142.87 Gainers (S2 Name Last OR MORE) Chg %Chg JinkoSolar 10.65 CooTek n 6.44 VivintSolar 6.48 QntmDSS rs 2.58 TrnsMont 40.98 VinceHIg rs 14.19 GP Strat 14.72 CypressEn 6.93 Twilio n 87.41 HarteHk rs 3.84 +1.43 +15.5 +.83 +14.8 +.81 +14.3 +.31 +13.7 +4.58 +12.6 +1.53 +12.1 +1.32 +9.9 +.56 +8.8 +6.79 +8.4 +.29 +8.2 Losers (S2 or more) Name Last Chg %Chg DirxMex n 7.44 Innovlnd n 46.75 Invacare 5.55 StoneMor 3.45 DxLatBII s 18.04 DxBrzBull s 23.23 GolLinhss 10.46 Plantron 46.48 ChaparrE n 12.56 Aphria n 8.08 -1.26 -14.4 -7.84 -14.4 -.71 -11.3 -.41 -10.6 -2.07 -10.3 -2.65 -10.2 -1.07 -9.3 -4.46 -8.8 -1.19 -8.7 -.76 -8.6 Most Active ($1 or more) Name Vol (00) Last Chg GenElec 1546866 BkofAm 531043 FordM 460811 AT&T Inc 333342 Vale SA 312391 GenMotors 303479 ChesEng 282746 Petrobras 264754 Ambev 219046 Oracle 208527 7.58 27.56 9.40 29.95 12.75 +.01 +.59 +.27 +.59 -.51 37.65 +1.72 3.15 13.72 -.15 4.06 -.11 48.26 -.44 Diary Advanced Declined Unchanged Total issues New Highs New Lows Volume 1,821 992 74 2,887 13 130 3,419,559,528 Gainers ($2 Name Last OR more) Chg %Chg iPass rs 2.05 TymeTch n 2.80 BorqsTch 2.53 LifewayFds 3.25 EssaPh gs 3.07 SunPower 7.05 LegacyRes 2.67 LiveXLve n 5.00 BioScrip 3.70 SolenoTh rs 2.14 +.61 +42.4 +.65 +30.2 +.42 +19.9 +.49 +17.8 +.46 +17.6 +.99 +16.3 +.37 +16.1 +.65 +14.9 +.47 +14.6 +.23 +12.0 Losers ($2 or more) Name Last Chg %Chg Zafgen 5.41 TenaxTh rs 2.61 AvalGIb n 2.10 Greenpro n 3.50 Overstk 17.56 RevenHo n 3.30 TizianaLf n 8.38 Equillium n 16.67 XTL Bio rs 2.40 LogicBio n 15.95 -3.69 -40.5 -.64 -19.7 -.45 -17.7 -.70 -16.7 -3.37 -16.1 -.58 -14.9 -1.42 -14.5 -2.77 -14.2 -.31 -11.5 -2.03 -11.3 Most Active ($1 or more) Name Vol (00) Last Chg AMD 828879 Apple Inc 446111 Microsoft 322567 SiriusXM 265209 MicronT 264938 Reshape rs257722 Facebook 234590 JD.com 223617 Nvidia 203106 CaesarsEnt202625 20.08 +.70 174.62 +2.33 106.47 +3.40 6.14 +.08 36.57 +.17 1.01 -.24 136.38 +4.65 20.46 +1.19 153.05 +8.05 8.56 +.34 Diary Advanced Declined Unchanged Total issues New Highs New Lows Volume 1,771 1,155 150 3,076 18 119 1,965,200,343 Stocks of Local Interest YTD Name Ex Div Yld PE Last Chg %Chg AFLAC S 1.04 2.3 14 44.61 +.14 0.0 HomeDp 4.12 2.4 19 169.82 +.97 -10.4 AT&T Inc 2.00 6.7 6 29.95 +.59 -23.0 Intel 1.20 2.5 18 47.45 +.91 +2.8 AbbottLab 1.12 1.6 29 68.81 +.70 +20.6 IBM 6.28 5.3 9 119.56 +2.37 -22.1 AMD 20.08 +.70 +95.3 JohnJn 3.60 2.5 20 141.37 +.04 +1.2 Altria 3.20 6.0 17 53.21 -.51 -25.5 Lowes 1.92 2.1 19 89.31 +1.50 -3.9 Apple Inc 2.92 1.7 20 174.62 +2.33 +3.2 MagneG rs .31 +.03 -93.6 ATMOS 1.94 2.0 18 97.81 +.66 +13.9 McDnlds 4.64 2.5 28 183.89 +1.96 +6.8 AutoZone 18 820.00 -7.53 +15.3 Merck 2.20 2.9 28 75.44 +.77 +34.1 AveryD 2.26 2.4 27 93.49 +.90 -18.6 MicronT 3 36.57 +.17 -11.1 BB&T Cp 1.62 3.2 15 51.12 +.75 +2.8 Microsoft 1.84 1.7 44 106.47 +3.40 +24.5 BP PLC 2.38 5.9 12 40.53 +.64 -3.6 NewellRub .92 3.9 23.52 +1.78 -23.9 BkofAm .60 2.2 13 27.56 +.59 -6.6 NorflkSo 3.20 1.9 25 164.11 +.21 +13.3 BamesNob .60 8.8 6.79 +.12 +1.3 Nvidia .64 .4 29 153.05 +8.05 -20.9 Boeing 6.84 2.2 29 316.36 +4.04 +7.3 OfficeDpt .10 3.2 9 3.16 +.09 -10.7 BrMySq 1.60 3.0 52 52.73 -.20 -14.0 Oracle .76 1.6 52 48.26 -.44 +2.1 CSX .88 1.2 10 70.42 +.64 +28.0 Penney 1.38 +.07 -56.3 CaesarsEnt ... 8.56 +.34 -32.3 PepsiCo 3.71 3.2 33 115.86 +.45 -3.4 CampSp 1.40 3.6 14 39.02 -1.51 -18.9 Pfizer 1.36 3.1 17 43.34 +.20 +19.7 Caterpillar 3.44 2.8 12 124.80 +2.48 -20.8 PhilipMor 4.56 5.4 20 83.84 -.21 -20.6 CntryLink 2.16 11.7 7 18.44 +.56 +10.6 Primerica 1.00 .9 14 116.54 +1.29 +14.8 ChesEng 5 3.15 ... -20.5 ProctGam 2.87 3.1 23 91.94 +.40 +.1 Chevron 4.48 3.9 24 114.98 +1.38 -8.2 Reshape rs ... 1.01 -.24-100.0 Cisco 1.32 2.9 23 45.57 +1.03 +19.0 RealGSol h .77 +.14 -47.7 Citigroup 1.80 2.8 11 63.73 +1.98 -14.4 RegionsFn .56 3.4 14 16.34 +.38 -5.4 ClevCIiffs .05 .6 3 8.67 -.11 +20.2 SiriusXM .05 .8 34 6.14 +.08 +14.6 CocaCola 1.56 3.2 92 48.87 -.15 +6.5 SouthnCo 2.40 5.3 22 45.65 -.07 -5.1 ConAgra .85 2.6 16 32.60 -.59 -13.5 Sphr3D grs 6.10 +.51 -69.0 Cummins 4.56 3.1 41 147.19 +2.38 -16.7 SunTrst 2.00 3.2 11 63.45 +2.14 -1.8 Disney 1.68 1.5 15 112.55 +.47 +4.7 SynovusFn 1.00 2.7 13 36.97 +1.08 -22.9 DowDuPnt 1.52 2.6 18 57.66 +1.23 -19.0 3M Co 5.44 2.7 28 199.86 +3.06 -15.1 Equifax 1.56 1.5 18 102.26 +1.20 -13.3 Torchmark .64 .7 7 86.82 +.76 -4.3 ExxonMbl 3.28 4.3 14 76.98 +1.49 -8.0 Twitter 32.82 +1.70 +36.7 Facebook 26 136.38 +4.65 -22.7 Tyson 1.20 2.0 11 59.46 +.57 -26.7 FordM .60 6.4 5 9.40 +.27 -24.7 UtdCmBks .64 2.5 15 25.54 +.48 -9.2 GenElec .48 6.3 7.58 +.01 -56.6 UPS B 3.64 3.3 19 110.64 +1.95 -7.1 GenMotors 1.52 4.0 37.65 +1.72 -8.1 VerizonCm 2.41 4.1 8 59.17 +.53 +11.8 GenuPrt 2.88 2.8 22 101.19 +1.47 +6.5 Vodafone 1.74 8.3 20.91 +1.19 -34.5 HP Inc .64 2.8 8 22.81 +.30 +8.6 WalMart 2.08 2.2 55 95.15 +.05 -3.6 Haverty .72 3.3 23 21.87 +.12 -3.4 WeisMk 1.24 2.6 11 47.37 -1.00 +14.4 HeliosM rs .02 +.00-100.0 WellsFargo 1.72 3.3 13 52.88 +1.05 -12.8 Hershey 2.89 2.7 23 106.00 -.21 -6.6 YumBrnds 1.44 1.6 32 88.31 +1.12 +8.2 Name Ex YTD Div Yld PE Last Chg %Chg Stock Footnotes: g = Dividends and earnings in Canadian dollars, h = Does not meet continued-listing standards. If = Late filing with SEC. n = New in past 52 weeks, pf = Preferred, rs = Stock has undergone a reverse stock split of at least 50 percent within the past year, rt = Right to buy security at a specified price, s = Stock has split by at least 20 percent within the last year, un = Units, vj = In bankruptcy or receivership, wd = When distributed, wi = When issued, wt = Warrants. Fund Footnotes: m - Multiple fees are charged, usually a marketing fee and either a sales or redemption fee. Source: The Associated Press. Sales figures are unofficial. Stock Market Indexes Dow Jones industrials Close: 24,640.24 Change: 354.29 (1.5%) 27,200 26,400 25,600 24,800 26,000 25,120* 24,240 10 DAYS J J A S 0 N 52-Week Net YTD 12-mo High Low Name Last Chg %Chg %Chg %Chg 26,951.81 23,344.52 Dow Industrials 24,640.24 +354.29 +1.46 -.32 +4.49 11,623.58 9,456.16 Dow Transportation 10,476.55 +107.54 +1.04 -1.28 +9.18 773.78 647.81 Dow Utilities 723.84 +4.21 +.58 +.07 -5.08 13,637.02 11,820.33 NYSE Composite 12,181.25 +145.01 +1.20 -4.90 -1.69 8,133.30 6,630.67 Nasdaq Composite 7,081.85 +142.87 +2.06 +2.59 +2.96 1,309.73 1,118.69 S&P 100 1,180.46 +19.06 +1.64 -.23 +2.91 2,940.91 2,532.69 S&P 500 2,673.45 +40.89 +1.55 -.01 +2.77 2,053.00 1,769.25 S&P MidCap 1,847.77 +22.89 +1.25 -2.78 -.45 30,560.54 26,293.62 Wilshire 5000 27,618.79 +422.22 +1.55 -.63 +2.17 1,742.09 1,436.43 Russell 2000 1,505.96 +17.28 +1.16 -1.92 -.49 Mutual Funds Name Total Assets Obj ($Mlns) NAV Total Return/Rank 4-wk 12-mo 5-year Pet Load Min Init Invt Vanguard 500ldxAdmrl LB 247,729 247.62 +0.8 +4.7/B +10.4/A NL 3,000 Vanguard TtlSMIdxAdmrl LB 199,057 66.78 +1.0 +4.2/B +10.0/A NL 3,000 Vanguard TtlSMIdxInv LB 127,316 66.75 +1.0 +4.1/B +9.9/A NL 3,000 Vanguard TtlnSIdxInv FB 126,316 15.99 +2.2 -9.6/B +2.1/B NL 0 Vanguard TtlSMIdxIns LB 119,661 66.79 +1.0 +4.2/B +10.0/A NL 5 000,000 Vanguard Insldxlns LB 116,372 244.30 +0.8 +4.7/B +10.4/A NL 5 000,000 Vanguard InsIdxinsPlus LB 101,648 244.32 +0.8 +4.7/B +10.4/A NL100,000,000 Vanguard TtlnSIdxInsPlus FB 94,240 106.96 +2.2 -9.5/B +2.2/B NL100,000,000 Fidelity Contrafund LG 91,385 12.30 -1.7 +2.3/D +10.8/B NL 0 Vanguard TtBMIdxAdmrl Cl 85,528 10.27 -0.1 -1.9/C +1.9/C NL 3,000 Fidelity 500ldxlnsPrm LB 84,712 93.71 +0.8 +4.7/B +10.4/A NL 0 Vanguard WlngtnAdmrl MA 84,654 71.14 +1.6 +2.6/A +7.3/A NL 50,000 Cl -Intermediate-Term Bond, FB -Foreign Large Blend, IH -World Allocation, LB -Large Blend, LG -Large Growth, LV -Large Value, MA -Moderate Allocation, WS -World Stock, Total Return: Chng in NAV with dividends reinvested. Rank: How fund performed vs. others with same objective: A is in top 20%, E in bottom 20%. Min Init Invt: Minimum $ needed to invest in fund. Source: Morningstar.