Shares of industrial and transportation companies fell after a wave of weak factory data.
Industrial production fell 0.2% in August from the previous month, according to data from the Federal Reserve. More recent regional factory data showed an even steeper slowdown.
The Empire State index improved to a reading of -1.5 in September from -31.3 the previous month, the New York Fed said. The Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing index slowed to a reading of -9.9 in September from 6.2 the previous month.
Markets will likely be rocked by weaker economic data in the fourth quarter, a brokerage has warned.
“Recession fears present a weaker backdrop for global risk assets, and the global outlook remains abnormally uncertain,” strategists at brokerage firm BNP Paribas said in a note to clients.
“The darkest clouds” on the economic horizon are in Europe, the brokerage said. There, “recession is inevitable, in our opinion: probably not deep, due to fiscal support, but prolonged”.
The largest freight railroads and union leaders reached a tentative labor agreement to avert a nationwide strike that would have crippled swaths of the US economy. Railroad CSX has named Joe Hinrichs as its new general manager, bringing in a former auto executive during a time of social unrest.
The Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit challenging a planned $4.3 billion deal in which major lockmaker Assa Abloy is seeking to acquire a US rival.
Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com
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