Generate an explanation for the given claim using the provided supporting material from the paragraph. Please consider the following points while generating an output. 1) The claim will always have supporting proof in the paragraph, and the paragraph will have a clear point of view supporting the claim. 2) There can be instances where direct correlation to the claim is not available. Make use of the sentences in the paragraph to provide a corresponding output supporting the claim. 3) The explanation should be at least one and at most twelve sentences long.
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Question: Paragraph: Major U.S. indexes fell about 2 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped as much as 563 points. On the benchmark S&P 500 index, health care and technology companies absorbed the worst losses. Johnson & Johnson plunged by the most in 16 years after Reuters reported that the company has known since the 1970s that its talc Baby Powder sometimes contained carcinogenic asbestos. The company denied the report. China said industrial output and retail sales both slowed in November. That could be another sign that China’s trade dispute with the U.S. and tighter lending conditions are chilling its economy, which is the second-largest in the world. Meanwhile, purchasing managers in Europe signaled that economic growth was slipping. Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist for Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said investors are concerned that weakness will make it way to the U.S. They’re wondering if the U.S. economy is likely to run out of steam sooner than they had thought. “Market consensus has been that the next recession is probably in 2020 or beyond,” he said. Now, he said, the market is “really testing that assumption and trying to figure out whether it’s sooner.” Rising interest rates and tighter credit conditions are adding to investors’ nervousness because they both tend to slow down economic growth. This week the European Central Bank said it is ending a bond-buying program that has pumped trillions into Europe’s economy. The Federal Reserve is expected to increase U.S. rates again on Wednesday, as it’s been doing for the last three years. It may also shed light on whether it plans to raise rates further in 2019. For more than 20 years, China has been one of the biggest contributors to growth in the global economy, and when investors see signs the Chinese economy is weakening, they expect it will affect other countries like the U.S. that sell things to China. In Europe, the index of purchase managers fell in France, which is racked by protests, to a level that points toward economic contraction. Germany’s reading still pointed to growth, but it fell to its lowest level in four years. Those reports canceled out some potential good news on trade: the Chinese government announced a 90-day suspension of tariff increases on U.S. cars, trucks and auto imports. It’s part of a cease-fire that China and the U.S. announced earlier this month to give them time to work on other issues. December is typically the best month of the year for stocks as a “Santa Claus rally” often adds to the year’s gains. With 10 trading days left this month, however, the S&P 500 is down 5.8 percent. That followed a small gain in November and a steep 6.9 percent drop in October. The S&P 500 index lost 50.59 points, or 1.9 percent, to 2,599.95, its lowest close since April 2. The Dow retreated 496.87 points, or 2 percent, to 24,100.51. The Dow has fallen 10 percent from its record high in early October, reaching a mark known on Wall Street as a “correction.” The other major U.S. indexes were already in “corrections.” The Nasdaq composite slid 159.67 points, or 2.3 percent, to 6,910.66. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 21.89 points, or 1.5 percent, to 1,410.81. Johnson & Johnson dropped 10 percent to $133 in very heavy trading. Its market value fell by $40 billion. Reuters reported that court documents and test results show Johnson & Johnson has known for decades that its raw talc and finished Baby Powder sometimes contained asbestos, but that the company didn’t inform regulators or the public. The company called the story “false and inflammatory.” In July the company lost a lawsuit from plaintiffs who argued that its products were linked to cases of ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. A St. Louis jury awarded plaintiffs $4.7 billion. Johnson & Johnson faces thousands of other lawsuits. Among technology companies, Apple dipped 3.2 percent to $165.48. Adobe skidded 7.3 percent to $230 after its fourth-quarter profit disappointed investors and it also forecast lower-than-expected earnings in the current fiscal year. Industrial companies sank as well. Boeing lost 2.1 percent to $318.75. Oil prices again turned lower, as a slower global economy would weaken demand for oil and other fuels. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 2.6 percent to $51.20 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, dropped 1.9 percent to settle at $60.28 a barrel in London. European Union leaders rejected British Prime Minister Theresa May’s request to make changes to their deal covering Britain’s departure from the EU on March 29. British legislators aren’t satisfied with the terms May negotiated, and she canceled a scheduled vote earlier this week because it was clear Parliament wouldn’t approve it. Britain’s economy and financial markets across Europe face severe disruption without an agreement. In other trading: —European bond prices rose and yields fell. Both the British pound and the euro weakened. The pound slipped to $1.2579 from $1.2660 and the euro fell to $1.1303 from $1.1367. —Germany’s DAX declined 0.5 percent and the CAC 40 in France declined 0.8 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5 percent. —Japan’s Nikkei 225 index slid 2 percent and the Kospi in South Korea lost 1.3 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.6 percent. —Bond prices edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.89 percent 2.90 percent. —In other commodities trading, wholesale gasoline lost 3 percent to $1.43 a gallon. Heating oil fell 1.7 percent to $1.85 a gallon and natural gas dropped 7.2 percent to $3.83 per 1,000 cubic feet. —Gold fell 0.5 percent to $1,241.40 an ounce. Silver dipped 1.5 percent to $14.64 an ounce. Copper was little changed at $2.77 a pound. —The dollar fell to 113.29 yen from 113.60 yen. ____ Associated Press Writer Josh Boak contributed to this report from Washington. ___ AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP Claim: Stocks plunge to 8-month lows on growth fears; J&J nosedives.

Answer: Stocks staggered to eight-month lows Friday after weak economic data from China and Europe set off more worries about the global economy. Mounting tensions in Europe over Britain’s impending departure from the European Union also darkened traders’ moods.


Question: Paragraph: "Bounciest Democrat on November's statewide ballot? It might be Hank Gilbert, making his second hard charge for state agriculture commissioner versus Todd Staples, the Republican who topped him four years ago. Gilbert, ever prowling for issues, recently trumpeted that the Texas Department of Agriculture is looking at buying thousands of stress balls -- squeezable toys. He said in a Sept. 24 press release: ""Make no mistake, Texans love their balls: footballs, baseballs, basketballs, and soccer balls. But 300,000 stress balls? It seems a little extreme, but that's the quantity of grape, barbell, and book-shaped polyurethane stress balls the Texas Department of Agriculture could be spending taxpayer dollars on...""  Really? To our inquiry, Gilbert's campaign provided Web links to the agriculture agency's June request for bids as well as a September post on a state website indicating that a $99,000 contract to provide promotional materials was awarded to a Massachusetts company, Oceans Promotions. We downloaded the June 29 bid-request package from a site for state requisitions overseen by the state comptroller's office. The package shows the department was seeking bids to provide up to 300,000 stress ""relievers,"" which we're guessing are not balls because they're not round. Precisely, the package says, the agency sought bids to make ""promotional items with logo imprints to follow through on (the) TDA Food and Nutrition Texans Bring It Campaign,"" with the items to include grape-shaped stress relievers with ""Texans Bring It"" written on them or ""Eating Right,"" which would be made of polyurethane and be two inches high by three inches wide. The package says a second set of stress relievers, each one called ""Dumbbell,"" would be imprinted ""Texans Bring It"" and ""Exercise"" and be five inches high by 1.8 inches in diameter. A third stress reliever would be imprinted ""Book"" and ""Texans Bring It,"" according to the bid package, while other promotional items would include pencils, buttons and bumperstickers. The package says the bids were sought for various quantities, starting from 2,500 and topping out at 100,000 each. It electronically links to a Branders.com site showing what the agency wanted the stress relievers to look like (our interpretation: bunches of purple grapes). Is all this a real deal? To our inquiry, Bryan Black, Staples' spokesman, replied via e-mail: ""An invitation for bid was issued for these federally funded educational items to reduce the $5.8 billion avoidable health care expenditures, paid by taxpayers, associated with overweight and obesity health problems."" We followed up with Black, asking if it's accurate to conclude that up to 300,000 of the stress relievers are being purchased. We also wondered why the purchase was being made. Black said he'd limit his comment to his e-mailed statement. Surely the agency would pipe up if Gilbert got its purchase plans wrong." Claim: Hank Gilbert Says the Texas Department of Agriculture seeks to purchase up to 300,000 promotional stress balls.

Answer: Hank Gilbert says Texas Department of Agriculture could be buying up to 300,000 stress balls


Question: Paragraph: "Major industries in Wisconsin have sustained significant economic losses during the coronavirus pandemic, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the tourism sector. Wisconsin plays host to about 112 million tourists in a year, according to the WorldAtlas website, and 2019 was ""a record setting year, and the largest year for Wisconsin in at least a decade"" said Wisconsin Secretary of Tourism-designee Sara Meaney. However, the loss of revenue in 2020 is massive, she said. In a May 24, 2020, appearance on the WISN-TV (Channel 12) show ""UpFront,"" she said, ""Unemployment in our state in general is at about a quarter of our population. It’s actually over 50% of travel and tourism-related jobs that are now facing unemployment."" Meaney went on to say that just in the weeks since the pandemic hit, the state has lost more than a billion dollars in tourism dollars. ""Since the week ending March 14, Wisconsin actually saw a drop in tourism spending compared to last year of $1.7 billion,"" she said. Wisconsin’s tourism industry should come back a bit this summer. Some northern resorts have opened and state campgrounds reopened June 10, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. But that tourism recovery could be an uphill climb if Meaney is correct that year-over-year weekly travel spending in the state has dropped $1.7 billion since March. Let’s take a look. Craig Trost, Wisconsin Department of Tourism communications director, pointed PolitiFact Wisconsin to the U.S. Travel Association, which commissioned a study by Tourism Economics, the firm the department uses for its economic impact data. The U.S. Travel Association is a national, non-profit organization representing the travel industry, with various sectors — including transportation, lodging, retail, recreation, leisure and entertainment and food service, meetings and trade shows. Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics, in an email to PolitiFact Wisconsin, explained that the analysis is based on a combination of factors: daily hotel data (nights and revenue) from STR, a research company that tracks the hospitality industry; flight data (seats and passengers) from Airline Data Inc. and the Transportation Security Administration; and drive travel data (outside 50 mile radius) from Arrivalist based on mobile device data. Trost said the week ending March 14 was significant because that is when COVID-19 began significantly impacting tourism spending. ""Since the beginning of March, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in over $176 billion in losses for the U.S. travel economy,"" the report states. According to the report, Wisconsin’s  year-over-year net change in weekly travel spending from the week ending March 28 to the week ending May 16 was down about $200 million each week. When going back earlier in March, the report notes losses for the week ending March 14 at $17 million and the week ending March 21 of $50 million. That brings the total to $1.775 billion. Romy Snyder, CEO/President of the Wisconsin Dells Visitor and Convention Bureau, said it will take time to correctly analyze and know the  financial impact of COVID-19 on Wisconsin Dells. ""We do know the loss of visitors has been detrimental to the local tourism economy,"" Snyder said in an email. ""According to 2019 numbers, the spring and summer seasons account for 66% of direct visitor spending in Wisconsin Dells."" Snyder said area businesses are ready to welcome visitors. ""Wisconsin Dells’ businesses are working to accommodate current visitors to the area in a safe manner by increasing sanitation procedures and limiting capacities and hours of operation,"" Snyder said. ""We know Wisconsin Dells has strong brand awareness in the Midwest, which will help our area when people are ready to travel and are looking for an accessible vacation destination with a diversity of activities."" Jon Jarosh of Destination Door County said area businesses have been getting ready and opening up. ""Everybody has a little different protocol in terms of what they’re going to allow at their particular business,"" Jarosh said on the same ""UpFront"" program where Meaney appeared via remote. ""We’re asking our visitors and residents that are out and about to just respect the individual businesses and what they are asking for. But by and large most businesses are going to be asking that their customers do wear a face covering of some sort and also just practice social distancing guidelines."" A major Dells attraction, Noah’s Ark water park, set its opening date for June 20, the first day of summer. The water park plans a number of precautions in line with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those precautions include social distancing and limiting capacity not only in the park itself but also on specific attractions and in buildings. The park is requiring guests to RSVP for the day they want to visit, and visitors must buy tickets in advance online. Walk-up tickets will not be sold. Meaney said the state’s tourism losses have topped $1.7 billion since March. Data from weekly studies commissioned by the U.S. Travel Association, an organization with over 1,100 members nationwide, found that beginning the week ending March 14, when the COVID-19 crisis first began to significantly impact tourism spending, Wisconsin was down $17 million compared to a year earlier. The drop in year-over-year travel spending in the state mounted weekly, with the latest available report reporting a drop of $214 million for the week ending May 16. That brings the state tourism sector drop to $1.775 billion since the week ending March 14. Claim: “Since the week ending March 14, Wisconsin actually saw a drop in tourism spending compared to last year of $1.7 billion.”

Answer:
Decrease in tourism dollars became apparent the week of March 14, with a year-over-year drop of $17 million. Year-over-year decreases continued to mount, with drops of about $200 million per week statewide. A study commissioned by the U.S. Travel Association found year-over-year decreases totaled $1.775 billion from March 14 to May 16.