The daily business briefing: January 14, 2019

Shutdown and China slowdown weigh on stocks, L.A. teachers head into their first strike in 30 years, and more

A sign for the LA Unified School District
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1. Stock futures fall on concerns over shutdown, China slowdown

U.S. stock-index futures fell early Monday on concerns over the partial federal government shutdown, and fresh signs that China's economy is slowing, potentially dragging down the global economy. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a drop of nearly 1 percent at the open. S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures also fell. The moves came after China unexpectedly reported a fall in exports to the U.S. in December, reflecting a reversal after the front-loading of orders before new tariffs took effect in the U.S.-China trade war. China's overall trade surplus with the U.S. hit a record $323 billion in 2018 as its exports to the U.S. rose by 11.3 percent to $478.4 billion for the year, while its imports of U.S. goods rose just 0.7 percent over 2017.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.