Newspaper Page Text
0D BUSINESS
Jeff Gill | Business reporter
770-718-3408 | jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Silicon Valley expands
All bets are
off after
For the Associated Press
This rendering shows a building conceived by COOKFOX architects at 550 Washington St. to house an expansion by Google on
Manhattan’s west side at the site of the former St. John’s Terminal.
Google plans $1B office complex in New York City
BY MAE ANDERSON
Associated Press
Silicon Valley is becoming
Silicon Nation.
Google announced Monday
it will spend more than $1 bil
lion to build a new office com
plex in New York City that
will allow the internet search
giant to double the number of
people it employs there.
It is the tech industry’s lat
est major expansion beyond
the Seattle-San Francisco Bay
corridor. It follows recent
steps by Amazon and Apple
to set up large operations well
outside their home turf.
Tech companies are “com
ing to the realization that the
Bay Area, which has tradition
ally been the major center of
tech activity in the U.S., is get
ting expensive and crowded,”
said Andrew Bartels, principal
analyst at Forrester Research.
“A lot of vendors are com
ing to the realization that ‘We
can probably find top talent
elsewhere at a more afford
able costs, and perhaps a bet
ter style of life for employees
who may be struggling to make
ends meet.’”
The Northeast is attractive
because of its large concentra
tion of highly educated young
people. New York in particu
lar also offers proximity to
Wall Street and already has
the second-biggest concentra
tion of tech startups behind the
Bay Area and a large base of
tech employees, Bartels said.
Facebook, based in Menlo
Park, California, has over
2,000 employees in New York.
Google, based in Mountain
View, California, will fashion a
complex of more than 1.7 mil
lion square feet along the Hud
son River in the city’s West
Village neighborhood, Ruth
Porat, senior vice president
and chief financial officer,
said in a blog post.
Google opened its first
office in New York nearly 20
years ago and now employs
7,000 people in the city. Its
footprint is expanding rapidly.
Google said earlier this year
that it would buy the Chel
sea Market building for $2.4
billion and planned to lease
more space at Pier 57, both
along the Hudson about a mile
north of the newly announced
complex.
Porat telegraphed Google’s
plans to double down in New
York a month ago during a
technology conference.
“Not everybody — big sur
prise — wants to live in Silicon
Valley, so we want to make
sure we have the opportunity
to build vibrant centers across
the country,” she said.
The news follows Seattle-
based Amazon’s announce
ment a month ago that it would
set up new headquarters in
New York’s Long Island City
neighborhood and in Arling
ton, Virginia, creating upwards
of 25,000 jobs in each location.
But it’s not just the East
Coast that is benefiting from
the expansion. Apple, based
in Cupertino, California, said
last week that it plans to build
a $1 billion campus in Austin,
Texas, that will create at least
5,000 jobs.
Fed’s likely
rate hike
BY MARTIN CRUTSINGER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Having raised interest
rates with steady regularity in recent months,
the Federal Reserve may embrace a new
message this week: Flexibility.
On Wednesday, the Fed is set to announce
its fourth rate hike of the year. But after this
week, no one is sure what it will do. Neither,
most likely, is the Fed itself.
A confluence of factors — a global slow
down, a U.S.-China trade war, still-mild infla
tion, stomach-churning drops in stock prices
— may have left Fed officials weighing a shift
in policy. Many analysts think the Fed will sig
nal Wednesday that it’s considering whether
to slow or suspend its rate hikes in 2019 to
avoid weakening the economy too much. And
some predict that the rate increases, which
began three years ago, will end altogether
next year.
In September, Fed officials collectively
forecast that they would raise rates three
times in 2019. But this week, in the view of
many analysts, the central bank could indi
cate that no more than two rate hikes are
likely next year.
Yet the overarching message — in a
statement after its latest policy meeting,
in updated forecasts for the economy and
interest rates and in a news conference by
Chairman Jerome Powell — may be that
the Fed plans to suit its rate policy to the lat
est economic data. In Fed parlance, it will be
“ data-dependent. ”
The idea, some analysts say, is that the Fed
may want to pause in its credit-tightening to
assess how the economy fares in the com
ing months in light of the headwinds it faces.
Contributing to this view was a speech Powell
gave last month in which he suggested that
rates appear to be just below the level the Fed
calls “neutral,” where they’re believed to nei
ther stimulate growth nor impede it. Powell’s
observation suggested that the Fed might be
poised to soon slow or halt its rate hikes.
For now, most U.S. economic barometers
are still showing strength. The unemploy
ment rate is 3.7 percent, a 49-year low. The
economy is thought to have grown close to
3 percent this year, its best performance in
more than a decade.
Health insurance on demand? Some are betting on it
Nancy Buchholz holds her husband Jeff’s picture, who died
six weeks after being diagnosed with cancer this spring.
BY TOM MURPHY
Associated Press
People with health insur
ance often pay for coverage
they never use. A startup
trend wants to shake that up.
It’s a radical idea: On-
demand insurance that lets
customers buy some of their
coverage only if and when
they need it, similar to how
TV viewers might rent a
new release from Amazon
instead of paying every
month for a pricey cable
package they rarely use.
This approach from Bind
Benefits is one of the latest
wrinkles in a yearslong push
by companies and insurers
to control costs and make
patients smarter health care
shoppers. And it’s drawing
attention from the nation’s
largest health insurer, Unit-
edHealthcare, and some
sizeable employers.
“It’s the sort of thing we
need entrepreneurs to be
doing,” said Robert Lasze-
STACY BENGS I Associated Press
wski, a health care consul
tant and former insurance
executive. “We haven’t had
a new idea in managed care
in I don’t know how long.”
Bind’s plan draws concern
from researchers worried
about how this may hurt
some pocketbooks, but it
also has attracted employ
ers hungry for a fresh way to
tame expenses.
School superintendent
Barry Rose picked Bind as
the only coverage option
earlier this year for the
Cumberland, Wisconsin,
school district after cycling
through numerous health
plans in the last six years.
Rose said about two-thirds of
his workers use $500 or less
in health care every year,
and he didn’t want to charge
them premiums for care
they weren’t using.
“We have quality health
care. If people need it, great.
If they don’t, at least we’re
not soaking them for it,” he
said.
Minneapolis-based Bind is
not an insurer, but it designs
health plans for big employ
ers that pay their own bills.
Here’s how it works.
Under Bind’s plan, custom
ers pay a base monthly pre
mium that can be as much
as 40 percent cheaper than
other options their employer
offers, the company says.
That covers most care,
like doctor visits, hospital
stays, maternity care, cancer
treatment and prescriptions.
A patient can then buy
additional coverage for
some procedures that aren’t
urgent like a knee surgery
or hip replacement. In these
cases, the patient has time
to plan for the care and look
at different options for who
performs it.
The additional coverage
comes with an extra pre
mium and possibly a copay
ment, depending on the care
provider and what is being
purchased. In these cases,
patients might get stuck pay
ing more than $1,000 in addi
tional costs.
Users log onto Bind’s
website or app to see what
is covered, what it will cost
them. That can vary based
on Bind’s quality rating for a
provider and how efficiently
it provides care. Someone
with an ear infection might
pay nothing for a telemedi
cine visit. But a trip to an
expensive emergency room
for such a minor illness
might cost a few hundred
dollars.
“If we get everyone buy
ing better, we actually make
the product more affordable
for all of us,” said Bind CEO
Tony Miller.
Stock Exchange Highlights
■ NYSE
11,532.12 -223.27
B Nasdaq
W 6,753.73 -156.93
Gainers ($2 or more)
Gainers ($2 or more)
Name Last Chg %Chg
Name Last Chg %Chg
Coeur 4.37 +.55 +14.4
Pretium g 8.20 +.78 +10.5
Starret 6.08 +.48 +8.6
Calyxtn 12.23 +2.35 +23.8
HF Foods n 14.49 +2.38 +19.6
electCore n 4.96 +.75 +17.8
Yamana g 2.30
AlamosGId 3.19
Buenavent 15.82
IndCDrillg 3.22
HeclaM 2.45
InsprMed n 43.79
NavMH pfH 3.60
+.18
+.22
+1.08
+.22
+.15
+2.43
+.20
+8.5
+7.4
+7.3
+7.3
+6.5
+5.9
+5.9
Losers (S2 or more)
Name
Last Chg %Chg
27.51
12.26
3.39
21.29
3.01
CincB pfB
Pyxuslnt
CmtyHIt
Xerox rs
CedarRIty
Farfetch n 21.01
DrxREBull S18.63
Zuoran 16.15
SunlOnl n 2.66
Huya n 16.40
-5.99 -17.9
-2.25 -15.5
-.53 -13.5
-3.16 -12.9
-.42 -12.2
-2.87 -12.0
-2.42 -11.5
-2.09 -11.5
-.32 -10.7
-1.90 -10.4
Most Active ($1 on more)
Name Vol (00) Last Chg
GenElec 1273110
BkofAm 985033
FordM 442368
AT&T Inc 421189
ChesEng 409478
JohnJn 368207
Pfizer 366025
Oracle 299032
WellsFargo 292983
NokiaCp 265763
7.15 +.05
24.47 -.01
8.50 -.02
29.86 -.36
2.25 -.08
129.14 -3.86
43.11 -.69
45.73 -.87
46.61 +.07
5.87 -.07
Diary
Advanced
Declined
Unchanged
Total issues
New Highs
New Lows
Volume
367
2,487
41
2,895
5
843
4,545,490,913
FidelSo 24.82
EvofemBio 4.05
RealmTh n 2.19
NewAgeB n 6.65
Uxin Ltd n 8.40
Reliv In rs 4.40
YRCWwde 3.50
+3.40 +15.9
+.51 +14.4
+.27 +14.1
+.71 +12.0
+.90 +12.0
+.44 +11.0
+.33 +10.4
Losers ($2 or more)
Name
Last Chg %Chg
DovaPh n
NF EngSv
PLX Phr rs
AdialPh n
Achillion
Overstk
XTL Bio rs
InnovBio rs
PepperFd n 6.43
TymeTch n 3.24
9.01
10.67
2.77
2.80
2.40
13.51
2.00
2.35
-5.80
-6.33
-1.05
-1.00
-.71
-3.71
-.45
-.48
-1.27
-.62
-39.2
-37.2
-27.4
-26.3
-22.8
-21.5
-18.4
-17.0
-16.5
-16.1
Most Active ($1 or more)
Name Vol (00) Last Chg
AMD 1150347 18.83
Microsoft 568094 102.89
Apple Inc 432291 163.94
Cisco 356500 44.20
MicronT 307296
NewAgeB n265035
Intel 263654
SiriusXM 246766
Facebook 238284 140.19
Comcast s 202705 36.21
33.88
6.65
47.08
6.12
-1.07
-3.14
-1.54
-1.62
-.32
+.71
-.78
-.05
-3.87
-.13
Diary
Advanced
Declined
Unchanged
Total issues
New Highs
New Lows
Volume
548
2,415
103
3,066
12
699
2,597,410,467
Stocks of Local Interest
Name Ex
YTD
Div Yld PE Last Chg %Chg
AFLAC s
1.04
2.3
14
44.32 -.29 0.0
IBM
6.28
5.4
9
116.10 -3.80 -24.3
AT&T Inc
2.04
6.8
6
29.86 -.36 -23.2
JPMorgCh 2.24
2.3
13
99.01 -1.28 -7.4
AbbottLab
1.28
1.8
30
69.75 -1.01 +22.2
JohnJn
3.60
2.8
18
129.14 -3.86 -7.6
AMD
18.83 -1.07 +83.2
Kinross g
23
3.01 +.13 -30.3
Altria
3.44
6.6
17
52.35 -.38 -26.7
Lowes
1.92
2.1
20
90.45 -2.91 -2.7
Apple Inc
2.92
1.8
17
163.94 -1.54 -3.1
McDnlds
4.64
2.6
27
180.79 -2.50 +5.0
ATMOS
1.94
2.0
18
95.56 -2.91 +11.3
Merck
2.20
2.9
28
75.23 -1.25 +33.7
AutoZone
17
854.18-17.06 +20.1
MicronT
3
33.88 -.32 -17.6
AveryD
2.26
2.5
25
89.17 -2.03 -22.4
Microsoft
1.84
1.8
43
102.89 -3.14 +20.3
BB&T Cp
1.62
3.6
13
45.15 -.51 -9.2
NewAgeB n ...
6.65 +.71+206.5
BP PLC
2.38
6.2
11
38.41 -.25 -8.6
NorflkSo
3.20
2.2
22
147.58 -3.30 +1.8
BkofAm
.60
2.5
12
24.47 -.01 -17.1
OfficeDpt
.10
3.9
7
2.58 -.17 -27.1
BarnesNob
.60
9.2
6.49 ... -3.1
Oracle
.76
1.7
49
45.73 -.87 -3.3
BarrickG
.12
.9
76
13.65 -.01 -5.7
Penney
1.20 ... -62.0
Boeing
6.84
2.2
29
316.13 -2.62 +7.2
PepsiCo
3.71
3.3
33
112.87 -1.08 -5.9
BrMySq
1.64
3.2
50
50.92 -1.20 -16.9
Pfizer
1.44
3.3
17
43.11 -.69 +19.0
CSX
.88
1.4
9
64.68 -1.15 +17.6
PhilipMor
4.56
5.6
20
81.40 -1.10 -23.0
CampSp
1.40
3.6
14
38.83 -.33 -19.3
Primerica
1.00
1.0
12
101.78 +.81 +.2
Caterpillar
3.44
2.8
12
124.47 -2.30 -21.0
ProctGam
2.87
3.1
23
92.77 -3.87 +1.0
ChesEng
4
2.25 -.08 -43.2
RegionsFn
.56
4.2
11
13.39 -.08 -22.5
Chevron
4.48
4.0
23
112.45 -1.38 -10.2
SiriusXM
.05
.8
34
6.12 -.05 +14.2
Cisco
1.32
3.0
22
44.20 -1.62 +15.4
SnapIncAn ...
5.58 -.34 -61.8
Citigroup
1.80
3.3
9
54.25 -.77 -27.1
SouthnCo
2.40
5.2
22
46.00 -1.33 -4.3
CocaCola
1.56
3.2
91
48.33 -1.01 +5.3
SwstnEngy
4
3.62 -.18 -35.1
ConAgra
.85
2.9
14
29.01 -.88 -23.0
SunTrst
2.00
3.9
9
51.79 -.39 -19.8
Cummins
4.56
3.5
37
131.45 -2.39 -25.6
SynrgyPh
.12 +.04 -94.6
Disney
1.76
1.6
15
110.62 -1.58 +2.9
SynovusFn 1.00
3.1
11
31.86 -.34 -33.5
DowDuPnt
1.52
2.9
16
51.68 -1.10 -27.4
3M Co
5.44
2.8
27
192.82 -3.28 -18.1
Equifax
1.56
1.6
17
97.24 +.06 -17.5
Torchmark
.64
.8
6
75.89 -1.25 -16.3
ExxonMbl
3.28
4.4
14
74.04 -1.54 -11.5
Transocn
7.31 -.25 -31.6
Facebook
26
140.19 -3.87 -20.6
Twitter
33.43 -2.44 +39.2
FordM
.60
7.1
4
8.50 -.02 -31.9
Tyson
1.20
2.2
10
53.47 -1.83 -34.0
GenElec
.04
.6
7.15 +.05 -59.1
UtdCmBks
.64
2.9
13
22.03 -.20 -21.7
GenuPrt
2.88
3.0
21
96.50 -2.40 +1.6
UPS B
3.64
3.8
16
96.87 -1.79 -18.7
Globalstar
.36 +.06 -72.4
VerizonCm
2.41
4.3
7
55.95 -1.13 +5.7
HP Inc
.64
3.0
7
21.42 -.59 +2.0
Vodafone
1.74
8.7
20.01 -.11 -37.3
Haverty
.72
3.8
20
19.18 -.06 -15.3
WalMart
2.08
2.3
52
90.77 -1.08 -8.1
HeliosM rs
.01 -.00-100.0
Weathflntl
.38 -.05 -90.9
Hershey
2.89
2.7
23
105.17 -2.70 -7.3
WeisMk
1.24
2.7
11
45.81 +.12 +10.7
HomeDp
4.12
2.5
18
167.97 -4.32 -11.4
WellsFargo 1.72
3.7
11
46.61 +.07 -23.2
Intel
1.20
2.5
18
47.08 -.78 +2.0
YumBrnds
1.44
1.6
32
89.71 -1.99 +9.9
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: 23,592.98
Change:-507.53 (-2.1%)
27,000
26,000
25,000
24,000
26,000 n
24,720
23,440 10 DAYS
J
J A
S
0
N
D
52-Week
Net
YTD
12-mo
High
Low
Name
Last
Chg %Chg
%Chg
%Chg
26,951.81
23,344.52
Dow Industrials
23,592.98
-507.53 -2.11
-4.56
-4.84
11,623.58
9,485.95
Dow Transportation
9,403.53
-110.58 -1.16
-11.39
-10.63
762.97
647.81
Dow Utilities
732.21
-25.64 -3.38
+1.22
-1.83
13,637.02
11,696.58
NYSE Composite
11,532.12
-223.27 -1.90
-9.97
-9.81
8,133.30
6,630.67
Nasdaq Composite
6,753.73
-156.93 -2.27
-2.17
-3.45
1,309.73
1,118.69
S&P 100
1,130.63
-22.96 -1.99
-4.44
-5.17
2,940.91
2,532.69
S&P 500
2,545.94
-54.01 -2.08
-4.78
-5.36
2,053.00
1,727.85
S&P MidCap
1,694.31
-38.50 -2.22
-10.85
-11.07
30,560.54
26,293.62
Wilshire 5000
26,160.16
-589.18 -2.20
-5.88
-6.14
1,742.09
1,407.11
Russell 2000
1,378.14
-32.67 -2.32
-10.25
-11.03
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
253,238
234.90
-6.8
-3.0/B
+9.6/A
NL
3,000
Vanguard TtlSMIdxAdmrl
LB
203,888
63.38
-7.0
-3.6/B
+9.0/A
NL
3,000
Fidelity 500ldxlnsPrm
LB
164,099
88.51
-6.8
-3.0/A
+9.6/A
NL
0
Vanguard TtlSMIdxInv
LB
129,896
63.35
-7.0
-3.7/B
+8.9/B
NL
3,000
Vanguard TtlnSIdxInv
FB
128,269
15.37
-4.5
12.2/B
+1.8/B
NL
0
Vanguard TtlSMIdxIns
LB
123,279
63.40
-7.0
-3.6/B
+9.1/A
NL 5
000,000
Vanguard Insldxlns
LB
116,738
232.99
-6.8
-3.0/A
+9.6/A
NL 5
,000,000
Vanguard InsIdxInsPlus
LB
104,731
233.01
-6.8
-3.0/A
+9.6/A
NL100,000,000
Vanguard TtlnSIdxInsPlus
FB
95,758
102.83
-4.5
-12.2/B
+1.9/A
NL100,000,000
Fidelity Contrafund
LG
91,616
11.06
-5.9
-2.2/C
+10.2/B
NL
0
Vanguard TtBMIdxAdmrl
Cl
86,606
10.38
+1.2
-1.0/B
+2.2/C
NL
3,000
Vanguard WlngtnAdmrl
MA
86,207
69.16
-3.8
-2.5/A
+7.0/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.