Earnings lift Wall Street; S&P 500 advances for eighth day

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday as strong Procter & Gamble Co's earnings trumped weak housing numbers and helped carry the Standard & Poor's 500 index higher toward its longest winning streak in more than eight years.

Procter & Gamble shares rose 3.9 percent to $73.15 and gave the biggest boost to both the Dow and S&P 500 after the world's top household products maker's quarterly profit soared past expectations. The company also raised its sales and earnings outlook for the fiscal year.

But the stock market's gains were curbed after economic data showed new U.S. single-family home sales fell in December, although expectations for a continued housing sector recovery remain intact. The PHLX housing sector index <.hgx> edged up 0.15 percent.

Apple Inc dropped 2.1 percent to $441.24. The stock of the iPhone maker has dropped more than 17 percent since the start of the year on growth concerns. Friday's decline knocked the tech giant from its perch as the most valuable U.S. company, making it No. 2 after ExxonMobil Corp .

Helping to lift the Nasdaq index, Starbucks Corp , rose 4.3 percent to $56.94 after the coffee retailer reported stronger-than-expected sales in the United States and Asia.

The benchmark S&P 500 index is up 5.2 percent so far in January. The equity market's strong start this year has been attributed to solid corporate results, an agreement in Washington to extend the government's borrowing power, encouraging signs from the global economy and seasonal inflows into stocks.

Those factors helped the S&P 500 rally for a seventh day on Thursday to reach a five-year peak. But the index has struggled to convincingly climb above 1,500, a level it surpassed briefly on Thursday for the first time since December 2007.

"It looks like we are encountering a little short-term resistance. The market always likes whole numbers and 1,500 seems like as good as any," said Doug Foreman, co-chief investment officer at Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management in Los Angeles.

"The earnings are coming in pretty good overall. Expectations had been pretty low for the quarter given the 'fiscal cliff' concerns, etc., so some of the stocks are acting pretty well even with numbers that are a little bit better than people had feared."

If the S&P 500 rises for an eighth day on Friday, it will be its longest winning streak since late 2004, when it rallied for nine straight days.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 55.58 points, or 0.40 percent, to 13,880.91. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> climbed 5.81 points, or 0.39 percent, to 1,500.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> rose 14.49 points, or 0.46 percent, to 3,144.88.

Honeywell International Inc posted fourth-quarter earnings just above Wall Street's estimates, reflecting the diversified U.S. manufacturer's campaign to boost profit margins in the face of sluggish sales growth. Honeywell's stock edged up 0.1 percent to $68.33.

The initial portion of earnings season has been encouraging relative to recent expectations. Overall, S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings growth is on track for a 2.9 percent rise, up from the forecast of a 1.9 percent gain at the start of the earnings season but well below the 9.9 percent increase in an October 1 forecast.

Thomson Reuters data through Friday showed that of the 147 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings, 68 percent exceeded expectations. Since 1994, 62 percent of companies have topped expectations, while the average over the past four quarters stands at 65 percent.

Halliburton Co shares jumped 5.1 percent to $39.72 after the world's second-largest oilfield services company reported higher-than-expected earnings and sales for the fourth quarter. Strong international drilling activity offset a slowdown in onshore North America work, Halliburton said.

(Editing by Jan Paschal and Kenneth Barry)

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15,000 Crocodiles Escape From South African Farm

Associated Press

Some recaptured crocodiles on South Africa's Rakwena Crocodile Farm on Wednesday.

JOHANNESBURG — About 15,000 crocodiles escaped from a South African reptile farm along the border with Botswana, a local newspaper reported Thursday.

Driving rains forced the Limpopo River over its banks on Sunday morning near the Rakwena Crocodile Farm. The farm’s owners, fearing that the raging floodwaters would crush the walls of their house, opened the gates, springing the crocodiles, the report said. About half of the reptiles have been captured, with thousands still on the loose.

“There used to be only a few crocodiles in the Limpopo River,” Zane Langman, whose father-in-law runs the farm, told the newspaper Beeld. “Now there are a lot.”

“We will catch them as the farmers call us and say there are crocodiles,” Mr. Langman was quoted as saying. Efforts to reach the farm and the local police directly were unsuccessful, with no one answering the phones.

Many of the captured crocodiles were found in the brush and orange groves that line the Limpopo. Most of the animals are captured at night, according to Mr. Langman, who said they were easier to spot because their eyes reflect light.

One of them was found on a school’s rugby field in Musina, nearly 75 miles from the farm.

During the floods Mr. Langman set out in a boat to rescue his neighbors. “You want to get them, but you wonder the whole time if you’ll make it there,” he said, according to the Beeld report. “When we reached them, the crocodiles were swimming around them. Praise the Lord, they were all alive.”

Recent flooding has killed at least 10 people in South Africa’s Limpopo Province, which has seen heavy rains for the past week. Local officials are recommending that some regions be declared disaster areas. The authorities in neighboring Mozambique have evacuated tens of thousands of people.

Both the South African and Zimbabwean air forces have had to rescue villagers in areas isolated by the floodwaters.

The land along the Limpopo is home to dozens of game reserves and crocodile farms, some housing tens of thousands of reptiles.

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DUST 514, Online Shooter Set in EVE Online Universe, Enters Open Beta

First announced in 2009, CCP Games’ online first-person shooter tie-in to its popular sci-fi MMO, EVE Online, was finally released as an open beta on Tuesday. Called DUST 514, it allows PlayStation 3 owners to play in the same world as EVE Online, fighting ground battles while EVE Online pilots contest star systems. The results of DUST 514 matches affect worlds and in-game corporations in EVE Online, and EVE Online players can even use starship weaponry to bombard the planets DUST 514 matches take place on.

Introducing New Eden

EVE Online and DUST 514 take place in a distant star cluster called New Eden. In a scenario sort of like ” Stargate” meets ” Star Trek: Voyager,” human space explorers found themselves trapped in New Eden, impossibly far from Earth, after using a one-way portal. Many thousands of years later, their descendants have formed completely new nations and ethnicities, and fight each other in space and on the ground over resources or ideology.

The most difficult MMO ever?

Widely regarded as very difficult — a popular infographic depicts EVE’s learning curve as a sheer cliff littered with stick figure bodies — EVE Online is also known for its byzantine politics, which take place completely between players. Player-run alliances sink years into building enormous spacecraft, which can vanish in a single battle or thanks to one person’s treachery.

A study in contrasts

DUST 514 is only available on the PlayStation 3 console, whereas EVE Online is for Windows PCs and Macs. DUST 514 is free to play and has no monthly fee, while EVE costs money to start and up to $ 14.95 per month (although there’s an expensive in-game item which can be used to offset this fee). But perhaps the biggest contrast is the level of commitment required. Instead of managing a whole spacecraft and needing to keep track of where it’s docked, DUST 514 players can just jump into instant battles, and are rewarded with experience and in-game currency each time.

Since the two games were linked together just a few weeks ago, however, EVE Online politics are beginning to affect DUST 514, and groups of players are getting drawn into its conflicts — or being sent by EVE in-game alliances to fight for them.

A work in progress

DUST 514 still bears the “beta” tag, and the end-user license agreement reminds players of this, even pointing out that CCP Games may choose to reset players’ gear and experience points at some time in the future. It has a very limited number of planet environments and only two styles of play, which basically amount to capture the flag and team deathmatch. CCP continues to develop DUST, however, promising that even more content will be available in the future.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

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North Carolina Women Roofers Fix Homes Free of Charge

By Nicole Weisensee Egan

01/24/2013 at 01:05 PM EST

The crew of roofers led by Lori Herrick (front right) and Susie Kernodle (front left).

Jeffery Salter

When she heard about a member of her church congregation who couldn't afford to have her roof fixed, Nell Bovender had an idea.

It was a Sunday in October 2002, she remembers, and "'Make a Difference' day [at the church] was coming up. I said, 'Why don't we redo a roof?' "

Inspired, the husbands and wives in her Sunday school class quickly agreed. But when it came time to do the project, only classmates Lori Herrick, 48, and Susie Kernodle, 64, showed up.

"We expected Billy Honeycutt (the parishioner in charge of the project) to say, 'Let's wait for the guys,' " recalls Herrick, of Rutherfordton, N.C. "What he said was, 'Pick up your hammers and get to work!' "

Ten years and 67 roofs later, the all-volunteer group of 80 moms, grandmothers and widows called the Women Roofers is still going strong, repairing and replacing roofs for the elderly and disabled in and around Forest City, N.C.

Founded by Herrick and Kernodle after that first project, the group pools their own resources to purchase supplies and fix roofs free of charge.

And they're having a ball doing it: A typical repair takes a day, which leaves a lot of time for girl talk.

"I've often said our grandmothers used to do quilting bees," says Bavender, 59, "and that's what we're doing up there on the roof."

It's especially satisfying to see the fruits of their labor after a hard day's work, adds Herrick.

"Besides being a mother, this is the most rewarding thing I've ever done," she says.

One grateful homeowner is Irenabell MacAdoo, 74, who says her Forest City, N.C., house was sprouting leaks everywhere before the ladies got to work.

Says MacAdoo: "I don't know what I would have done without them."

More Heroes Among Us:

• Pediatrician Wendy Ross Makes Flying Easier for Kids with Autism

• Dennis Tyler Finds Homes for More Than 7,000 Retired Greyhounds

Know a hero? Send suggestions to heroesamongus@peoplemag.com. For more inspiring stories, read the latest issue of PEOPLE magazine

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CDC: New version of stomach bug causing US illness

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say a new strain of stomach bug that's sweeping the globe is taking over in the U.S.

In the last four months, more than 140 outbreaks in the U.S. have been caused by the new Sydney strain of norovirus. These kinds of contagious bugs cause bouts of diarrhea and vomiting.

The new strain may not be unusually dangerous; some scientists don't think it is. But it is different, and many people might not be able to fight off its gut-wrenching effects.

It often spreads in places like schools, cruise ships and nursing homes. The new strain was blamed for a recent outbreak on the Queen Mary 2.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on the new strain Thursday.

____

Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

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Wall Street edges up in face of Apple decline

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 advanced on Thursday, with the benchmark S&P index on track for its first seven-day streak of gains in over six years as solid economic data managed to outweigh a steep decline in Apple shares.

Apple Inc dropped 10.4 percent to $460.69 after the technology giant missed Wall Street's revenue forecast for a third straight quarter as iPhone sales were poorer than expected, lending credence to recent concerns its days as the dominant player in consumer electronics may be on the wane.

The drop wiped out roughly $50 billion in Apple's market capitalization to $432 billion, leaving the company vulnerable to losing its status as the most valuable U.S. company to second place ExxonMobil Corp, at $417 billion.

A trio of economic reports helped buoy the market, with data showing a decline in weekly jobless claims and an increase in manufacturing, while a gauge of future economic activity climbed.

"The claims numbers are clearly a big surprise and were very good numbers - they imply we may have a good employment number for the month of January," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Hugh Johnson Advisors LLC in Albany, New York.

"You have Apple and technology on the one side and the rest of the market on the other side."

The gains marked the first time the S&P 500 had risen above 1,500 since December 12, 2007 and put the index on pace for its seventh straight advance, its longest streak since October 2006.

The advance for the S&P, and muted declines in the Nasdaq in spite of the decline in Apple, were viewed as a positive sign, as investors take encouragement from an improving global economy and move into stocks more closely tied to economic fortunes, such as industrials.

General Electric rose 0.5 percent to $22.06 and United Parcel Service gained 2.4 percent to $82.30. Of the 10 major S&P sectors, only technology, off 1.5 percent, was lower.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 58.82 points, or 0.43 percent, to 13,838.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 1.78 points, or 0.12 percent, to 1,496.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 14.25 points, or 0.45 percent, to 3,139.42.

The domestic data meshed with those overseas showing growth in Chinese manufacturing accelerated to a two-year high this month and a buoyant Germany took the euro zone economy a step closer to recovery.

Apple's disappointing results drew a round of price-target cuts from brokerages. At least 14 brokerages, including Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, cut their price target on the stock by $142 on average. Morgan Stanley removed the stock from its 'best ideas' list.

In contrast to Apple, Netflix Inc surprised Wall Street Wednesday with a quarterly profit after the video subscription service added nearly 4 million customers in the U.S. and abroad. Shares surged 37.6 percent to $142.10, its biggest percentage jump ever.

Diversified U.S. manufacturer 3M Co reported a 3.9 percent rise in profit, meeting expectations, on solid growth in sales of its wide array of products, which range from Post-It notes to films used in television screens. The shares slipped 0.2 percent to $99.28.

Corporate earnings have helped drive the recent stock market rally. Thomson Reuters data through early Thursday showed that of the 133 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings, 66.9 percent have exceeded expectations, above the 65 percent average over the past four quarters.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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IHT Rendezvous: Kissinger: Political Threats to Global Economy Abound

DAVOS, Switzerland — Henry A. Kissinger has never shied from unvarnished political assessments and during an hour-long address to the World Economic Forum on Thursday, the former American secretary of state delivered a list of sober warnings about rising threats on the world stage.

Executives and policymakers here, fixated on economic gyrations and the environment for deals, sat riveted as the elder statesman, speaking in his trademark slow and sonorous tone, warned of political threats to the world order. And a nuclear Iran, Mr. Kissinger said, poses perhaps the biggest near-term threat to stability and diplomacy in the Middle East.

The United States and other Western countries have accused Iran of developing a nuclear weapons program, while Iran has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful. Mr. Kissinger urged President Barack Obama to give negotiations with Iran a chance. At the same time, he said, Iran must ask itself whether a failure to build nuclear capability is truly a challenge to the Iranian national identity.

A nuclear Iran “is approaching,” he told the gathering. So in a few years, people will have to come to a determination of how to react, or the consequences of non-reaction,” he said.

Unilateral intervention by Israel would be a “desperate last resort,” Mr. Kissinger added. But if Iran continues to use negotiations simply to buy time to advance its nuclear program, “the consequences will be extremely dangerous.” Surrounding Arab and Gulf states, which already have nuclear power programs, could make nuclear weapons their arsenal of choice.

“If a nuclear conflict arises,” Mr. Kissinger said, “that would be a turning point for human history. So negotiations must move forward.”

The tension is building as conflicts elsewhere in the region rage. The war in Syria remains a challenge for Western powers. He called on the United States and Russia to work together to resolve the crisis, but to step gingerly. If the outside world intervenes militarily, he said, “it will be in the middle of a vast ethnic conflict; and if it doesn’t intervene militarily, it will be caught in a humanitarian tragedy.”

A number of outcomes are possible in Syria, he added, including President Assad remaining in power, a victory by Sunni rebels, or the emergence of a loose coterie of ethnic groups. Whatever the outcome, “the more the outside world competes, the worse it gets,” he said referring to Russia and the West, who have often worked at cross purposes.

Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mr. Kissinger said that while a consensus has developed on a desired outcome, “no one has been able to determine how to get there.”

Only one thing was clear, he added. Any settlement would “require significant sacrifices on the Israeli side from the position they now hold,” he said. And “there has to be some reciprocity from the Arab side other than uttering the word ‘peace.’”

As for the festering European crisis, Mr. Kissinger advocated a political solution if an economic one ultimately stumbles. “The issue that needs to be resolved is the relationship between austerity and growth. And if there is no growth, how the economic void will be
filled,” he said. In diplomacy terms, the question is the extent to which countries with money are willing to help those that are still flagging.

“If the answer is negative” then the idea of European unity is called into question, he said. Europe may need to shift its approach to unity through an economic construction to one of “political construction,” he said.

At the end of the day, he added, “Europe should be maintained as an idea even if the ideal solution does not emerge.”

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TSX near 18-month high, buoyed by Agrium, RIM

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock index hit a near 18-month high on Thursday, as shares of Agrium Inc rose after the fertilizer maker raised its profit forecast and as U.S. manufacturing and labor data drove optimism on the economic outlook of Canada’s largest trade partner.

Shares of Research In Motion Ltd also boosted the market, rising more than 3 percent after a report that China’s Lenovo Group said a bid for the BlackBerry maker was among the options available to boost its mobile business.

Canadian stocks were also supported by data that showed Chinese manufacturing growth hit a two-year high this month. Gains were kept in check by falling gold stocks, which slipped with the price of the precious metal.

In the United States, a private survey showed that factory activity advanced at the fastest pace in nearly two years this month, while the government reported the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits hit a five-year low last week.

“There’s a growing feeling that we’re heading in the right direction. The U.S. economy is showing a little bit of life, and that’s spilling over into Canada,” said Fred Ketchen, director of equity trading at ScotiaMcLeod.

The Toronto Stock Exchange‘s S&P/TSX composite index <.gsptse> was up 41.36 points, or 0.32 percent, at 12,835.41, after touching 12,863.47, its highest since August 2, 2011.</.gsptse>

Seven of the 10 main sectors on the index were trading higher.

The materials sector, which includes mining stocks, slipped 0.1 percent as declines in gold stocks offset a rise in shares of fertilizer giants Agrium and Potash Corp .

Agrium rose 3.5 percent to C$ 114.55 after it raised its fourth-quarter earnings forecast as strong grain and oilseed prices spurred demand for its fertilizer products over the fall season.

Ketchen, noting the activity in Agrium shares over the past few days, said, “People are taking another look at it, thinking maybe it’s time to get back in.”

Potash was up 2.1 percent at C$ 42.77.

The energy sector gained 0.6 percent and was the biggest contributor to the market’s gains as U.S. crude oil prices rose.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd rose 1.5 percent to C$ 30.62.

Financials, the index’s weightiest sector, added 0.4 percent. Toronto Dominion Bank

was up 0.4 percent at C$ 83.51, and the Royal Bank of Canada rose 0.3 percent to C$ 61.62.

(Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and Leslie Adler)

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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PHOTO: Uma Thurman's Beau Puckers Up to Baby

Mom & Babies
Celebrity Baby Blog

01/23/2013 at 11:00 AM ET

What are you doing, Daddy? Luna Thurman-Busson looks on quizzically as papa Arpad Busson blows her kisses while waiting for a flight Tuesday in Paris. The 6-month-old‘s mom, actress Uma Thurman, recently shared that her daughter actually goes by a derivitive of her many middle names — with five monikers in all, it’s just too long to recite the whole thing!

“[My 14-year-old daughter Maya] came up with the best excuse, [which] was that I probably wouldn’t get to have any more children, so I just put every name that I liked into it,” Thurman, 42, told Jimmy Fallon of their choice of Rosalind Arusha Arkadina Altalune Florence. “We couldn’t quite agree.”

Bauer-Griffin

RELATED: Uma Thurman: Why My Daughter Has Five Names

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Sickening fog settles over Salt Lake City area

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A group of Utah doctors is declaring a health emergency over the Salt Lake City area's lingering air pollution problem.

Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment planned to deliver a petition Wednesday demanding immediate action by elected officials.

The group wants Gov. Gary Herbert and mayors of northern Utah cities to cut the pollution.

The doctors suggest lowering highway speed limits, making mass transit free for the winter and curbing industrial activities. They want a permanent ban on wood-burning. And they want large employees to let people work from home.

The doctors are advising people to avoid the outdoors. They say people can help their bodies fight toxic exposure by introducing anti-oxidants in their diet, like fish oil or chocolate.

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