Technology
3 min
Tech Stocks Turn Lower at End of Rough Week.
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The US flag is seen at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on April 30, 2020 in New York City.
— Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

U.S. technology shares extended losses in afternoon trading, weighing down the broader market as a bruising week for investors came to a finish. Tech stocks in the S&P 500 were down 1.3% in afternoon trading. The sector has underperformed this month, a move that is unusual in light of August’s record-setting gains. The three-day selloff ending Sept. 8 was the second-worst decline closely following an all-time high, according to Ned Davis Research.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was marginally higher at 27,542 in early afternoon, while the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite was off 1.3%. Stocks had gained premarket and in early trading; The fading rally matches a pattern seen in recent days, with the benchmarks rising initially, only to close lower.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.1%, while Asian equities finished with mostly modest gains. Later that month she received a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program, part of the Cares Act passed to help corporations, households, and small businesses through the coronavirus pandemic. By early May, Turack was back open for business. She used her loan to bring back staff and hire three more employees, and she says about 90% of her clients have already booked appointments.

Advice to Other Business Owners

Rolling reopenings have been an obstacle to a smooth return to business, Turack says. The county where Lark is located opened before other parts of the state, which Turack says brought some potential out-of-town customers looking to make appointments. Those would-be clients were upfront about being from another county, Turack says, and she turned them down. She also is operating on a reduced schedule, open about six hours a day, in order to try to help limit staff and clients’ exposure.

Turack says she’s taken a “concierge approach” to reopening. “We have overcommunicated with our clients, maybe to the point of annoying them,” she says, sending status emails throughout the closure and following up with phone calls and emails as she prepared to reopen the salon and rebook appointments. That’s how she communicated new procedures, such as required masks and capacity limits, that seem to have helped most customers feel comfortable enough to come back. Now, as clients return, she’s sending thank-you notes after they come in for services. “It’s a lot but our clients tell us they appreciate it,” she says.

  

Sara Turack, the owner of a 12-chair salon in Omaha, laid off her staff of seven after she closed in March, around the time nonessential businesses in the city were ordered to close. At the time, Turack was nervous that customers and staff would be reluctant to return, given how close stylists and customers are situated and because she worried staggering job losses would eat into budgets for services like professional haircare.

“You are not going back to business as normal. So you have to think differently,” Turack says. Be nimble and ask for help, and involve everyone on your team in the process, she advises. As small-business owners before the pandemic, “we saw being ‘busy’ as a badge of honor. Being ‘busy’ and efficient/effective are different,” she says.

Later that month she received a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program, part of the Cares Act passed to help corporations, households, and small businesses through the coronavirus pandemic. By early May, Turack was back open for business. She used her loan to bring back staff and hire three more employees, and she says about 90% of her clients have already booked appointments.

“You are not going back to business as normal. So you have to think differently,” Turack says. Be nimble and ask for help, and involve everyone on your team in the process, she advises. As small-business owners before the pandemic, “we saw being ‘busy’ as a badge of honor. Being ‘busy’ and efficient/effective are different,” she says.

Technology
3 min
TikTok Ownership Details Remain Fuzzy as Oracle and Walmart Take a 20% Stake
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The deal could give Oracle a 12.5% stake and Walmart a 7.5% stake in a company called “TikTok Global.”
— Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images

Confusion surrounded the terms and structure of a proposed deal to revamp the ownership structure of the short-video service TikTok, which is now a unit of China-based ByteDance, in response to White House security concerns.

Tech stocks in the S&P 500 were down 1.3% in afternoon trading. The sector has underperformed this month, a move that is unusual in light of August’s record-setting gains. The three-day selloff ending Sept. 8 was the second-worst decline closely following an all-time high, according to Ned Davis Research.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was marginally higher at 27,542 in early afternoon, while the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite was off 1.3%. Stocks had gained premarket and in early trading; The fading rally matches a pattern seen in recent days, with the benchmarks rising initially, only to close lower.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.1%, while Asian equities finished with mostly modest gains. Later that month she re...

Technology
3 min
Nikola Stock Drops After Founder Steps Down. Here’s What Comes Next.
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Shares of Nikola are still up more than 100% from early March.
— Courtesy Nikola

News that Nikola founder and Chairman Trevor Milton is stepping down, after battling claims levied by a short seller for the past couple of weeks, sent shares sharply lower in premarket trading Monday. Tech stocks in the S&P 500 were down 1.3% in afternoon trading. The sector has underperformed this month, a move that is unusual in light of August’s record-setting gains. The three-day selloff ending Sept. 8 was the second-worst decline closely following an all-time high, according to Ned Davis Research.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was marginally higher at 27,542 in early afternoon, while the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite was off 1.3%. Stocks had gained premarket and in early trading; The fading rally matches a pattern seen in recent days, with the benchmarks rising initially, only to close lower.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.1%, while Asian equities finished with mostly modest gains. Later that month she received a loan through the Payc...

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