Industrials Rise After Fed Minutes - Industrials Roundup

Shares of manufacturing and transportation companies rose slightly amid hopes that the Federal Reserve would postpone rate hikes until next year. Danish shipping and oil conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk said it swung to a surprise second-quarter loss, as it wrote down the value of its tanker and ports assets, and cataloged financial damage from a major cyberattack in June, which cost the company between $200 million and $300 million. Most Wall Street forecasts prior to the minutes publication was that the central bank was determined to hike rates in December, whether or not inflation data heated up. Shipping concerns Federal Express and United Parcel Service could see their businesses disrupted by Amazon.com's new Instant Pickup approach to deliveries. The service would be an "omnichannel model of store-based fulfillment" that makes use of the physical locations acquired in the Whole Foods Market deal, according to Morgan Stanley. "This omnichannel model is a secular headwind to the legacy parcel companies as moving a box a couple of miles from the store to the customer does not need the expertise (and cost) of a UPS or a FedEx," said the Morgan Stanley analysts, in a note to clients. "Last mile" delivery services such as XPO could benefit from Instant Pickup, according to Morgan Stanley.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 16, 2017 16:38 ET (20:38 GMT)