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US stock market makes modest gains following strong week

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 24 Maret 2015 | 00.24

NEW YORK — U.S. stock indexes crept higher in midday trading following a strong performance last week. The gains on Monday were wide but slight: Eight of 10 sectors in the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose, though not by much.

KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 edged up three points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,112 as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 45 points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,172 while the Nasdaq composite slipped two points, a sliver of a percent, to 5,024. It was not far from its all-time high last seen during the dot-com bubble in 2000.

The S&P 500 jumped nearly 3 percent last week, its biggest weekly gain since early February.

SOLID: Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial, said he expects the market to head higher over the coming months because there appears to be nothing on the horizon capable of knocking it off course. Investors have pushed the S&P 500 to all-time highs despite concerns over Europe's sluggish economy and slumping oil prices. "Greece hasn't pulled it down, deflation hasn't pulled it down," McMillan said. "Unless the Federal Reserve says it's going to raise interest rates in June, I just can't see what's going to pull it down."

WARNING: The stock of Gilead Sciences dropped following news that the pharmaceutical company told physicians that nine patients taking its hepatitis C treatments developed slow heartbeats and that one died. Gilead slid $2.17, or 2 percent, to $100.12.

EUROPE: Germany's DAX lost 1.1 percent and France's CAC 40 shed 0.7 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 picked up 0.1 percent.

GREECE IN FOCUS: In Europe, traders kept tabs on a meeting between the leaders of Greece and Germany for signs of progress in Greece's debt negotiations. Greece faces a cash crunch in the coming weeks and is in talks with its European lenders on what steps it must make to receive more loans.

ASIA'S DAY: Tokyo's Nikkei 225 ended with a gain of 1 percent. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index surged 2 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.5 percent.

OPTIMISM: The U.S. stock market is coming off its best week since February 6. The strong performance ended with a rebound in oil prices and higher earnings from sportswear giant Nike and other big companies on Friday. The biggest gains came after the Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it was in no hurry to hike rates with inflation low.

ONE VIEW: In a note, Evan Lucas of IG Markets said that, based "on current statements, no central bank in the developed world is going to raise rates before June. In fact, the market believes no central bank will lift rates before September."

CRUDE: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 23 cents to $46.80 a barrel in New York.

CURRENCY: The dollar fell to 119.80 yen from Friday's 120.03 yen. The euro rose to $1.0898 from $1.0820.


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Starbucks scraps 'Race Together' campaign in stores after weeklong backlash

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced the end of the company's "Race Together" campaign in stores on Sunday nigh,t via a memo to staff.

Employees will no longer be encouraged to write the slogan on customers' cups after a weeklong backlash aimed at the behemoth coffee chain's efforts to open up a discussion on race issues.

"I know this hasn't been easy for any of you – let me assure you that we didn't expect universal praise," chief executive Schultz wrote in a letter to staff and released by the company on Sunday. "We leaned in because we believed that starting this dialogue is what matters most."

After the campaign kicked off last week, Starbucks received widespread criticism, and Schultz even appeared on media to clarify that the company's intentions were to open up a dialogue on race — not offend anyone.

"This phase of the effort — writing 'Race Together' (or placing stickers) on cups, which was always just the catalyst for a much broader and longer term conversation — will be completed as originally planned today, March 22," Schultz wrote.

"Race Together" activities will go on as planned over the next few months, including open forum discussions and special sections in USA Today.

The company has also committed to hiring 10,000 disadvantaged youth in the next three years while also opening up new stores in minority communities.

2015 TheWrap news inc. All rights reserved.


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Humana selling Concentra unit for about $1.06 billion

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Humana Inc. says it will sell its Concentra Inc. unit to MJ Acquisition Corp. for just under $1.06 billion in cash.

The Concentra unit, acquired by Humana in December of 2010, is a provider of occupational health, urgent care and physical therapy services.

MJ Acquisition is a joint venture between hospital operator Select Medical Holdings Corp. and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe XII, L.P., a private equity fund.

The sale is expected to close during the second quarter.

The health insurer said its 2015 profit outlook remains set at between $8.50 and $9 per share.

Humana is based in Louisville, Kentucky.


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US home sales rebound slightly in February

WASHINGTON — Slightly more Americans bought homes in February, but tight inventories, affordability problems and nasty winter weather point to sluggish sales in the coming few months.

Sales of existing homes rose 1.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.88 million, a slight rebound after plunging in January yet still underperforming by historical standards, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.

The real estate market has hibernated through the first two months of 2015, creating the potential for a second straight year of weak buying activity.

Strong job growth and relatively low mortgage rates have failed to awaken buyers. Meanwhile, relatively few homes are being listed for sale and builders are mostly catering to the wealthiest slivers of the market. Sales are running below last year's pace of 4.93 million, which represented a 3.1 percent drop from 2013.

"The next couple months are some of the most critical of the entire year for housing and sluggish numbers may continue if inventory doesn't increase," said Bill Banfield, vice president of mortgage provider Quicken Loans.

Despite February's uptick, buying activity appears to have been slow coming into March because of a series of harsh winter storms. The weather last month shut down construction and hurt open houses, likely causing fewer signed contracts and put additional downward pressure on completed sales in March.

"Mother Nature will probably make her presence known more in March," said Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Housing starts plunged 17 percent in February, the Commerce Department reported last week. Buyer traffic also slipped last month, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index. Mortgage applications slipped in March, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Sales tumbled 6.5 percent last month in the Northeast, which was hammered hard by snow, the Realtors said. Home-buying was unchanged in the Midwest and increased in the South and West.

The recent storms have led several economists to expect a strong recovery in the coming spring months, when more buyers usually step up their search and sellers decide to list their properties.

Still, some homeowners are trapped by mortgage debt, making it unprofitable for them to sell. Their negative equity is a lingering aftershock from the recession and housing bust, limiting the supply of available homes on the market.

The real estate data firm Zillow reported last week that 16.9 percent of homeowners owe more on their mortgage than their homes are worth. In several metro areas including Philadelphia, Houston and Boston, that rate actually increased from the levels in the third quarter of 2014.

The Realtors reported Monday that just 4.6 months of supply was listed for sale, compared to a full five months a year ago.

That meager inventory has helped push up sales prices, creating additional affordability pressures despite strong monthly job gains averaging more than 200,000 for the past year.

Median home prices increased 7.5 percent over the past 12 months to $202,600, almost quadruple the pace of average hourly wage gains.

Sales to investors and for all-cash have also declined over the past year, while first-time buyers have yet to return. First-timers accounted for only 29 percent of home sales, compared to a historical average of 40 percent.

Nor have buyers responded much to the comparatively low mortgage rates.

Average 30-year fixed rates were 3.78 percent last week, according to the mortgage giant Freddie Mac. That average has plunged from a 52-week high of 4.41 percent, which should help to make housing more affordable.

Because of tight credit, few potential buyers have been able to take advantage of the low rates.

An Urban Institute index measuring credit availability found that lenders are taking fewer risks with mortgages, choosing buyers with high credit scores and providing them routine mortgages, rather than the exotic and opaque loans that inflated the housing bubble and led to the financial crisis.

The restricted credit "has been, and threatens to continue to be, a headwind for the housing recovery," said Michelle Meyer, a senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, in a client note.


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Investigation prompted by alleged rape story to be released

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Police plan to release the findings of an investigation prompted by a Rolling Stone article about an alleged gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity house.

Charlottesville police have scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. Monday. A notice posted on the police department's website says officials won't answer any questions before the news conference.

The November 2014 article described an alleged gang rape at a fraternity house in 2012. Rolling Stone has since apologized for the article and noted discrepancies.

The police department said in January that investigators had been unable to confirm that a gang rape occurred at the fraternity house. However, a police spokesman emphasized at the time that did not mean an assault did not occur.


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New York Times botches its Jewish terminology, issues correction

The New York Times issued a correction Sunday for improperly using Jewish terms "yenta" and "shiva" in a story.

The article "For Nice Jewish Guys, Swipe Right" depicts 23-year-old Jordan Rodman paying her respects at a Shiva — a Jewish gathering to mourn the dead — when her dating life became a hot topic of conversation.

The article delves into the Jewish dating app "JSwipe," which mimics Tinder in letting users swipe right or left to approve a potential match or dismiss them.

Apparently, The Times confused both the terms Shiva and yenta, issuing a correction for both:

"An earlier version of this article described incorrectly what Jordan Rodman was doing at a shiva. She was paying her respects to a family in mourning; she herself was not sitting shiva. Also, an earlier version of this article and its accompanying headline incorrectly compared JSwipe users to yentas. Yentas are busybodies, not matchmakers."

For the record, this author has incorrectly been called a yenta while sitting shiva before.

2015 TheWrap news inc. All rights reserved.


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Obama announces $240M in new pledges for STEM education

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is highlighting private-sector efforts to encourage more students from underrepresented groups to pursue education in science, technology, engineering and math.

At the White House Science Fair on Monday, Obama announced more than $240 million in pledges to boost the study of those fields, known as STEM. This year's fair is focused on diversity.

Obama said the new commitments have brought total financial and material support for these programs to $1 billion.

"It's not enough for our country just to be proud of you. We've got to support you," Obama said.

The pledges the president announced include a $150 million philanthropic effort to encourage promising early-career scientists to stay on track and a $90 million campaign to expand STEM opportunities to underrepresented youth, such as minorities and girls.

More than 100 colleges and universities have committed to training 20,000 engineers, and a coalition of CEOs has promised to expand high-quality STEM education programs to additional 1.5 million students this year.

Obama launched "Educate to Innovate," his effort to encourage the study of science, technology, engineering and math, in 2009.

More than 35 student teams showed their projects at the White House Science Fair, including exhibits on algae, spinal implants, keystroke security and a page turner made out of Legos.

Obama said the fair is one of the most fun events held annually at the White House. "Every year I walk out smarter than when I walked in," Obama said.


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Farmers fund research to breed gluten-free wheat

WICHITA, Kan. — Kansas farmers are paying for genetic research to figure out exactly why some people struggle to digest wheat.

The hard science is aimed at developing new varieties of wheat at a time when the gluten-free industry is worth nearly a billion dollars a year in the U.S. alone.

The Kansas Wheat Commission is spending $200,000 for the first two years of the project, which is meant to identify everything in wheat's DNA sequences that can trigger a reaction in people suffering from celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder in which eating even tiny amounts of gluten — comprised of numerous, complex proteins that gives dough its elasticity and some flavor to baked goods — can damage the small intestine.

The only known treatment for celiac disease is a gluten-free diet free of any foods that contain wheat, rye, and barley.

"If you know you are producing a crop that is not tolerated well by people, then it's the right thing to do," said the project's lead researcher, Chris Miller, senior director of research for Engrain, a Kansas company that makes products to enhance the nutrition and appearance of products made by the milling and cereal industry.

Though celiac disease is four to five times more common now than 50 years ago, only about 1 percent of the world's population is believed to suffer from it, and just a fraction have been diagnosed. But the gluten-free food business has skyrocketed in the last five years, driven in part by non-celiac sufferers who believe they are intolerant to gluten and look for such products as a healthier alternative.

Sales of gluten-free snacks, crackers, pasta, bread and other products reached $973 million in the U.S. in 2014, up from $810 million the previous year, according to a January report by the consumer research firm Packaged Facts, which analyzed the sales of hundreds of explicitly labeled and marketed gluten-free products and brands at supermarkets, drugstores, and mass merchandisers.

Understanding the causes of celiac disease and gluten intolerance is the goal of a lot of research around the world; Some focuses on human diagnosis and treatment, and others have identified about 20 of the protein fragments in wheat that causes celiac reactions.

But no one has identified all of them, or bred a variety of wheat that is safe for celiac sufferers to eat.

"We are hoping to be one of the first to establish this comprehensive screening of reactive proteins in wheat," Miller said.

The research began in July at the Wheat Innovation Center in Manhattan, Kansas, and remains in its early stages, with researchers extracting proteins from seeds of various varieties of wheat. A later step will be combining the proteins with antibodies produced by the human immune system to test for reactions.

He also plans to examine the wild relatives of wheat as well as modern varieties, and will tap into a Kansas wheat variety repository that dates back to the 1900s in hopes of finding a variety — perhaps one that fell out of favor among commercial farmers — that might already be low in reactivity for celiac sufferers.

Researchers hope to use that variety to develop a gluten-free wheat using traditional breeding methods.

An expert on celiac disease who reviewed Miller's plan online worries that it may prove "too simplistic," and fail to identify all the toxic sequences that can trigger a celiac reaction.

Armin Alaedini, assistant professor of medical sciences at Columbia University and a researcher at the New York-based school's Celiac Disease Center, said the project may end up with a less toxic wheat product that isn't completely safe for all celiac disease patients.

"After all this effort, this product that is coming out ... is unlikely to be superior in terms of nutritional value or baking properties and taste to the gluten-free products that are already on the market," Alaedini said.

The medical advisory board for the Celiac Disease Foundation, a nonprofit based in Woodland Hills, California, could not reach a consensus on the viability of Miller's research.

But the organization's CEO, Marilyn Geller, is encouraged.

Her son had been sick his entire life before being diagnosed with celiac disease at age 15, Geller said, and his father also was later diagnosed. Since the disorder is genetic, her grandchildren will be at risk of getting it.

If these research efforts can keep celiac disease in the public eye, more doctors will be aware of it and more federal research dollars may flow, she said.

Many people with the disease would like to "eat actual wheat, with the properties of wheat that make the bread nice and fluffy," she said.

"The idea of having a variety of wheat that they could eat that has those wonderful wheat-like properties would certainly be very interesting for them."


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What to pack for year in space? A 'superhero utility belt'

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — What's one thing astronaut Scott Kelly can't do without when he moves into space this week for a year? A belt.

Kelly went beltless during his five-month mission at the International Space Station a few years back, and he hated how his shirttails kept floating out of his pants. So this time, the 51-year-old retired Navy captain packed "a military, tactical-style thing" that can hold a tool pouch.

Actually, scratch pouch. He prefers "superhero utility belt."

Kelly's partner on the yearlong stay at the space station — Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko — can't do without his vitamins. When their Soyuz rocket blasts off from Kazakhstan on Saturday (Friday afternoon in the U.S.), three bottles of over-age-50 vitamins will be on board.

After more than two years of training, Kelly and Kornienko are eager to get going. It will be the longest space mission ever for NASA, and the longest in almost two decades for the Russian Space Agency, which holds the record at 14 months.

Medicine and technology have made huge leaps since then, and the world's space agencies need to know how the body adapts to an entire year of weightlessness before committing to even longer Mars expeditions. More yearlong missions are planned, with an ultimate goal of 12 test subjects. The typical station stint is six months.

"We know a lot about six months. But we know almost nothing about what happens between six and 12 months in space," said NASA's space station program scientist, Julie Robinson.

Among the more common space afflictions: weakened bones and muscles, and impaired vision and immune system. Then there is the psychological toll.

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, a frequent flier who will accompany Kelly and Kornienko into orbit, predicts it will be the psychological — not physical — effects that will be toughest on the one-year crew.

"Being far away from Earth, being sort of crammed, having few people to interact with," Padalka said. He'll break the record for most time spent in space during his six-month stay, closing in on a grand total of 900 days by the time he returns to Earth in September.

Neither Kelly nor Kornienko, though, worries about himself. They fret about the family and friends they are leaving behind for an entire year — until next March.

"If something happens ... you're not coming home, no matter what it is. You're not coming back," Kelly said in an interview earlier this year with The Associated Press.

Kelly's loved ones include: his two daughters, ages 20 and 11; his NASA-employed girlfriend; his widowed father; his identical twin brother Mark, a retired astronaut; and his sister-in-law, Gabrielle Giffords, a former congresswoman who barely survived an assassination attempt while he was at the space station in 2011.

Kornienko, 54, a former paratrooper, worries how his wife will cope alone at their country house outside Moscow. His 32-year-old daughter is a new mother; the baby is not quite a year old.

Wife Irina cried when she learned in 2012 that he'd be leaving Earth for a whole year. And she's still not happy about it, Kornienko told the AP.

"She understands that it's a dangerous mission. But she's getting used to the idea," he said.

A vivid reminder of the dangers of spaceflight hit home last fall when an unmanned supply ship blew up shortly after liftoff from Virginia. Kelly's original "superhero" belt was destroyed, along with the rest of the station cargo. Replacements went up on the next commercial shipment.

The two veteran space fliers are fully aware of all the risks. Kelly has flown in space three times for a total of 180 days. (Two of those trips were space shuttle quickies.) Kornienko has a single 176-day station flight on his resume.

Kelly acknowledges it will be a challenge "keeping the level of fatigue down, enthusiasm up, energy reserves to respond to an emergency."

Newly returned space station commander Butch Wilmore urges some three-day weekends for the pair.

"To maintain that mental focus for six months is difficult, and to do it for an entire year ... You don't want to make any mistakes," said Wilmore, whose 5½-month mission ended March 11.

Kornienko was selected by his bosses for the job while Kelly volunteered.

NASA actually got a 2-for-1 bonus with Kelly. He is teaming up with brother Mark for a battery of medical tests so researchers can compare the physique and physiology of the space twin with his genetic double on the ground. Raised by police-officer parents, they've lived parallel lives as Navy fighter and test pilots and space shuttle commanders.

Mark Kelly, a four-time space flier, will be at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for his brother's launch; wife Giffords will watch from Houston with Johnson Space Center friends. He's already submitted to numerous blood draws and ultrasounds in the name of space science.

"All right, do whatever you've got to do," Mark said he tells the doctors.

As for what Scott will endure, "Imagine if you went to work where your office was and then you had to stay in that place for a year and not go outside, right? Kind of a challenge," Mark said in an AP interview.

At least Scott Kelly will get outside for a spacewalk this time. Considerable work is needed to prepare the orbiting lab for the 2017 arrival of U.S. commercial crew capsules. So the year will be unusually busy, noted NASA's space station program manager Mike Suffredini, "a good thing" on such a long haul.

Another plus is that Kelly and Kornienko seem to honestly like one another. And they won't be alone. There are normally six people on board and lots of compartments, including three full-scale laboratories, in which to disappear. Besides, the U.S. and Russian crews generally spend their workdays on their respective sides, Kelly noted. The total interior volume is roughly equivalent to two Boeing 747s.

"It's a big place, and I don't really look at it as I'm spending a year with him," Kelly said. "It's more spending a year with 14 other people, and he's one of them."

Among those coming and going, in September, will be British soprano superstar Sarah Brightman. She will visit for 1½ weeks as a paying tourist, and will perform live from on high.

Kelly expects to hear a lot of singing while she's there, but doubts he'll join in.

"Never sang before. But I could try, right?" Kelly said with a laugh. "It will be either all of us (singing with her) or none of us."

___

Online:

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/content/one-year-crew/


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Louisville Slugger maker announces deal to sell iconic brand

The company that made bats for a who's who of baseball greats, including Babe Ruth and Ted Williams, announced a deal Monday to sell its Louisville Slugger brand to rival Wilson Sporting Goods Co. for $70 million.

Hillerich & Bradsby Co. has made the iconic bats for more than 130 years, supplying the bats with the recognizable oval logo for generations of baseball players — from the sandlots to the big leagues.

Wilson's deal to acquire the global brand, sales and innovation rights of Louisville Slugger still requires approval by H&B shareholders, according to the joint announcement Monday.

Under terms of the agreement, H&B will become Wilson's exclusive manufacturing partner for wood bats. H&B will continue to manufacture wood bats at its factory in Louisville, Kentucky.

Wilson Sporting Goods is a division of Finnish sports equipment maker Amer Sports Corp. The Helsinki-based company said the deal is expected to be completed in the second half of this year.

H&B also will maintain ownership and continue to operate the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory and Gift Shop, a popular tourist destination.

H&B said its Bionic Gloves division and Powerbilt golf brand are not part of the deal.

H&B has made Louisville Slugger bats since 1884. H&B CEO John A. Hillerich IV said the decision to sell the brand was difficult, but says the company believes it needs to pursue a new business model.

"We recognized from our first conversation with Wilson that they would be a great partner and steward of the brand our family created and so many have nurtured for 131 years," he said in a statement.

Mike Dowse, president of Wilson Sporting Goods Co., said expanding the company's baseball and softball business globally is a key part of its business strategy.

"We believe Louisville Slugger will enrich our company significantly, enhance our baseball and softball product offering at all levels of the game, and ensure we are delivering only the best performance products to athletes of every age," he said.

Wilson said it will market and sell Louisville Slugger-branded products through its baseball and softball business unit. The company currently manufactures and sells gloves, bats, uniforms, apparel, protective gear, accessories and player development equipment and training tools through its Wilson, DeMarini and ATEC brands. Like its DeMarini brand, Wilson will market and sell Louisville Slugger as a stand-alone brand.

Last year, Amer's net sales totaled €2.3 billion ($2.5 billion). It employs 7,600 people worldwide.

___

AP writer Matti Huuhtanen contributed to this report from Helsinki.


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