The daily business briefing: July 15, 2019

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1. China's economic growth slows to lowest level in decades
2. Spider-Man: Far From Home leads box office for 2nd week
3. Report: U.S. soon to license companies to resume trade with Huawei
4. Amazon, rivals offer discounts on Prime Day
5. Stocks cool after record-setting rally

published 15 July 2019

1. China's economic growth slows to lowest level in decades

China's economy continued to slow down in the second quarter, with growth dropping to its lowest level in 27 years as Beijing remained locked in a trade war with the U.S., Chinese officials announced Monday. The economy grew 6.2 percent between April and June compared to a year earlier, matching estimates. In June, retail sales went up 9.8. percent and factory output rose 6.3 percent, while investment gained 5.8 percent during the first half of the year. Following President Trump's decision to impose more tariffs on Chinese goods, exports to the U.S. fell 7.8 percent in June compared to a year ago. Representatives from the U.S. and China are still trying to negotiate a trade deal between the two countries.

Spider-Man: Far From Home held onto the top spot at the domestic box office in its second weekend, with $45.3 million in ticket sales. That brought the North America total for the Sony Pictures and Marvel film to $274.5 million. Globally, it has grossed $847 million. Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 4 came in second, adding $20.7 million to its $346.4 million North America total in its fourth weekend in theaters. Non-franchise films couldn't keep up. Crawl, a Paramount Pictures thriller, launched in third place with $12 million, while the Uber comedy Stuber brought in just $8 million in its opening weekend.

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The Trump administration could start approving licenses for U.S. companies to resume sales to Chinese tech giant Huawei within two weeks, Reuters reported Sunday, citing a senior U.S. official. President Trump has been signaling a plan to rollback restrictions on the Chinese telecommunications gear and smartphone maker as part of an effort to jumpstart negotiations on ending the trade war between the world's two largest economies. The Commerce Department in May put Huawei on a U.S. blacklist following allegations that Beijing could use Huawei products for spying, a charge Huawei denies. Trump has eased off following a June meeting with President Xi Jinping. China said Monday it would cut business ties with U.S. companies selling arms to Taiwan, which China views as a breakaway province.

Amazon kicks off its annual Prime Day promotion on Monday with deep discounts on selected products, including its Echo line of smart speakers and other Amazon gadgets. The popular sale, designed to boost subscriptions to Amazon's Prime service, reportedly has prompted more than half of consumers to hold off on purchases to see if they can get a deal. Rival retailers, including Walmart, Target, eBay, and Best Buy, are fighting back by offering sales of their own during the July 15 and 16 Prime Day event, which brought in more than $4 billion in 2018. Activists and Amazon employees also are taking action, holding protests in at least seven cities over Amazon working conditions, and the use of the company's technology to deport immigrants.

U.S. stock index futures edged higher early Monday, following Friday's record highs. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq were all up by about 0.2 percent. China's report of slowing economic growth dampened investor optimism, which was high following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony to Congress signaling a likely interest rate cut in the near future. Global stocks were mixed on Monday following China's news. Britain's FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 edged down, while Germany's DAX gained 0.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite index gained 0.4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose by 0.3 percent.

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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.