I just noticed this headline on Yahoo news today. I had to open the article and read the lede to figure out what the hell this headline says. (I just thought it might be fun to share it here FWIW.)
In particular, I couldn’t parse the clause “as key names report”
Hint:
In this clause, “key” is an adjective. “names” is the noun. “report” is the verb. Go figure.The lede sentence explains what this is saying. (Emphasis added.)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock prices in the U.S. energy sector have been under pressure in 2015, and there could be more bad news to come when several key players report their fourth-quarter results next week.
Without looking at the spoiler boxes, I’ll have to assume that the headline writer is calling the industrial/economic energy sector “energy.” In that case, the headline means that energy companies are reporting poor results, making it likely that large or influential companies (key names) that haven’t reported their results yet are also likely to report poor results. The companies that have already reported might also be key names - that isn’t clear.
OK, looking at the spoiler, I see that I wasn’t thinking about stock prices, but I easily understood the part you were wondering about .
The energy sector has been showing relatively-bad financial results (aka “weaknesses”); several of the big names haven’t reported their latest results yet (“as key names report”) but they are expected to follow the general trend of having benefits below 2500% (ok, that may have a zero too many, but seriously, some of the figures which are considered “bad results” by companies such as electrics or banks would make a storekeeper float with happiness).
It parsed okay to me. “key names” is one phrase that you have to keep together.
For example, if it was “Tech may see further weakness as key names report”
Key Names would be AAPL, MSFT, GOOG, FB etc. Reporting being, as you said, reporting their quarterly (in this case, year end) earnings.
For those that don’t play the market, we’re in ‘earnings season’ right now so headlines like that pop up constantly. In three months, it’ll be earnings season again and we’ll see all the same headlines and everyone will lose their mind again likes it’s the first time [something that just happened] ever happened.
shrug Headlines have to be succinct to fill the area provided. At some point more words and a smaller font make it indistinguishable from the article. Headlines in a specialty publication assume some expertise and understanding in the reader. News at eleven.
I think the confusion might be because report is usually a transitive verb, one that requires an object. It can be used intransitively but then it’s usually with a prepositional phrase, like “he reports to me,” ie I am his line manager. “Key names report their numbers” would be the full version. Headlines are often truncated, so it’s fine.
I rather like the name “crash blossom(s)”, sometimes used for ambiguous headlines such as that in the OP, which could be interpreted as referring to a key naming a report. Originated from a headline which read “Violinist Linked to Japan Airlines Crash Blossoms”, i.e. his musical career was thriving despite the unpleasantness involving the plane crash. The headline had people wondering, “what the hell is a crash blossom?” – whence the expression became quite popular.
Not just that. There are multiple words that are usually other parts of speech. The word “key” as an adjective tripped me up for a second. “Further” isn’t great, either.
I’d’ve gone with “As key names report, Energy may weaken further” Or, if you must keep the order: “Energy may continue to weaken as key names report.”