Wall Street drops on growth concerns, fear index jumps

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell for a second day on Thursday and gauge of investor concern hit its highest in two months after reports cast doubt over the health of the U.S. and euro-zone economies.

The second day of sharp declines in equity markets put the S&P 500 on course for its worst two-day loss since November.

The CBOE Volatility Index <.vix> or VIX, a measure of investor fear, jumped 6.7 percent to 15.67.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week while the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said its index of business conditions in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region fell in February to minus 12.5, the lowest in eight months.

In Europe, business activity indexes dealt a blow to hopes that the euro zone might emerge from recession soon, showing the downturn across the region's businesses unexpectedly grew worse this month.

"The PMI numbers out of Europe were really a blow to the market," said Jack De Gan, chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

"The market was expecting signs that recovery is still there, but the numbers just highlighted that the euro-zone problem is still persistent."

The abrupt reversal in markets, which started on Wednesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's January meeting suggested stimulus measures may end earlier than thought, looks set to halt a seven-week winning streak for stocks that had lifted indexes close to all-time highs.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> dropped 53.87 points, or 0.39 percent, to 13,873.67. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> fell 10.30 points, or 0.68 percent, to 1,501.65. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> lost 35.08 points, or 1.11 percent, to 3,129.33.

The two-day decline marked the U.S. stock market's first sustained pullback this year. The Standard & Poor's 500 has fallen 2 percent over the period, but is still up 5.2 percent so far this year.

"The upside momentum in markets appears to be coming to an end as we consolidate recent gains," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive at Sarhan Capital in New York. "If the S&P breaks under its 50-day moving average, something more serious could be in store."

The S&P 500 would need to fall 1.9 percent to reach that level of 1,473.62.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc shares gained 2.1 percent to $70.66 and helped curb the Dow's decline after the world's largest retailer reported earnings that beat expectations, though early February sales were sluggish.

Wall Street will soon face another test with the upcoming debate in Washington over the automatic across-the-board spending cuts put in place as part of a larger congressional budget fight. Those cuts, set to kick in on March 1 unless lawmakers agree on an alternative, are expected to depress economic growth.

Semiconductor stocks ranked among the weakest of the day, pressuring the Nasdaq as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index <.sox> fell 2.3 percent. Intel Corp fell 2.9 percent to $20.13 while Advanced Micro Devices lost 6.7 percent to $2.53 as the S&P 500's biggest percentage decliner.

The semiconductor sector has performed well so far in 2013, rising 8.4 percent.

In other company news, shares of supermarket operator Safeway Inc jumped 12.3 percent to $22 after the company reported earnings that beat expectations.

In contrast, shares of VeriFone Systems Inc tumbled nearly 40 percent to $19.28 after the credit-card swipe machine maker forecast first- and second-quarter profits well below expectations.

Of the 427 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results so far, 69.3 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, compared with a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters, according to Thomson Reuters data through Thursday morning.

Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 5.9 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.

Berry Petroleum Co jumped 17.2 percent to $45.23 after oil and gas producer Linn Energy LLC said it would buy the company in an all-stock deal valued at $4.3 billion, including debt. Linn Energy shares advanced 1.9 percent to $37.36.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

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French, Malian forces fight Islamist rebels in Gao

GAO, Mali (Reuters) - French and Malian troops fought Islamists on the streets of Gao and a car bomb exploded in Kidal on Thursday, as fighting showed little sign of abating weeks before France plans to start withdrawing some forces.

Reuters reporters in Gao in the country's desert north said French and Malian forces fired at the mayor's office with heavy machineguns after Islamists were reported to have infiltrated the Niger River town during a night of explosions and gunfire.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told a news conference in Brussels that Gao was back under control after clashes earlier in the day.

"Malian troops supported by French soldiers killed five jihadists and the situation is back to normal," he said.

In Kidal, a remote far north town where the French are hunting Islamists, residents said a car bomb killed two. A French defense ministry source reported no French casualties.

French troops dispatched to root out rebels with links to al Qaeda swiftly retook northern towns last month. But they now risk being bogged down in a guerrilla conflict as they try to help Mali's weak army counter bombings and raids.

"There was an infiltration by Islamists overnight and there is shooting all over the place," Sadou Harouna Diallo, Gao's mayor, told Reuters by telephone earlier in the day, saying he was not in his office at the time.

Gao is a French hub for operations in the Kidal region, about 300 km (190 miles) northeast, where many Islamist leaders are thought to have retreated and foreign hostages may be held.

"They are black and two were disguised as women," a Malian soldier in Gao who gave his name only as Sergeant Assak told Reuters during a pause in heavy gunfire around Independence Square.

Six Malian military pickups were deployed in the square and opened fire on the mayor's office with the heavy machineguns. Two injured soldiers were taken away in an ambulance.

French troops in armored vehicles later joined the battle as it spilled out into the warren of sandy streets, where, two weeks ago, they also fought for hours against Islamists who had infiltrated the town via the nearby river.

Helicopters clattered over the mayor's office, while a nearby local government office and petrol station was on fire.

A Gao resident said he heard an explosion and then saw a Malian military vehicle on fire in a nearby street.

Paris has said it plans to start withdrawing some of its 4,000 troops from Mali next month. But rebels have fought back against Mali's weak and divided army, and African forces due to take over the French role are not yet in place.

Islamists abandoned the main towns they held but French and Malian forces have said there are pockets of Islamist resistance across the north, which is about the size of France.

CAR BOMB

Residents reported a bomb in the east of Kidal on Thursday.

"It was a car bomb that exploded in a garage," said one resident who went to the scene but asked not to be named.

"The driver and another man were killed. Two other people were injured," he added.

A French defense ministry official confirmed there had been a car bomb but said it did not appear that French troops, based at the town's airport, had been targeted.

Earlier this week, a French soldier was killed in heavy fighting north of Kidal, where French and Chadian troops are hunting Islamists in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains, which border Algeria.

Operations there are further complicated by the presence of separatist Tuareg rebels, whose rebellion triggered the fighting in northern Mali last year but were sidelined by the better-armed Islamists.

Having dispatched its forces to prevent an Islamist advance south in January, Paris is eager not to become bogged down in a long-term conflict in Mali. But their Malian and African allies have urged French troops not to pull out too soon.

(Additional reporting by Emanuel Braun in Gao, Adama Diarra in Bamako, David Lewis and John Irish in Dakar and Adrian Croft in Brussels; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Jason Webb and Roger Atwood)

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Hedge fund manager Einhorn takes Apple campaign to shareholders

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Hedge fund manager David Einhorn, who is battling Apple Inc in court as part of a wider effort to get the iPhone-maker to share more of its cash pile, will now make a direct appeal to the company’s shareholders.

He will host a conference call on Thursday to argue the merits of distributing perpetual preferred stock — his favored way of rewarding shareholders.

Einhorn’s $ 8 billion Greenlight Capital is seeking an injunction to block a February 27 shareholders’ vote on “Proposal 2″ in Apple‘s proxy statement, which would abolish a system for issuing preferred stock at its discretion.

Apple declined to comment on Einhorn’s plan to appeal directly to shareholders. Chief Executive Tim Cook last week dismissed the lawsuit as a “silly sideshow”.

But Cook said the idea of issuing preferred stock was creative and one that Apple’s board was carefully considering, while it ponders other ways to share its $ 137 billion in cash and securities — something Wall Street investors have been seeking for years.

But even as the hedge fund star tries to rally Apple shareholders to his cause, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, which says it has been a limited partner of Greenlight’s through its endowment, said it was “dismayed” that Einhorn was suing Apple to prevent a vote on Proposal 2.

“We very much oppose your decision to enjoin the 2013 annual meeting and the vote on Resolution #2,” Simon Greer, president and CEO of the foundation, said in a letter to Einhorn that was obtained by Reuters.

In response, Greenlight said in a statement: “This is a former investor who redeemed. We wish them well.”

Greer however said later in an emailed statement that the foundation remained an investor with Greenlight through a “pooled fund”, without elaborating.

(Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Stephen Coates)

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Check Out Pregnant Maya Rudolph's Undercover Bump

Mom & Babies
Celebrity Baby Blog

02/20/2013 at 03:00 PM ET

Jason Merritt/Getty

What baby bump?

Maya Rudolph, who recently told Up All Night producers that she’s expecting her fourth child with Paul Thomas Anderson, swathed her belly in an animal-print teal and black sheath dress for Tuesday’s Costume Designers Guild Awards.

Keeping mum on her current condition, the actress, 40, did repeatedly remark upon how out of breath she was once she made it up to the stage to present with her former Saturday Night Live costar Amy Poehler.

Rudolph and The Master director, 42, are already parents to daughters Pearl, 7, and Lucille, 3, and son Jack, 19 months.

RELATED: Fourth Child on the Way for Maya Rudolph?

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Obama administration tackles colonoscopy confusion

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's one part of the new health care law that seemed clear: free coverage for preventive care under most insurance plans.

Only it didn't turn out that way.

So on Wednesday, the Obama administration had to straighten out the confusion.

Have you gone for a colonoscopy thinking it was free, only to get a hefty bill because the doctor removed a polyp?

No more.

Taking out such precancerous growths as part of a routine colon cancer screening procedure will now be considered preventive care.

"Polyp removal is an integral part of a colonoscopy," the Department of Health and Human Services said in guidance posted on its website. That conclusion has the backing of several leading medical societies, the department noted.

Also addressed in the notice was genetic testing for breast cancer, coverage of over-the-counter products such as aspirin for heart care and nicotine patches for smoking, and birth control for women. Unlike formal regulations, the guidance does not have the force of law, but advocates for patients say insurers would be ill-advised to ignore it.

President Barack Obama's health care law required most private health plans to cover preventive care at no additional charge to patients. It also expanded preventive coverage without copayments for Medicare recipients. For workers and their families, the expense is borne by the company health plan, which passes on some of those costs in the form of higher premiums. Advocates say preventive care saves the health care system money over time.

Colonoscopy is an expensive test that can cost more than $1,000. It's recommended for adults 50 and over, and has become a rite of passage for aging baby boomers.

News that it would be covered free under the health care law got attention, but that was followed quickly by a letdown when many insurers started charging if a polyp or two was discovered and removed during the procedure.

"Insurers were reclassifying it from a preventive test to a diagnostic procedure," said Stephen Finan, policy director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. "In some cases the cost-sharing was a significant amount of money."

His group was among several that complained to the administration.

Other free preventive services addressed in Wednesday's guidance:

—Insurers must cover testing, if ordered by a doctor, for rare BRCA genes that dramatically increase the risk of breast cancer. Such tests can cost as much as $3,000.

—Over-the-counter products such as aspirin for heart care and nicotine patches for smoking cessation are covered with a doctor's prescription.

—Insurers won't be able to fulfill the law's requirement to cover contraception as preventive care for women if they only pay for birth control pills. A full range of FDA-approved methods must be covered, including long-acting implant and intrauterine devices. Birth control methods for men are not covered as preventive care.

If a health plan does not have a network doctor who performs a particular preventive service, a patient can see a doctor out-of-network without facing copays or additional charges.

___

Online:

Health and Human Services Department: http://tinyurl.com/au6lzeo

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Wall Street extends losses; Nasdaq off one percent

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, "Doug" (24), and I (22) have been in a long-distance relationship for a year, but we were friends for a couple of years before that. I had never had a serious relationship before and lacked experience. Doug has not only been in two other long-term relationships, but has had sex with more than 15 women. One of them is an amateur porn actress.I knew about this, but it didn't bother me until recently. Doug had a party, and while he was drunk he told one of his buddies -- in front of me -- that he should watch a certain porn film starring his ex-girlfriend. ...

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Bulgarian government resigns amid growing protests

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's government resigned on Wednesday after mass protests against high power prices and falling living standards, joining a long list of European administrations felled by austerity during four years of debt crisis.

Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, an ex-bodyguard who took power in 2009 on pledges to root out graft and raise incomes in the European Union's poorest member, faces a tough task of propping up eroding support ahead of an expected early election.

Wage and pension freezes and tax hikes have bitten deep in a country where earnings are less than half the EU average and tens of thousands of Bulgarians have rallied in protests that have turned violent, chanting "Mafia" and "Resign".

Moves by Borisov on Tuesday to blame foreign utility companies for the rise in the cost of heating homes was to no avail and an eleventh day of marches saw 15 people hospitalized and 25 arrested in clashes with police.

"My decision to resign will not be changed under any circumstances. I do not build roads so that blood is shed on them," said Borisov, who began his career guarding the Black Sea state's communist dictator Todor Zhivkov.

A karate black belt, Borisov has cultivated a Putin-like "can-do" image since he entered politics as Sofia mayor in 2005 and would connect with voters by showing up on the capital's rutted streets to oversee the repair of pot-holes.

But critics say he has often skirted due process, sometimes to the benefit of those close to him, and his swift policy U-turns have wounded the public's trust.

The spark for the protests was high electricity bills, after the government raised prices by 13 percent last July. But it quickly spilled over into wider frustration with Borisov and political elites with perceived links to shadowy businesses.

"He made my day," said student Borislav Hadzhiev in central Sofia, commenting on Borisov's resignation. "The truth is that we're living in an extremely poor country."

POLLS, PRICES

The prime minister's final desperate moves on Tuesday included cutting power prices and risking a diplomatic row with the Czech Republic by punishing companies including CEZ, moves which conflicted with EU norms on protection of investors and due process.

CEZ officials were hopeful on Wednesday that it would be able to avoid losing its distribution license after all and officials from the Bulgarian regulator said the company would not be punished if it dealt with breaches of procedure.

But shares in what is central Europe's largest publicly-listed company fell another 1 percent on Wednesday.

If pushed through, the fines for CEZ and two other foreign-owned firms will not encourage other investors in Bulgaria, who already have to navigate complicated bureaucracy and widespread corruption and organized crime to take advantage of Bulgaria's 10-percent flat tax rate.

Financial markets reacted negatively to the turbulence on Wednesday. The cost of insuring Bulgaria's debt rose to a three-month high and debt yields rose some 15 basis points, though the country's low deficit of 0.5 percent of gross domestic product means there is little risk to the lev currency's peg against the euro.

Borisov's interior minister indicated that elections originally planned for July would probably be pulled forward by saying that his rightist GERB party would not take part in talks to form a new government.

MILLIONS GONE

GERB's woes have echoes in another ex-communist EU member, Slovenia, where demonstrators have taken to the streets and added pressure to a crumbling conservative government.

A small crowd gathered in support of Borisov outside Sofia's parliament, which is expected to approve his resignation on Thursday, while bigger demonstrations against the premier were expected in the evening.

Unemployment in the country of 7.3 million is far from the highs hit in the decade after the end of communism but remains at 11.9 percent. Average salaries are stuck at around 800 levs ($550) a month and millions have emigrated, leaving swathes of the country depopulated and little hope for those who remain.

GERB's popularity has held up well and it still led in the latest polls before protests grew in size last weekend, but analysts say the opposition Socialists should draw strength from the demonstrations.

The leftists, successors to Bulgaria's communist party, have proposed tax cuts and wage hikes and are likely to raise questions about public finances if elected.

(Additional reporting by Angel Krasimirov; editing by Patrick Graham)

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Twitter begins integrating advertising software

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Twitter Inc said on Wednesday it is opening up its platform to third-party advertising management software, taking another step to establish its ad-based business model ahead of an initial public offering.

The ads application programming interface, or API, would allow advertisers to connect their existing ad management software to their Twitter account to automate ads on the micro-messaging platform.

Twitter said that it would begin by integrating with ad software by Adobe Systems Inc, Salesforce Inc, Hootsuite, SHIFT and TBG Global.

“With the Ads API, marketers now have more tools in their arsenal to help them deliver the right message, to the right audience, on the desktop and on mobile devices — all at scale,” Twitter product manager April Underwood wrote in a blog post.

Under pressure to show growing revenues, Twitter in recent years has ramped up its ad-serving capabilities while building a sales staff to woo corporate marketers. The firm said last year it would allow marketers to target Twitter users based on a profile of their perceived interests and by location.

Twitter makes money every time a user clicks or retweets a “promoted” message paid for by an advertiser. The new API would allow great automation for advertisers, who previously had to manually write every promoted tweet.

In 2013, Twitter’s ad revenues are expected to grow nearly 90 percent to $ 545 million, according to eMarketer which noted that Facebook Inc experienced similarly rapid growth after opening its API to advertisers in 2011.

(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Bernard Orr)

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Mindy McCready 'Really Loved Her Dog'

People Pets

02/19/2013 at 03:45 PM EST

When Mindy McCready was found dead on Sunday of an apparent suicide, the country singer was not alone: Her dog, who'd been fatally shot, was by her side.

But a source close to the star tells Fox News that her decision to end the animal's life would "not have been an act of malice."

"Mindy really loved her dog," the friend said. "It would have been more of a case where she just didn't want to leave the dog alone."

The troubled star, whose boyfriend, David Wilson, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in January, was reportedly under investigation at the time of her death. Police were concerned about details surrounding Wilson's passing.

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UK patient dies from SARS-like coronavirus

LONDON (AP) — A patient being treated for a mysterious SARS-like virus has died, a British hospital said Tuesday.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, central England, said the coronavirus victim was also being treated for "a long-term, complex unrelated health problem" and already had a compromised immune system.

A total of 12 people worldwide have been diagnosed with the disease, six of whom have died.

The virus was first identified last year in the Middle East. Most of those infected had traveled to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Pakistan, but the person who just died is believed to have caught it from a relative in Britain, where there have been four confirmed cases.

The new coronavirus is part of a family of viruses that cause ailments including the common cold and SARS. In 2003, a global outbreak of SARS killed about 800 people worldwide.

Health experts still aren't sure exactly how humans are being infected. The new coronavirus is most closely related to a bat virus and scientists are considering whether bats or other animals like goats or camels are a possible source of infection.

Britain's Health Protection Agency has said while it appears the virus can spread from person to person, "the risk of infection in contacts in most circumstances is still considered to be low."

Officials at the World Health Organization said the new virus has probably already spread between humans in some instances. In Saudi Arabia last year, four members of the same family fell ill and two died. And in a cluster of about a dozen people in Jordan, the virus may have spread at a hospital's intensive care unit.

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