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Ravens QB Lamar Jackson is ‘one of one’ and Chargers’ next big testSince October 2007, Chinese stocks have been in a bear market, as investors have little incentive to return to the market anytime soon. Beijing’s leadership has created an environment that makes it harder for listed companies to behave like capitalist enterprises, enhancing shareholder value. That’s a decline of close to 44 percent and 38 percent, respectively, and almost twice the 20 percent decline that Wall Street considers a typical bear market. The 17-year-long bear market in Chinese stocks coincides with a period when the Chinese economic growth slowed, but remained in the upper single digits, before dropping to below 6 percent in the past five years. Some large-capitalization stocks such as Baidu, PDD Holdings, and Alibaba trade with a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 10, which could make them deeply undervalued compared to their U.S. counterparts. Yet investors do not seem to be in a rush to buy and hold Chinese stocks. Most market rallies over the 17-year bear market were trading rallies rather than a sustained recovery toward the old highs. There are several reasons for the persistence of China’s bear market. One is poor corporate governance, which stems from government ownership of listed company shares through state-owned enterprises (SOEs) or investment entities. As a result, the government is the de facto partner of every listed company, limiting its managerial function of deciding how it will be run and how it will use its free cash flow, if any. Another one is the inability of publicly listed companies to perform their entrepreneurial function and discover and exploit new business opportunities, the ultimate source of top-line growth—something equity analysts monitor closely to determine whether a listed company is a promising investment. This problem stems from the government’s role as regulator, deciding which business publicly traded companies will be and for how long, as the killing of Alibaba’s Ant Group IPO demonstrates. In the fall of 2020, Ant Group planned an initial public offering of $34.4 billion for the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges. But regulators killed it, arguing the company had “major” financial technology regulatory issues. At least, that’s the official reason. However, there’s also an unofficial reason: Ant Group’s exponential growth threatens China’s banking system, which is the province of the Chinese government. But killing Ant Group’s IPO killed Alibaba’s growth, too, sending a clear and loud message to equity markets: Publicly listed companies do not exist to maximize shareholder values, as is the case in the United States and other free enterprise economies, but to satisfy the Chinese Communist Party’s agenda. Markets didn’t like this message, sending Alibaba’s share price sharply lower after the Ant IPO’s cancellation, with no recovery in sight. On Nov. 15, its share price closed at $88.59, down from $310 in October 2020. Still, another reason for the bear market is that the government induces excessive competition in sectors it deems critical to competing in world markets, such as the electric vehicle (EV) sector. That isn’t good for Nio’s stockholders, as the stock has dropped from around $63 in 2021 to $4.70 as of midday on Nov. 21. Juscelino F. Colares, associate dean for global legal studies, and Schott-van den Eynden, professor of business law, add another factor to the bear market: the bursting of the bubble in the property sector and developer defaults, which have shaken investor confidence. “China’s stock market has been under significant pressure, primarily driven by a complex mix of economic, regulatory, and geopolitical factors,” Colares told The Epoch Times in an email. “A key driver has been China’s struggling real estate sector, representing a significant portion of its economy. The default risks facing major property developers and the government’s measures to control debt in the sector have created ripple effects across other industries and shaken investor confidence.” In addition, he sees the regulatory clampdowns on the technology and education sectors as aimed at asserting greater state control, contributing to market instability. “These, combined with broader concerns about China’s slowing GDP growth and uncertainty surrounding U.S.–China relations, have intensified bearish sentiment,” he said. Colares believes market valuations are now reaching attractive levels. Still, it’s unclear if the market has hit bottom. “Much will depend on Beijing’s next policy moves and whether it takes more supportive steps to stabilize the economy,” he said. “If the government shows signs of easing restrictions or introduces stimulus measures, we could see a turning point. But for now, caution seems warranted as structural challenges persist.” Michael Ashley Schulman, CFA, partner and chief investment officer at Running Point Capital Advisors, is concerned about the “big picture” of China’s investment environment. He is raising questions about the transparency of government-reported data and the ability to manage local government debt. “Chinese stocks may offer value if government economic data can be believed, but that is a big if, as the equity market sugar-high from initial stimulus announcements may be wearing off and Chinese consumer spending remains tepid,” he told The Epoch Times. “Additionally, the government’s multi-trillion-yuan program to refinance local government debt must be generous enough to impress skeptics.”
Group files ethics complaint vs. Rep. CastroOTTAWA – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s latest attempt to topple the minority Liberal government in a non-confidence vote failed on Monday, thanks to the New Democrats. The Conservatives’ motion quoted NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s criticism of the Liberals over labour issues, and called on the House to agree with Singh and vote non-confidence in the government. The New Democrat leader said last week he would not be supporting Poilievre in bringing down the government. There were jeers from the Conservative benches as NDP MPs cast their votes against the motion on Monday afternoon. Singh was not in the House chamber during the vote because of a meeting, and cast his vote remotely. “We’re not going to vote in favour of any of their games because that’s what (the Conservatives are) doing. They’re playing games,” Singh told reporters after the vote was tallied. MPs also voted Monday on an NDP opposition motion calling on the government to permanently remove GST from what the New Democrats call essentials. That motion also called on the Liberals to expand their planned $250 “working Canadians rebate” to include vulnerable adults like fully retired seniors and people who rely on disability benefits. Those payments are expected to be issued this spring, if the required legislation is approved. The NDP and Greens were the only parties to vote in favour of this motion, resulting in its defeat. Hamilton East_Stoney Creek Liberal MP Chad Collins was the lone government member to support the NDP motion. The Liberals initially announced plans for the federal sales tax holiday and the rebate together, but they introduced the GST measure in a separate bill after the NDP said it would not support the rebate unless it was expanded. The Liberals need the support of one other party in the House of Commons to passed that measure into law, and Singh said Monday he is open to negotiation. “So I want to see it improved. How that’s done, we’re very flexible, but it has to be improved. Seniors have to get it, people living with disabilities have to get it, a mom trying to raise her kid should get it,” Singh said. The proposed payments would go to all working Canadians who had an income of less that $150,000 in the last year. The government estimates this would include some 18.7 million people and cost nearly $4.7 billion. The Conservatives will introduce their final opposition motion of the sitting on Tuesday, with a vote scheduled to happen after question period. The Tories introduced another motion earlier on Monday that calls for the GST to be removed on the sale of new homes valued at under $1 million, and calls on premiers to enact the same policy for their portion of the sales tax. That motion will also be up for a vote after question period on Tuesday. The marathon voting session is set to run late Tuesday, with a separate vote scheduled on the government’s supplementary estimates. Treasury Board President Anita Anand has asked Parliament for approval of $21.6 billion to fund programs including housing, dental care and the national school food program. If that does not pass, some programs could face a cash shortfall, including veteran benefits and natural disaster assistance. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here .More than 3,000 fake Gibson electric guitars were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Southern California in what authorities are calling the largest seizure of counterfeit musical instruments at the busiest container port in North America. If they were authentic Gibson guitars, the instruments — which were destined for the e-commerce market — would be worth an estimated $18 million, according to U.S. Customs. They were seized by federal officials at the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport, a sprawling coastal complex that includes the Port of LA. The massive West Coast port is the busiest in the U.S. among container ports, in the volume of shipments seen, with cargo worth an estimated $292 billion passing through in 2023. While the knockoffs seized by federal authorities were manufactured outside the country, all authentic Gibson guitars are hand-crafted and made in the U.S., said Beth Heidt, chief marketing officer at the company. The iconic guitar brand, founded in 1902 in Kalamazoo, Mich., has all its instruments made at facilities in Nashville, Tenn. and Boseman, Mont. — with several generations of artisans behind the more than 100-year-old company, she said. "This is really emotional and personal for us because our teams have generations who have dedicated their entire lives to making these instruments," Heidt said, describing Gibson's guitar-making as a craft passed down generations within American families. Among the seized guitars were imitations of designs such as the Gibson SG and Les Paul , and while the majority were Gibson knockoffs, some were counterfeits of other well-known brands like Fender , Heidt said. She said there were models worth about $2,500 each if they were authentic as well as imitations of higher value Gibsons that would typically retail for more than $10,000. Federal authorities would not release any details about suspects in the investigation or where the instruments came from. U.S. Customs officers worked with Gibson's intellectual property experts to determine whether the guitars were counterfeits, according to LA County Sheriff's Lt. Bill Kitchin, who oversees the department's piracy division. Violating the federal statute that protects U.S. consumers from counterfeit products can result in a fine of up to $250,000 and 10 years in prison, said Jaime Ruiz, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Africa Bell, director of the LA-Long Beach Seaport, said the record-breaking seizure was especially noteworthy since the port is the largest container port in the country — collecting $19 billion in import duties, taxes and fees during the last fiscal year. She said finding counterfeits and contraband "in this massive amount of cargo arriving here everyday is like trying to find the smallest of needles in the largest of haystacks." Heidt said seasoned guitar players would be able to easily tell the difference between the fake Gibsons that were seized and the brand's authentic instruments, from the sound to other elements visible to the trained eye. "We can pick it up immediately and tell," she said, describing flaws in the fakes such as in the finishing, a more "flimsy" and light feel, placement of the logo, misplaced inlays and flaws in where the neck of the guitar meets the rest of the body. Andrea Bates, an attorney for the company who protects its intellectual property rights in court, said the well-known brand only sells through its website and authorized retailers which are listed on the site. Over the past fiscal year, Bell said, more than $2 billion in counterfeit products have been seized at the Southern California port. John Pasciucco, U.S. Customs' deputy special agent in charge for Los Angeles, said the selling of counterfeit goods can not only violate intellectual property rights and undermine respected brands that play by the rules, but also put consumers at risk. They can be made with substandard, even dangerous materials posing health risks — while also potentially being made through forced labor. Products made with paint containing lead, potentially dangerous counterfeit medications and knockoff brand cosmetics bearing that can cause severe skin reactions are just a few examples given by federal authorities of such potentially harmful counterfeits. Marissa Wenzke is a journalist based in Los Angeles. She has a bachelor's degree in political science from UC Santa Barbara and is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School.
NoneNEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes drifted lower Tuesday in the runup to the highlight of the week for the market, the latest update on inflation that’s coming on Wednesday. The S&P 500 dipped 0.3%, a day after pulling back from its latest all-time high . They’re the first back-to-back losses for the index in nearly a month, as momentum slows following a big rally that has it on track for one of its best years of the millennium . The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 154 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.3%. Tech titan Oracle dragged on the market and sank 6.7% after reporting growth for the latest quarter that fell just short of analysts’ expectations. It was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500, even though CEO Safra Catz said the company saw record demand related to artificial-intelligence technology for its cloud infrastructure business, which trains generative AI models. AI has been a big source of growth that’s helped many companies’ stock prices skyrocket. Oracle’s stock had already leaped more than 80% for the year coming into Tuesday, which raised the bar of expectations for its profit report. In the bond market, Treasury yields ticked higher ahead of Wednesday’s report on the inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling. Economists expect it to show similar increases as the month before. Wednesday’s update and a report on Thursday about inflation at the wholesale level will be the final big pieces of data the Federal Reserve will get before its meeting next week, where many investors expect the year’s third cut to interest rates . The Fed has been easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high since September to take pressure off the slowing jobs market, after bringing inflation nearly down to its 2% target. Lower rates would help give support to the economy, but they could also provide more fuel for inflation. Expectations for a series of cuts through next year have been a big reason the S&P 500 has set so many records this year. Trading in the options market suggests traders aren’t expecting a very big move for U.S. stocks following Wednesday’s report, according to strategists at Barclays. But a reading far off expectations in either direction could quickly change that. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.22% from 4.20% late Monday. Even though the Fed has been cutting its main interest rate, mortgage rates have been more stubborn to stay high and have been volatile since the autumn. That has hampered the housing industry, and homebuilder Toll Brothers’ stock fell 6.9% even though it delivered profit and revenue for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. CEO Douglas Yearley Jr. said the luxury builder has been seeing strong demand since the start of its fiscal year six weeks ago, an encouraging signal as it approaches the beginning of the spring selling season in mid-January. Elsewhere on Wall Street, Alaska Air Group soared 13.2% after raising its forecast for profit in the current quarter. The airline said demand for flying around the holidays has been stronger than expected. It also approved a plan to buy back up to $1 billion of its stock, along with new service from Seattle to Tokyo and Seoul . Boeing climbed 4.5% after saying it’s resuming production of its bestselling plane , the 737 Max, for the first time since 33,000 workers began a seven-week strike that ended in early November. Vail Resorts rose 2.5% after the ski resort operator reported a smaller first-quarter loss than analysts expected in what is traditionally its worst quarter. All told, the S&P 500 fell 17.94 points to 6,034.91. The Dow dipped 154.10 to 44,247.83, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 49.45 to 19,687.24. In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in China after the world’s second-largest economy said its exports rose by less than expected in November. Stocks rose 0.6% in Shanghai but fell 0.5% in Hong Kong. Indexes fell across much of Europe ahead of a meeting this week by the European Central Bank, where the widespread expectation is for another cut in interest rates. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
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Stock market today: Wall Street slips to a rare back-to-back lossAustralia's Social Media Ban Gets Support From Senate CommitteeNone
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After Juan Soto's megadeal, could MLB see a $1 billion contract? Probably not soon‘A real horror show’: Democrats on the Hill react to Trump’s proposed tariffs
As It Happens 6:09 This Canadian is the new world champion of Excel spreadsheets It was down to the final 30 seconds at the Microsoft Excel World Championships in Las Vegas, and the crowd was going wild. Canada's Michael Jarman was in the lead, his eyes fixed on the scoreboard, desperately hoping nobody would come up from behind and snatch victory from his grasp. When the clock ran out, Jarman leapt from his computer and threw his hands up in celebration, as the spectators in the HyperX Arena erupted in cheers. Jarman, a Toronto financial modelling director, unseated Australia's three-time winner Andrew (The Annihilator) Ngai on Dec. 4 to become the undisputed world champion of managing spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel. "It was an amazing feeling," Jarman told As It Happens guest host Peter Armstring. "It's definitely, you know, a really great memory for me, and will be for a long time." WATCH | Microsoft Excel World Championships: For his efforts, Jarman took home a $5,000 US ($7,033 Cdn.) cheque, and the event's signature pro-wrestling style championship belt. "We're thinking about how to put up on the wall," he said. Not enough spreadsheets at work You would think Jarman, who works for the project finance consulting firm Operis, would be sick of spreadsheets. But as he's risen through the ranks at work, he says he rarely has the opportunity to get down and dirty in the rows and cells anymore. "I'm very much at the stage of my career where I no longer do the modelling myself. I have to leave that for the juniors to do, while I go to meetings," he said. "So I'd say, actually, it placates me a little bit." Jarman competing in the 2024 Microsoft Excel World Championships in Las Vegas. (Financial Modeling World Cup/YouTube) Plus, the Excel World Championships' spreadsheets tend to be more exciting than the ones he sees at the office. The event is an offshoot of the more business-focused Financial Modelling World Cup. It's billed as an esports event, akin to competitive gaming, and sponsored by Excel maker Microsoft. "No finance, just Microsoft Excel and logical thinking skills," reads the competition's description. "Excel esports transforms a common office tool into a dynamic sport." Competitors are usually asked to build spreadsheets to perform tasks and solve problems based around a specific theme or game. Excel with orcs? This year's final battle involved using Excel to track stats in a simulated game of World of Warcraft (WoW), a long-running and wildly popular online video game featuring fantastical creatures like dragons, elves and orcs. "I mean, I'm not a WoW player myself, but it was pretty cool," Jarman said. "We were given an eight-page instruction manual before going on stage to read, so we had some idea of what was going on." To add a competitive edge the player with the lowest score is eliminated every five minutes, alluded to in the chorus of of the event's epic rock theme song: "It's the Excel World Championship / Who's going to win? / It's the Excel World Championship / Who's going in the spreadsheet bin?" As the competitors typed furiously into Excel, the spectators appeared enthralled. "The crowd was really quite electric this year," Jarman said. Jarman estimates there were a few hundred people watching in the arena. Another 60,000 people watched the YouTube livestream . As It Happens Harvard undergrad cracks code of knotted Inca rope used as 'an ancient Excel spreadsheet' As It Happens 'Pixel by pixel': MS Paint artist mourns his medium as Microsoft pulls the plug This is Jarman's fourth time competing, and his first time coming out on top. In the last three competitions, he finished second to Australia's Andrew Ngai. After 2023's championships, he told As It Happens : "Next year, it will be my year." He was proven right. But he's not done yet. Now that the belt is his at last, he's got his eyes on another goal. "The next vision is to ... win three more to break Andrew's record," he said. "I think that's virtually impossible to do, but you've got to give it a go."AEW Rampage’s ratings and audience rose following last week’s preemption-enforced low. Friday’s show garnered a 0.04 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic and 177,000 viewers per Wrestlenomics . Those numbers were up a tick and 40.5% from the previous week’s 0.03 demo rating and audience of 126,000. While those numbers were up from last week’s Saturday episode that was up against Survivor Series, the demo rating was the lowest for the show’s regular timeslot. The total audience was the lowest in the timeslot since the November 1st episode brought in 172,000 viewers. Rampage was up against the UNLV vs. Boise State game on FOX (0.70 demo rating, 3.005 million viewers) and the AAC Championship game on ABC (0.28/1.991 million) Rampage is averaging a 0.098 demo rating and 300,000 viewers in 2024 to date, compared to a 0.117 demo rating and 380,000 for the same point in 2023.
Australia's House of Representatives passes bill banning children younger than age 16 from social media
For the second straight Major League Baseball offseason, a norm-shattering contract has been the talk of the winter , with Juan Soto agreeing with the New York Mets on a $765 million, 15-year deal that's the richest in baseball history. It comes almost exactly one year after the Los Angeles Dodgers forked out a princely sum of $700 million on a 10-year, heavily deferred deal for two-way Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani. They are believed to be the two richest contracts in pro sports history. The way it's going, a contract approaching $1 billion doesn't seem out of the question. But several factors are working against it — at least in the near future. There's reason to believe the megadeals for Ohtani and Soto are unicorns in the baseball world. Both players are uniquely talented, surely, but both also had unusual circumstances propelling their value into the stratosphere. Ohtani is the greatest two-way player in baseball history, capable of improving any team on both sides of the ball. He's also the rare baseball player who has true international appeal . His every move ( like his unexpected marriage announcement ) is followed closely in his native Japan, adding another 125 million potential fans who buy merchandise, watch him play and help fill the Dodgers' coffers. Then there's Soto — a four-time All-Star and on-base machine who won a World Series with the Washington Nationals in 2019. The X-factor for him is he became a free agent at the prime age of 26, which is extremely hard to do under current MLB rules. Players have to be in the big leagues for six years before testing free agency. The precocious Soto debuted at 19 with the Nats, making him part of a rare group of players who reached the highest level of professional baseball as a teenager. That accelerated his free agency timeline. It's rare for players to debut that young, and rarer still for them to develop into stars and test the open market the first chance they get. Two recent examples are Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, who both reached free agency in 2019. Machado signed a free-agent record $300 million contract with San Diego, and Harper overtook him days later with a $330 million contract to join the Phillies. Most players debut in the big leagues from ages 22 to 26, which means free agency comes in their late 20s or early 30s. A typical example is Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who is one of this generation's great players but didn't hit the market until he was 30. Judge played three seasons of college baseball for Fresno State before getting drafted by the Yankees in 2013 at age 21 — already two years older than Soto was when he made his MLB debut. It took a few years for the budding superstar to reach the majors, and he was 25 when he had his breakout season in 2018, smashing 52 homers to earn AL Rookie of the Year honors. By the time he reached free agency after the 2022 season, he had already passed age 30. It's a major factor that led to him signing a $360 million, nine-year deal with the Yankees, which seems downright reasonable these days after the Ohtani and Soto deals. Two major trends are colliding that will make it harder for guys like Soto to hit free agency in their mid 20s. First, MLB teams have been more likely in recent years to take college players early in the draft, betting on more experienced talents. Just 10 high school players were drafted among the top 30 picks in the 2024 draft . Second, teams are more eager to lock up young, premium talent on long-term deals very early in their careers, well before they hit free agency. Sometimes before they even reach the majors. Since Soto, just two players have debuted in MLB before their 20th birthday — Elvis Luciano and Junior Caminero. Luciano hasn't been back to the majors since his 2019 cup of coffee. Caminero is now 21 and has only played in 50 big league games. Among those that debuted at 20: Fernando Tatis Jr. signed a $340 million, 14-year deal with San Diego in 2021, years before reaching the open market. Milwaukee's Jackson Chourio got an $82 million, eight-year deal before even reaching the big leagues. Young stars Corbin Carroll ($111 million, eight years with Arizona), Bobby Witt Jr. ($288 million, 11 years with Kansas City) and Julio Rodriguez ($209.3 million, 12 years with Seattle) also got massive guarantees early in their 20s to forgo an early free agency. The exception and wild card: Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be a 26-year-old free agent next offseason. Guerrero hasn't been as consistent in his young career as Soto, but a standout 2025 season could position him to threaten Soto's deal. More likely is that the player to pass Soto isn't in the majors yet — and might not even be in pro baseball. When 25-year-old Alex Rodriguez signed his record $252 million, 10-year deal with Texas in 2001, it took over a decade for another player to match that total, when Albert Pujols got $240 million over 10 years from the Angels in 2012. For many players, passing up life-changing money in their early or mid 20s is too enticing, even if it means that they might not maximize their value on the free agent market later in their careers. Soto was determined to test the market. He famously turned down a $440 million, 15-year offer to stay with the Washington Nationals in 2022, betting that he could make even more as a free agent. Not many players would turn down that kind of cash. Then again, that's what makes Soto so unique. And it's also why his $765 million deal could be the industry standard for some time. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb David Brandt, The Associated PressFort Osage holds off Tigers to open season with win
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Analysis: After Juan Soto's megadeal, could MLB see a $1 billion contract? Probably not soonNEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes drifted lower Tuesday in the runup to the highlight of the week for the market, the latest update on inflation that’s coming on Wednesday. The S&P 500 dipped 0.3%, a day after pulling back from its latest all-time high . They’re the first back-to-back losses for the index in nearly a month, as momentum slows following a big rally that has it on track for one of its best years of the millennium . The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 154 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.3%. Tech titan Oracle dragged on the market and sank 6.7% after reporting growth for the latest quarter that fell just short of analysts’ expectations. It was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500, even though CEO Safra Catz said the company saw record demand related to artificial-intelligence technology for its cloud infrastructure business, which trains generative AI models. AI has been a big source of growth that’s helped many companies’ stock prices skyrocket. Oracle’s stock had already leaped more than 80% for the year coming into Tuesday, which raised the bar of expectations for its profit report. In the bond market, Treasury yields ticked higher ahead of Wednesday’s report on the inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling. Economists expect it to show similar increases as the month before. Wednesday’s update and a report on Thursday about inflation at the wholesale level will be the final big pieces of data the Federal Reserve will get before its meeting next week, where many investors expect the year’s third cut to interest rates . The Fed has been easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high since September to take pressure off the slowing jobs market, after bringing inflation nearly down to its 2% target. Lower rates would help give support to the economy, but they could also provide more fuel for inflation. Expectations for a series of cuts through next year have been a big reason the S&P 500 has set so many records this year. Trading in the options market suggests traders aren’t expecting a very big move for U.S. stocks following Wednesday’s report, according to strategists at Barclays. But a reading far off expectations in either direction could quickly change that. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.22% from 4.20% late Monday. Even though the Fed has been cutting its main interest rate, mortgage rates have been more stubborn to stay high and have been volatile since the autumn. That has hampered the housing industry, and homebuilder Toll Brothers’ stock fell 6.9% even though it delivered profit and revenue for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. CEO Douglas Yearley Jr. said the luxury builder has been seeing strong demand since the start of its fiscal year six weeks ago, an encouraging signal as it approaches the beginning of the spring selling season in mid-January. Elsewhere on Wall Street, Alaska Air Group soared 13.2% after raising its forecast for profit in the current quarter. The airline said demand for flying around the holidays has been stronger than expected. It also approved a plan to buy back up to $1 billion of its stock, along with new service from Seattle to Tokyo and Seoul . Boeing climbed 4.5% after saying it’s resuming production of its bestselling plane , the 737 Max, for the first time since 33,000 workers began a seven-week strike that ended in early November. Vail Resorts rose 2.5% after the ski resort operator reported a smaller first-quarter loss than analysts expected in what is traditionally its worst quarter. All told, the S&P 500 fell 17.94 points to 6,034.91. The Dow dipped 154.10 to 44,247.83, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 49.45 to 19,687.24. In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in China after the world’s second-largest economy said its exports rose by less than expected in November. Stocks rose 0.6% in Shanghai but fell 0.5% in Hong Kong. Indexes fell across much of Europe ahead of a meeting this week by the European Central Bank, where the widespread expectation is for another cut in interest rates. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.