About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 2018)
(ED BUSINESS Jeff Gill | Business reporter 770-718-3408 | jgill@gainesvilletimes.com The Times, Gainesville, Georgia Friday, November 30, 2018 Is your car a state spy? SIMffOO 6 337) NG HAN GUAN I Associated Press A staff member looks at a laptop near a screen displaying live data from vehicles at the Shanghai Electric Vehicle Public Data Collecting, Monitoring and Research Center in Shanghai. According to specifications published in 2016, every electric vehicle in China transmits data from the car’s sensors back to the manufacturer. From there, automakers send 61 data points, including location and details about battery and engine function to local centers like this one in Shanghai. In China, your new vehicle may be talking to the government BY ERIKA KINETZ Associated Press SHANGHAI — When Shan Junhua bought his white Tesla Model X, he knew it was a fast, beautiful car. What he didn’t know is that Tesla constantly sends information about the precise location of his car to the Chinese government. Tesla is not alone. China has called upon all electric vehicle manufactur ers in China to make the same kind of reports — potentially adding to the rich kit of surveillance tools available to the Chinese government as Presi dent Xi Jinping steps up the use of technology to track Chinese citizens. “I didn’t know this,” said Shan. “Tesla could have it, but why do they transmit it to the government? Because this is about privacy.” More than 200 manufacturers, including Tesla, Volkswagen, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Nis san, Mitsubishi and U.S.-listed electric vehicle start-up NIO, transmit position information and dozens of other data points to government-backed monitor ing centers, The Associated Press has found. Generally, it happens without car owners’ knowledge. The automakers say they are merely complying with local laws, which apply only to alternative energy vehicles. Chinese officials say the data is used for analytics to improve public safety, facilitate industrial develop ment and infrastructure planning, and to prevent fraud in subsidy programs. But other countries that are major markets for electronic vehicles — the United States, Japan, across Europe — do not collect this kind of real-time data. And critics say the information collected in China is beyond what is needed to meet the country’s stated goals. It could be used not only to undermine foreign carmakers’ com petitive position, but also for surveil lance — particularly in China, where there are few protections on personal privacy. Under the leadership of Xi Jinping, China has unleashed a war on dissent, marshalling big data and artificial intelligence to create a more perfect kind of policing, capable of predicting and eliminating perceived threats to the stability of the ruling Communist Party. There is also concern about the precedent these rules set for sharing data from next-generation connected cars, which may soon transmit even more personal information. “You’re learning a lot about peo ple’s day-to-day activities and that becomes part of what I call ubiq uitous surveillance, where pretty much everything that you do is being recorded and saved and potentially can be used in order to affect your life and your freedom,” said Michael Chertoff, who served as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush and recently wrote a book called “Exploding Data.” Chertoff said global automakers should be asking themselves tough questions. “If what you’re doing is giv ing a government of a more authori tarian country the tools to have massive surveillance, I think then companies have to ask themselves, ‘Is this really something we want to do in terms of our corporate values, even if it means otherwise forgoing that market?”’ GM’s No. 2 exec to run self-driving car unit BY MICHAEL LIEDTKE Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO —Gen eral Motors’ No. 2 executive is moving from Motor City to Silicon Valley to run the automaker’s self-driving car operations as it attempts to cash in on its bet that robotic vehicles will transform transportation. GM President Dan Ammann will become CEO of the company’s Cruise Automation subsidiary at the beginning of next year. He will replace Cruise co founder Kyle Vogt, who will become chief technology officer. The transition announced Thursday comes as Cruise gears up to up introduce a ride-hailing service deploy ing its driverless technol ogy in GM’s Chevy Bolt next year. The service is supposed to debut at some point next year in a major U.S. city, with Cruise’s home city of San Francisco considered to be among the top candidates. Cruise and GM have stead fastly declined to provide further details about the ride-hailing service, which is expected to be the second in the U.S. to rely on fully auton omous vehicles that won’t have a human behind the steering wheel to take control if the technology goes awry. Google spinoff Waymo has promised to launch a ride- hailing service with driver less vans in the Phoenix area within the next few weeks. GM’s decision to put one of its top executives in charge of Cruise provides further vali dation of a 5-year-old startup that has ballooned from 40 workers to more than 1,000 employees since the Detroit automaker bought it for $1 billion in 2016. But the change in com mand could pose cultural challenges if Ammann’s arrival as CEO signals that GM — a 110-year-old com pany with $146 billion in annual revenue — will be exerting more control over Cruise, whose engineers have enjoyed relatively free rein so far. “This is a major power player coming into run what has been a small division,” said Gartner auto analyst Mike Ramsey. “This seems to be a matter of sheer dol lars and cents.” In a joint interview with The Associated Press, how ever, both Ammann and Vogt depicted the move as a natu ral evolution. Vogt already had been answering to Ammann since the GM executive engineered the Cruise acquisition. So both men predicted their relationship won’t change dramatically, except that Ammann will now be in San Francisco and no longer have his attention diverted by his responsibilities as GM’s president. BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS BERLIN German pharmaceutical company Bayer cutting 12,000 jobs worldwide German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG says it’s cut ting 12,000 jobs worldwide as it seeks to reduce costs. The Leverkusen-based company said Thursday that details of the cuts to its 118,200-stong workforce would be worked out in coming months but that “a significant number” of the reductions would come in Germany. Bayer acquired U.S. seed and weed-killer maker Mon santo Co. this year. It says with the “synergies expected from the acquisition of Monsanto” and other efficiency and structural measures, including the job cuts, “Bayer anticipates annual contributions of 2.6 billion euros from 2022 on.” The company says a portion of the funds will be used to strengthen competitiveness and innovation in its divisions. Bayer shares rose on the news and were up 3 percent in afternoon trading in Frankfurt. NETHERLANDS CEO Polman to retire from consumer products multinational Unilever Paul Polman, CEO of consumer products multina tional Unilever, whose brands include Dove soaps and Lipton tea, is retiring at the end of the year, the company said Thursday. The Anglo-Dutch company said Polman will be suc ceeded from Jan. 1 by Alan Jope, currently president of Unilever’s Beauty and Personal Care division. Polman’s retirement ends 10 years at the helm of Uni lever, a tenure in which he was keen to stress the need for sustainability while also driving up the company’s share price. The announcement comes months after Unilever, under pressure from shareholders, reversed a decision to consolidate its headquarters in Rotterdam. The com pany has two head offices, in the Dutch city and in Lon don and is listed on stock markets in both countries. Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Mar kets UK, said the change of CEO “allows senior man agement to renew the relationship with their major shareholders which was damaged by the listing row. ” Polman was also in charge when Unilever rejected a $143 billion takeover offer from rival Kraft Heinz early last year. Reg Watson, equities analyst at ING, said he does not expect major shifts in the company’s course under its new CEO. “It will be much of the same, I think,” he said. “A com pany as large as Unilever, it’s like a supertanker - you don’t turn it on a sixpence.” Unilever Chairman Marijn Dekkers paid tribute to Polman, calling him an exceptional business leader. “His role in helping to define a new era of responsible capitalism, embodied in the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, marks him out as one of the most far-sighted busi ness leaders of his generation,” Dekkers said. Polman will help Jope settle into his new role during the first half of next year. The 54-year-old Jope is a career executive with Uni lever, having joined the company as a trainee in 1985. Since then he has risen through the ranks and held senior management positions with Unilever in China, the United States and the Russia, Africa and Middle East region. “He has an excellent track record of leading Uni lever’s business in both developed and emerging mar kets,” the company said. DALLAS Alexa hooks up with Big Mouth Billy Bass Kitsch and high-tech are linking up just in time for Christmas. Big Mouth Billy Bass is programmed to respond to Alexa voice commands through a compatible Amazon Echo device. That means the singing and talking fish will lip synch to Alexa’s responses and will dance to songs from Amazon music. When it’s first plugged in, it will respond “Woo-hoo, that feels good!” Gemmy Industries product development vice presi dent Steven Harris says “this is not your father’s Big Mouth Billy Bass.” But like the original, it includes the song “Fishin’ Time” and can be mounted on the wall or on an easel. Big Mouth Billy Bass was first sold in 1999. A developer first connected it to Alexa in 2016. The new version will be released Saturday for $39.99. Associated Press Stock Exchange Highlights V NYSE 12,389.37 -28.26 B Nasdaq W 7,273.08 -18.51 Gainers ($2 or more) Name Last Chg %Chg 20.70 4.60 4.44 5.30 9.20 AberFitc Dynagas CmtyHIt Chicos CapSenL HamBchBr 22.85 Frontlne rs 8.12 BasicEn n 6.51 Seadrill 2.79 Cemig 3.11 +3.58 +20.9 +.52 +12.7 +.44 +11.0 +.51 +10.6 +.86 +10.3 +2.02 +9.7 +.69 +.46 +.17 +.18 +9.3 +7.6 +6.5 +6.1 Losers (S2 or more) Name Last Chg %Chg Tillys 12.04 NavMHpfH 5.45 YETI HI n 16.10 Navios pfG 5.46 BitautoH 17.52 ChaparrE n 10.86 HertzGI 18.65 PPDAI n 5.64 Intelsat 26.22 RYBEdun 7.64 -3.22 -21.1 -1.41 -20.6 -3.10 -16.1 -1.04 -16.0 -2.46 -12.3 -1.38 -11.3 -2.32 -11.1 -.63 -10.0 -2.89 -9.9 -.80 -9.5 Most Active ($1 on more) Name Vol (00) Last Chg GenElec Twitter BkofAm Ambev AT&T Inc Vale SA AberFitc FordM ChesEng Pfizer 1229992 498764 468086 361316 306381 288135 273559 267035 236388 235530 7.94 +.20 31.30 -1.43 28.04 -.39 4.30 -.01 30.57 -.17 13.47 -.05 20.70 +3.58 9.37 -.04 3.03 +.02 45.51 +.61 Diary Advanced Declined Unchanged Total issues New Highs New Lows Volume 1,305 1,517 77 2,899 38 144 3,499,562,739 Gainers ($2 or more) Name Last Chg %Chg AdialPh n TonixP hrs Kirklands TitanMach Tech Data h RealmTh n Arsanis n ICAD ChckPnt n Wheeler rs 2.80 +1.48+112.1 6.97 +3.17 +83.4 10.10 +2.57 +34.1 17.81 +3.63 +25.6 89.89 +16.21 +22.0 3.15 +.56 +21.6 3.71 +.65 +21.2 3.82 +.55 +16.8 2.61 +.37 +16.3 2.90 +.40 +16.0 Losers ($2 or more) Name Last Chg %Chg ShiftPixy n 2.99 AltralndlM 31.42 ClMCTpfL 23.21 CatalystPh 2.77 ChinaJJ h 2.12 CellectBio n 3.11 Hibbett 15.51 NF EngSv 9.27 Sphr3D grs 6.28 TATTchh 6.65 -1.43 11.58 -3.79 -.36 -.27 -.39 -1.88 -1.08 -.72 -.70 -32.4 -26.9 -14.0 -11.5 -11.3 -11.1 -10.8 -10.4 -10.3 -9.5 Most Active ($1 or more) Name Vol (00) Last Chg AMD Apple Inc SiriusXM Microsoft Qualcom Facebook MicronT Intel Cisco TonixP hrs 796601 414988 345167 277760 268726 239251 235479 230338 225349 217180 21.43 179.55 6.32 110.19 58.11 +.09 -1.39 +.13 -.93 +1.46 138.68 +1.92 37.91 -.80 47.70 -1.16 47.34 +.05 6.97 +3.17 Diary Advanced Declined Unchanged Total issues New Highs New Lows Volume 1,298 1,615 168 3,081 38 78 1,936,047,405 Stocks of Local Interest Name Ex Div Yld PE Last YTD Chg %Chg AFLAC S 1.04 2.3 14 45.40 +.04 0.0 HomeDp 4.12 2.3 19 175.66 -1.77 -7.3 AT&T Inc 2.00 6.5 6 30.57 -.17 -21.4 Intel 1.20 2.5 18 47.70 -1.16 +3.3 AbbottLab 1.12 1.5 31 73.26 +.43 +28.4 IBM 6.28 5.2 9 121.48 -1.52 -20.8 AberFitc .80 3.9 12 20.70 +3.58 +18.8 JohnJn 3.60 2.5 20 145.85 -.59 +4.4 AMD 21.43 +.09+108.5 Lowes 1.92 2.1 21 93.20 -.49 +.3 Altria 3.20 5.7 18 55.94 +.99 -21.7 McDnlds 4.64 2.5 29 189.26 +1.41 +10.0 Apple Inc 2.92 1.6 18 179.55 -1.39 +6.1 Merck 2.20 2.8 29 77.91 +.68 +38.5 ATMOS 1.94 2.1 17 93.45 -4.18 +8.8 MicronT 3 37.91 -.80 -7.8 AutoZone 18 825.83 -7.87 +16.1 Microsoft 1.84 1.7 46 110.19 -.93 +28.8 AveryD 2.26 2.4 27 95.33 -.71 -17.0 Nabors .24 6.8 3.51 -.03 -48.6 BB&T Cp 1.62 3.2 15 50.60 -.33 +1.8 NewAgeB n ... 4.42 -.01+103.7 BP PLC 2.38 5.9 12 40.48 -.36 -3.7 NorflkSo 3.20 1.9 25 168.44 +.57 +16.2 BkofAm .60 2.1 13 28.04 -.39 -5.0 OfficeDpt .10 3.0 9 3.29 +.04 -7.1 BarnesNob .60 8.3 7.22 -.24 +7.8 Penney 1.43 -.05 -54.7 Boeing 6.84 2.0 32 342.56 +9.06 +16.2 PepsiCo 3.71 3.1 34 118.27 -.23 -1.4 BrMySq 1.60 3.1 51 51.82 -.18 -15.4 Pfizer 1.36 3.0 18 45.51 +.61 +25.6 CSX .88 1.2 10 71.77 -.98 +30.5 PhilipMor 4.56 5.2 21 86.96 +.57 -17.7 CampSp 1.40 3.5 14 39.63 +.13 -17.6 Primerica 1.00 .8 14 119.13 +.86 +17.3 Caterpillar 3.44 2.6 12 130.23 -.54 -17.4 ProctGam 2.87 3.1 23 92.82 -.19 +1.0 ChesEng 5 3.03 +.02 -23.5 Qualcom 2.48 4.3 58.11 +1.46 -9.2 Chevron 4.48 3.8 25 118.85 +.71 -5.1 RegionsFn .56 3.5 14 16.21 -.22 -6.2 Cisco 1.32 2.8 24 47.34 +.05 +23.6 SiriusXM .05 .8 35 6.32 +.13 +17.9 Citigroup 1.80 2.8 11 64.90 -.68 -12.8 SouthnCo 2.40 5.2 22 46.54 +.42 -3.2 CocaCola 1.56 3.2 92 48.98 -.34 +6.8 SwstnEngy 6 4.92 -.03 -11.8 ConAgra .85 2.6 16 32.27 -.16 -14.3 SunTrst 2.00 3.2 11 62.49 -.10 -3.3 Cummins 4.56 3.1 41 148.20 -.36 -16.1 SynovusFn 1.00 2.7 13 37.53 -.02 -21.7 DenburyR 2.31 -.04 +4.5 3M Co 5.44 2.7 28 204.56 +.22 -13.1 Disney 1.76 1.5 16 116.61 +.51 +8.5 TonixP hrs 6.97 +3.17 -79.8 DowDuPnt 1.52 2.7 18 57.24 +.40 -19.6 Torchmark .64 .7 7 87.32 -.57 -3.7 EnCana g .06 .9 12 6.97 +.08 -47.7 21stCFoxA .36 .7 23 49.53 +.05 +43.4 Equifax 1.56 1.5 18 102.80 -2.96 -12.8 Twitter 31.30 -1.43 +30.4 ExxonMbl 3.28 4.1 15 79.06 +.61 -5.5 Tyson 1.20 2.1 10 57.72 +.73 -28.8 Facebook 26 138.68 +1.92 -21.4 UtdCmBks .64 2.5 15 25.26 -.23 -10.2 FordM .60 6.4 5 9.37 -.04 -25.0 UPS B 3.64 3.2 19 113.26 -.29 -4.9 FrptMcM .20 1.7 8 11.82 -.15 -37.7 VerizonCm 2.41 4.1 8 59.45 -.61 +12.3 GenElec .48 6.0 7.94 +.20 -54.6 Vodafone 1.74 8.2 21.31 -.38 -33.2 GenuPrt 2.88 2.8 22 103.09 -.79 +8.5 WalMart 2.08 2.1 56 97.29 -.17 -1.5 HP Inc .64 2.8 8 22.86 -.57 +8.8 Weathflntl .61 -.02 -85.3 Haverty .72 3.3 22 21.71 -.30 -4.2 WeisMk 1.24 2.6 11 47.41 -.71 +14.5 HeliosM rs .02 ...-100.0 WellsFargo 1.72 3.2 13 54.04 -.31 -10.9 Hershey 2.89 2.7 23 107.45 +.80 -5.3 YumBrnds 1.44 1.6 33 91.86 +.13 +12.6 Name Ex Div Yld PE Last YTD 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: 25,338.84 Change:-27.59 (-0.1%) 27,200 26,400 25,600 24,800 25,520 24,880 24,240 10 DAYS J J A S O N 52-Week Net YTD 12-mo High Low Name Last Chg %Chg %Chg %Chg 26,951.81 23,344.52 Dow Industrials 25,338.84 -27.59 -.11 +2.51 +4.39 11,623.58 9,565.44 Dow Transportation 10,679.80 -86.81 -.81 +.64 +3.94 773.78 647.81 Dow Utilities 729.08 -1.01 -.14 +.79 -5.36 13,637.02 11,820.33 NYSE Composite 12,389.37 -28.26 -.23 -3.27 -1.89 8,133.30 6,630.67 Nasdaq Composite 7,273.08 -18.51 -.25 +5.36 +5.81 1,309.73 1,118.69 S&P 100 1,213.70 -2.39 -.20 +2.58 +3.93 2,940.91 2,532.69 S&P 500 2,737.76 -6.03 -.22 +2.40 +3.41 2,053.00 1,769.25 S&P MidCap 1,866.74 -2.22 -.12 -1.78 -1.71 30,560.54 26,293.62 Wilshire 5000 28,234.28 -58.82 -.21 +1.58 +2.69 1,742.09 1,436.43 Russell 2000 1,525.39 -4.99 -.33 -.66 -1.21 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 247,729 253.66 +3.9 +6.2/A +10.9/A NL 3,000 Vanguard TtlSMIdxAdmrl LB 199,057 68.29 +4.0 +5.6/B +10.4/A NL 3,000 Vanguard TtlSMIdxinv LB 127,316 68.26 +4.0 +5.5/B +10.3/B NL 3,000 Vanguard TtlnSIdxinv FB 126,316 16.14 +3.9 -8.2/B +2.2/B NL 0 Vanguard TtlSMIdxIns LB 119,661 68.31 +4.0 +5.6/B +10.4/A NL 5 000,000 Vanguard Insldxlns LB 116,372 250.26 +3.9 +6.3/A +10.9/A NL 5 000,000 Vanguard InsidxInsPlus LB 101,648 250.28 +3.9 +6.3/A +10.9/A NL100,000,000 Vanguard TtlnSIdxInsPlus FB 94,240 108.01 +3.9 -8.1/B +2.3/B NL100,000,000 Fidelity Contrafund LG 91,385 12.72 +3.6 +6.8/D +11.5/B NL 0 Vanguard TtBMIdxAdmrl Cl 85,528 10.28 +0.1 -1.6/C +1.9/C NL 3,000 Fidelity 500ldxlnsPrm LB 84,712 95.99 +3.9 +6.3/A +10.9/A NL 0 Vanguard WlngtnAdmrl MA 84,654 71.90 +2.9 +2.7/A +7.6/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.
