The daily business briefing: March 11, 2019

1. Boeing stock declines after Ethiopian Airlines crash

Boeing shares declined by 9 percent in pre-market trading on Monday after the crash of one of its popular 737 Max 8 jets in Ethiopia sparked safety concerns. Ethiopian Airlines on Monday said it was grounding its fleet of new planes after one of them crashed Sunday shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board. China's civilian aviation authority also ordered Chinese airlines to temporarily ground their 96 Max 8s following the crash, the second involving one of the Boeing planes in five months; a Lion Air flight crashed in the Java Sea in late October, killing all 189 people on board. The plane was leaving Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, for Nairobi, Kenya. The cause of Sunday's crash is under investigation.

CBS News The New York Times

2. Powell says Fed does 'not feel any hurry' to raise rates again

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Sunday that interest rates are "appropriate" and "roughly neutral," and the U.S. central bank does "not feel any hurry" to change them again. The comments underscored that the Fed had pivoted from its policy of slowly and steadily raising rates to keep the improving economy from overheating, and would instead monitor how the slowing global economy will affect the U.S. The slowing economies of China and Europe create the biggest risks for the U.S., which otherwise has a strengthening economy, Powell said in an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes. Powell also said President Trump's criticism of Fed rate hikes had nothing to do with the January decision to pause the increases.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Reuters The Associated Press

3. Stock futures mixed as data raises concerns over global growth

U.S. stock index futures were mixed early Monday as investors continued to take in Friday's unexpectedly weak February jobs report. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down by 0.6 percent, partly due to Boeing's decline after Sunday's deadly Ethiopia plane crash. Futures of the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were up by 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. On Friday, the Labor Department announced that U.S. employers had added just 20,000 non-farm jobs in February, falling far short of expectations of a gain of up to 180,000. It was the smallest monthly employment gain since September 2017, coming as concerns rise about global economic growth. China last week reported that its exports had fallen by 20.7 percent compared to a year ago.

CNBC MarketWatch

4. Japanese court rejects Ghosn request to attend Nissan board meeting

A Japanese court on Monday rejected former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn's request to attend the Japanese automaker's Tuesday board meeting. Ghosn is accused of underreporting millions in income over several years and saddling Nissan with personal investment losses. Ghosn says he is innocent and will fight the charges. He was dismissed as Nissan chairman after his Nov. 19 arrest, but he still has a seat on the board. He was released on $9 million bail last week. It was unclear whether the terms of his bail would permit him to attend board meetings. Under the terms of his release, Ghosn can't do anything that could be interpreted as tampering with evidence, and some argued that attending a board meeting could be seen as exerting pressure on Nissan employees.

The Associated Press

5. May in danger of another Brexit defeat

British Prime Minister Theresa May failed to win last-minute concessions from the European Union, with no plans for her to go to Brussels on Monday ahead of a planned vote on her Brexit strategy in British Parliament on Tuesday. The meltdown puts her in danger of another humiliating defeat just 18 days before the U.K. is scheduled to leave the EU, with no ratified deal on Britain's relationship with the European trading bloc after it leaves. "May has boxed herself even deeper into a corner, it seems the second meaningful vote will go ahead on Tuesday but it also seems like it won't be the last meaningful vote on this," one EU official said. "We really want to be over with it now."

Reuters