Industrials Rise on Deal Activity, Dollar Weakness - Industrials Roundup

Shares of manufacturing and transportation companies rose amid deal activity and opportunities for exporters presented by the recent dollar weakness. Jacobs Engineering agreed to buy CH2M Hill for $2.85 billion, a move designed to capture more infrastructure and government-services business. Boeing is close to settling one of a yearslong dispute by provisionally agreeing on a discount-promising, long-term deal for plane parts with its largest supplier Spirit AeroSystems Holdings. The dollar has weakened to the lowest level against a basket of currencies since May 2016 because of the weak inflation data in the U.S. and improved growth prospects overseas, said analysts at brokerage Goldman Sachs, in a research note. "Dollar weakness has supported US equity fundamentals this year but hurt the performance of domestic and international firms with the highest sales to the US," said the Goldman Sachs analysts, comparing the year-to-date stock-market performance of companies based on percentage of sales to U.S. The Goldman analysts anticipate a strengthening in the dollar for the balance of the year against most major currencies. "A stronger dollar represents a potential headwind to firms with the highest sales exposure to" Japan, the U.K. and China, the Goldman analysts said.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 02, 2017 16:31 ET (20:31 GMT)