1) As American farmers age, more of them are cashing out of the grain business with the number of farms decreasing from consolidation. Auction houses report their sales of closing farms are up 30%, a result of consecutive years of harvest and low grain prices, made worst by the China-U.S. trade war.
2) The Las Vegas based resort company MGM announced a planned 1,000 layoffs by June in an attempt to reduce costs and boost earnings. So far, 35 executives have taken voluntary retirement as part of the company’s restructuring.
3) Rising meat prices is weighing down on many restaurant chain’s bottom lines, at a time when rising minimum wages is cutting deeply into profits, which will start forcing their prices up leaving consumers paying more.
4) 30 APR 19 Stock market closings:
Dow 26,592.91 up 38.52
Nasdaq 8,095.39 down 66.47
S&P 500 2,945.83 up 2.80
10 Year Yield: down at 2.51%
Oil: down at $63.47