华尔街日报-2018-12-22-23.pdf

* SATURDAY/SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22 - 23, 2018 VOL. CCLXXII NO. 147 WSJ.com HHHH $5.00WSJTHEWALLSTREETJOURNALWEEKENDOre. He uses hot glue and ad-vised: “Dont put on so muchhair spray that you cant talk.”Restaurant owner JamesMcMahon of Whitefish Bay,Wis., hairsprayed his 14-inchbeard into the shape of aChristmas tree. Using hairchalk, he tinted on greenbranches and a brown trunk.He tucked in miniature lights,ornament balls and topped itwith gold ribbon.It took an hour to create,but not long at all to unravelat a party. “I had a fewdrinks,” he said, and forgot itwas there. “I started playingwith itThe lights got tangledup in my shirt.”God rest ye merry gentle-men, those trapped in lengthybeards. The amount of sprayand mucilage needed to lock abeards holiday look can mum-PleaseturntopageA10If Brian Delaurenti looks alittle stiff at the holiday party,it isnt because he hasnt hadenough to drink.This time of year, Mr. De-laurenti dons his beard withapparel including garland, fakesnow, poinsettias, candy canesand the occasional jingle bell.“Stuff falls off,” said the 28-year-old resident of Portland,BY THOMAS VINCIGUERRABeard Styles for the Holidays: Glitter, Maybe LightsiiiRibbon, ornaments are also popular, despite the inconveniencesChristmasAt the MoviesREVIEWTheWinesOf 2019OFF DUTYin the Aleutian Islands, before finding the hal-ibut that a decade ago lived several hundredmiles closer to home. Each voyage took twiceas long and yielded half as many fish.“It keeps me up at night,” he says. “I wokeup at three in the morning. I couldnt sleepthinking about where the fish are going.”Across the continent from Mr. Laukitis inRhode Island, black sea bass have moved inwith the warming waters. The bulk once livedroughly 700 miles south off North Carolina.Now they are a staple catch in Point Judith,R.I., along with the summer flounder that alsoPleaseturntopageA10The fish are moving, and so is an entire in-dustry.Aboard the Stanley K and the Oracle, two58-foot vessels, Buck Laukitis and his crewschase halibut across the Bering Sea worth $5a pound at the docks. As sea temperaturesrise and Arctic ice retreats, the fish appear tobe avoiding warming waters, migrating north-ward where they cost more to reach, federalfisheries biologists say.Twice this past fall, the Oracle sailed 800miles north from the seaport of Dutch HarborBY ROBERT LEE HOTZWarmingSeasSendWavesThroughU.S.FishingAlaskan pollock retreats; black sea bass booms in Rhode IslandFORTNITESUNWINNABLEWARAuthorities in Minneapolisdeclined to charge Chinese bil-lionaire Liu Qiangdong in asexual-assault case, ending aturbulent period for thefounder of online retailerJD.com Inc. after he was ac-cused of rape in late August.The Hennepin County At-torneys Office said on Fridaythat there were evidentiaryproblems with the case thatwould have made charges dif-ficult to prove beyond a rea-sonable doubt.“As is the case in many sex-ual assault incidents, it was acomplicated situation,” MikeFreeman, the county attorney,said in the release. “It is alsosimilar to other sexual assaultcases with the suspect main-taining the sex was consen-sual.”Mr. Liu has consistently de-PleaseturntopageA11BY AUSTEN HUFFORDAND TE-PING CHENGOODBYE: Amid plans to reduce troops in Afghanistan, U.S. units continue to deploy to that country. Lt.Col. Nate Stone hugged his son Conrad during a departure ceremony Friday at Fort Stewart in Georgia. A7WASHINGTONThe U.S. gov-ernment partially shut downearly Saturday after lawmakersfailed to reach a spending dealthat centered on whether tofund construction of a wallalong the U.S.-Mexico border.The impasse put the govern-ment on track to close about aquarter of its offices, an out-come likely to have little imme-diate effect because it falls on anextended holiday weekend. It isthe third shutdown this year.Frustrated by PresidentTrumps vacillations during theweek, lawmakers reached a pro-cedural agreement Friday thatthey wouldnt take another voteuntil a deal had been struck be-tween the White House, GOPand Democratic congressionalleaders.The House adjourned around7 p.m. Friday and the Senate fol-lowed an hour later. Both cham-bers plan to reopen Saturday atnoon, and negotiations betweenWhite House officials and con-gressional leaders were expectedto continue during the day.The discussions focused onthe package of seven spendingbills that would fund the gov-ernment through September,including a bipartisan Senatemeasure funding the Depart-PleaseturntopageA6U.S. stocks ended a brutalweek on track for their worstmonth since the financial cri-sis, the culmination of afourth-quarter stock-marketrout that threatens to halt thelongest-ever bull market.The Nasdaq Composite be-came the first domino to fallFriday, sliding into a bearBY MICHAEL WURSTHORNmarket without a clear leader.Those widely held stockstumbled again Friday, withNetflix, Facebook and Amazondown more than 5%, while theNasdaq dropped 3% and theDow Jones Industrial Averageslumped 1.8%.Investors have long beencontending with the possibil-ity that U.S. economic growthwill slow next year, raising thespecter of a recession. That,along with the fading benefitof the corporate tax cut, theU.S.s ongoing trade spat withChina and a looming govern-ment shutdown, have led in-PleaseturntopageA2market as trading volumessurged to the highest dailylevel in more than seven years.The decline of more than20% from Nasdaqs Aug. 29high marks a sharp reversalfor the benchmark, which isdominated by the technologygiants that powered thebroader stock market higherfor much of the bull-marketrun that began in March 2009.The intensifying selloffsince late August has erasedabout $1.2 trillion in marketvalue from Facebook, Ama-zon.com, Apple, Netflix,Google parent Alphabet andMicrosoft, leaving the stockStocksCapWorstWeekSince2008Tech-heavy Nasdaq andDow industrials sufferbiggest weekly declinessince financial crisisBorder-Wall FightSpurs ShutdownIndex performance this weekSource: SIX THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.0108642%Mon. Tues. Wed. Thur. Fri.Dow JonesIndustrialAverageNasdaqCompositeS email: wsj.ltrswsj.comNEED ASSISTANCE WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION?By web: customercenter.wsj.com; By email: wsjsupportwsj.comBy phone: 1-800-JOURNAL (1-800-568-7625); Or by live chat at wsj.com/livechatREPRINTS By phone: 1-800-843-0008GOT A TIP FOR US? SUBMIT IT AT WSJ.COM/TIPSPoliquin collected 136,326votes, or 49%.A federal appeals court onFriday denied Mr. Poliquinsrequest to declare the resultunconstitutional.CaffeineRecognizing that a per-fectly timed and ideal por-tion of caffeine can helpkeep soldiers alert, the De-fense Department developedan algorithm to identify theoptimal dose and the besttime to consume it.Who doesnt want theperfect jolt?In the coming weeks, thePentagon expects to com-plete licensing agreementswith one or more companiesto make its algorithm, whichit calls 2B-Alert, publiclyavailable, according toTechLink, the group thatmarkets Defense Departmentinventions.“TechLink has had 18companies contact us,” saidQuinton King, TechLinks se-nior technology manager,who expects smartphoneapps will be available asearly as February.An enhanced web versionis also in the works, accord-ing to Jaques Reifman, a se-nior research scientist at theU.S. Army Medical Researchand Materiel Command inFort Detrick, Md., whohelped develop the algo-rithm. “Of note, in June 2018we had about 300 registeredusers of the 2B-Alert Web,”Mr. Reifman said. “As of to-day we have almost 14,000.”AsylumThis week, the Trump ad-ministration received twotions and single-stock fu-turesknown as “quadruplewitching” added to Fridaysvolatility. The collision of vari-ous contract expirations hap-pens once a quarter and tendsto boost stock-market volumesas investors readjust their po-sitions.Among the growth stockstumbling, shares of Ama-zon.com fell $83.38 , or 5.7%,to $1,377.45, extending the on-line retailers losses so far thismonth to nearly 19%. Facebookdeclined 8.45, or 6.3%. Apple,Microsoft and Alphabet allnotched more modest declines.Even less risky corners ofthe stock market succumbedto Fridays selloff. Shares ofutilities and consumer staples,which investors tend to favorduring periods of economicduress for their relatively sta-ble earnings and hefty divi-dends, notched minor declines.Stocks were hit hard over-seas too. The Stoxx Europe600 fell 3% for the week, whileJapans Nikkei slid 5.7%, itsworst weekly decline sincelate October. Chinas ShanghaiComposite Index slipped 3%,its second straight weeklyloss.Several big money manag-ers say they continue to coun-sel clients to buy more equi-ties, advising them that evenwith expectations of slowergrowth next year, stock pricesshould get a lift from ongoingprofit expansion, albeit at aslower rate than 2018.S BASED ON DR. SEUSS CHARACTERS TM othersare done in-person alongsidetraditional students. The de-grees, which take one to twoyears to complete, attract peo-ple in industries such as hu-man resources, finance, educa-tion and compliance.The programs worth hasbeen hard to assess becauseno data yet exists on howgraduates fare in the work-force. Schools are under noobligation to track non-J.D.outcomes with their accredi-tor, the ABA, and the degreesquality has no bearing onclosely followed law-schoolrankings.An ABA official said the or-ganization is likely to considerwhether the new programswarrant closer scrutiny.Even so, many students saythe degrees have given them afluency in law that makesthem better at their currentjobs or positions them for aBeyond the J.D.Masters or other non-law degreeenrollmentTHE WALL STREET JOURNAL.Source: American Bar Association20,00005,00010,00015,0002013 14 15 16 17 18Marc Miller, dean of the University of Arizonas law school, saidadministrators started asking who else might want to learn law.omist at Nationwide Insur-ance. “With decent payrollgrowth, a lower unemploy-ment rate and higher wagegrowththe consumer is in apretty good position” to takeon that responsibility.”Analysts say rising interestrates are the main contributorto the housing slowdown,driving up the overall cost ofpurchasing a house. The Fed-eral Reserve has taken notice.After raising rates four timesand motor vehicles and partsorders all fell in November.New orders for nondefensecapital goods excluding air-craft, a common gauge of un-derlying business investment,fell 0.6% from October, thethird decline in four months.While low oil prices mightbe helping consumers, theysting business investment.The “consumer is going todrive the economy next year,”said David Berson, chief econ-ally adjusted 0.8% in Novem-ber from the prior month,driven largely by aircraft or-ders. But when excludingtransportation, ordersdropped 0.3% in Novemberfrom October, and 0.1% whenexcluding military spendingthe third such decline in arow.Economists closely watchorder volumes as a signal offuture demand. Orders for ma-chinery, electrical equipmentWASHINGTONSupremeCourt Justice Ruth Bader Gins-burg underwent surgery onFriday to remove two cancer-ous growths on her left lung,but there is no evidence of re-maining disease, the court an-nounced.Justice Ginsburg, 85 yearsold, was resting comfortablyand is expected to remain inthe hospital a few days, thecourt said, adding that no fur-ther treatment is planned.Two nodules were discov-ered on Justice Ginsburgs leftlung during treatment for aNovember fall in which shefractured three ribs, the courtsaid. The nodules were re-moved during Fridays surgeryat Memorial Sloan KetteringCancer Center in New York Cityand found to be malignant.Scans performed on the jus-tice “indicated no evidence ofdisease elsewhere in the body,”the court said.Justice Ginsburg, appointedby President Clinton in 1993, isthe courts oldest member anda leader of its liberal minority.Her health has long been thesubject of intense scrutiny. Shesurvived a bout with colon can-cer in 1999 and early-stagepancreatic cancer, which doc-tors caught in 2009. She alsocracked two ribs in 2012.The second woman to serveon the high court, Justice Gins-burg has said repeatedly sheplans to remain on the court aslong as she is up to the job,noting that longtime colleagueJustice John Paul Stevensdidnt retire until age 90. Shecontinues to be an active ques-tioner at oral arguments and isone of the courts fastest writ-ers of decisions. Off the bench,she works out regularly with apersonal trainer and is an op-era buff and active member ofthe Washington arts scene.If Justice Ginsburg were toleave the court during theTrump administration, the va-cancy would give the presidentthe opportunity to move thecourt further to the right. Pres-ident Trumps two previousnominees, Justices Neil Gor-such and Brett Kavanaugh, al-ready have helped cement oneof the strongest conservativemajorities on the SupremeCourt in decades.The court is currently on aholiday break. The justices arenext scheduled to meet pri-vately Jan. 4, and are slatedto hear oral arguments begin-ning Jan. 7.BY BRENT KENDALLHealthScare forJusticeGinsburgest saving suggest consumershave felt confident in the mid-dle of the holiday shoppingseason.“There is this hope that la-bor-market tightening andmeaningful wage growth willhit peoples pockets in 2019,and that will propel the Amer-ican consumer,” said Zillow se-nior economist Aaron Ter-razas.Michael Hutcheson, whoruns a pest-control companyin Tampa, Fla., is consideringhiring next year to handle hisgrowing clientele, which hepartly attributes to the 2017tax cuts. On top of that, he isalso hoping to give his onecurrent employee a raise.“It all boils down to con-sumer confidence nextyear.The current adminis-tration has bolstered consum-ers to go out and purchaseservices like mine,” Mr.Hutcheson said.Despite wages rising, infla-tion has cooled a bit in recentmonths, which is also boostinghousehold purchasing power.That resilience could helpstave off the risk that a globalslowdown will finally hit theU.S., driving it into recession.Eric Morathcontributed to this article.in 2018, the central banks re-cent projections suggest justtwo next year.Trade negotiations betweenthe U.S. and China also arehanging over decisions inmany boardrooms.“We continue to work withour supply chain and our sup-pliers to figure out what is thelong-term strategic optionhere,” Hewlett Packard Enter-prise Co. Chief Executive Offi-cer Antonio Fabio Neri said ona recent conference call.Some of the worlds majoreconomies, including China,Germany and Japan, have seengrowth contract in recentmonths.“If the rest of the worldcatches a cold, the U.S. is go-ing to sneeze,” said Jim Baird,chief investment officer atPlante Moran Financial Advi-sors. That may mean economicgrowth in the U.S. will dependlargely on American consum-ers. The personal saving ratethe difference between dispos-able income and spendingwas 6% in November, thelowest monthly rate sinceMarch 2013. The rate hastrended down since touching7.4% in February, the peak forthe year.Strong spending and mod