Shares of retailers and other consumer companies ticked down after a weak consumer-confidence survey.
Consumer sentiment in the U.S. declined in early July amid an uptick in the spread of the coronavirus across the country, according to a University of Michigan survey released Friday.
The wilting consumer sentiment in July may be the start of a softening trend amid a resurgence in Covid-19 cases, said Tim Quinlan, senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities, as reported earlier.
In a more promising sign for the consumer-based U.S. economy, housing starts, a measure of U.S. homebuilding, rose by 17.3% in June compared with May, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.186 million. This is broadly in line with a Dow Jones Newswires poll of economists, who expected starts to grow by 18%, to an annual pace of 1.15 million.
Hong Kong's flagship carrier, Cathay Pacific Airways, warned it expects a net loss of about $1.3 billion for the first half of the year after Covid-19 restrictions hammered its business.
British Airways is retiring its fleet of Boeing 747s years ahead of schedule, the latest carrier to withdraw a jet that was for decades a mainstay of international travel, as the aviation industry reels from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com
