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Brooke Sutherland

Markets Are Ignoring Manufacturers' Glum Message

Investors may not want to believe it, but the hoped-for industrial rebound looks tentative at best.

A second-half pickup in activity is far from assured. — A second-half pickup in activity is far from assured.
Photographer: Dadang Tri/Bloomberg

By

Brooke Sutherland

January 31, 2020, 2:56 PM UTC

The stock market’s blind optimism is colliding with industrial CEOs’ realism.

Caterpillar Inc. and Honeywell International Inc. rounded out a busy week of earnings for the manufacturing sector on Friday, with both companies pointing to a continuing slide in growth in 2020 that flies in the face of expectations for a swift rebound following the signing of the U.S.-China trade deal.