Positive jobs report fails to lift stocks

FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2011 file photo, trader David O'Day, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. European stocks rose on Friday as investors set aside concerns about the euro's debt crisis to focus on the impending release of monthly U.S. jobs data, which many hope will confirm a mild recovery in the world's largest economy. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2011 file photo, trader David O'Day, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. European stocks rose on Friday as investors set aside concerns about the euro's debt crisis to focus on the impending release of monthly U.S. jobs data, which many hope will confirm a mild recovery in the world's largest economy. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

The stock market offered a reminder Friday that even if the U.S. job market is improving, there's plenty to worry about elsewhere in the world.

The unemployment rate fell in December to 8.5 percent, the lowest level in nearly three years. Yet stock indexes teetered between small gains and losses all day as traders fretted about Europe's ongoing financial drama.

Italy's borrowing costs spiked to dangerously high levels and the euro fell to a 16-month low against the dollar. U.S. bank stocks fell on concerns that the debt crisis will spread through the financial industry.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down nearly 56 points and the S&P had a tiny loss, its first of the year. Both gained more than 1 percent over the first week of 2012.

Most European markets closed lower after new data showed economic sentiment and retail sales falling across the region. Unemployment is stuck at 10.3 percent in the 17 nations that use the euro.

Europe's debt woes and China's slowing economy are overshadowing signs of strength in the U.S. economy, said Doug Cote, chief market strategist at ING Investment Management.

"The global risks continue to exert their weight," Cote said. Ultimately, improving U.S. stronger consumer demand, manufacturing activity and corporate profits will drive U.S. stocks higher, Cote said.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 55.78 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,359.92. Alcoa Inc. was the Dow's biggest loser, slipping 2.1 percent. A Citi analyst forecast that the aluminum maker lost money in the fourth quarter of 2011 for the first time since the recession. Alcoa, which reports earnings Monday, said late Thursday it would close an aluminum smelter in Tennessee and other operations to cut costs.

The latest sign that the labor market is strengthening failed to spur buying by investors. The unemployment rate fell last month to 8.5 percent, while U.S. employers added a net 200,000 jobs, the Labor Department said.

The economy has generated 100,000 or more jobs each month for the past six, the longest such streak since April 2006. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits last week fell, pushing the four-week average of new claims down to its lowest level since June 2008.

In other trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.25 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,277.81. The Nasdaq composite index rose 4.36, or 0.2 percent, to 2,674.22.

It was the second day in a row of indecisive trading on the stock market. The Dow and the S&P closed nearly unchanged Thursday. The indexes still had strong gains in this first, shortened trading week of the year. The Dow is up 1.2 percent this week, the S&P 1.6 percent. Trading was closed Monday, when the New Year's Day holiday was observed.

The euro fell as low as $1.2696 Friday, its lowest point since Sept. 10, 2010. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.97 percent from 2 percent late Thursday as investors put money into low-risk investments. Bond yields fall when demand for them increases.

Italy is now paying 7.09 percent to borrow for 10 years, reflecting investors' fears that the nation might default. Ireland and Portugal were forced to take bailouts when their ten-year borrowing rates rose above 7 percent.

Unlike those nations, Italy is too big for the rest of Europe to bail out. Leaders of France and Italy met in Paris on Friday to discuss the spiraling debt crisis that threatens to engulf both nations and push much of the region into recession.

In corporate news:

? Family Dollar Stores Inc. plunged 7.5 percent, the most in the S&P 500, after reporting revenue that was less than Wall Street expected.

? Dendreon Corp. jumped 16.3 percent after the drug developer said sales of its prostate-cancer therapy Provenge kept growing in the fourth quarter. Sales of the drug jumped 25 percent over the previous quarter.

? Global Payments Inc. fell 3.4 percent after the processor of credit, debit and gift card payments reported earnings that fell short of analysts' expectations. Janney Capital Markets analyst Thomas McCrohan said prospects for a sustained increased in profit margins "remain fleeting."

___

Follow Daniel Wagner at www.twitter.com/wagnerreports.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-06-Wall%20Street/id-659842a3206a42939d30513b6c950c7d

cain accuser aesop rock take care track list michael jackson trial carlos the jackal namibia namibia

Yut Sun commented on article Opinion: China's Uighur Bogeyman

We're sorry, your corporate account does not support this type of functionality. To set up your profile, you can

Or become an individual subscriber now to gain full Journal access.

Your account type requires additional information before we can set up your profile. Please send your login username and your real first and last name to journalcommunity@wsj.com

This feature requires membership in the Journal Community.

Become a member to get the most from your Wall Street Journal experience. It's free and easy to join.

As a member, you agree to use your real name when participating. Your comments on articles will display your real name.

Please enter your first and last name

Source: http://online.wsj.com/community/e86e91aa-a302-4341-a7a9-75fb6a35f13d?mod=rss_com_live

ok state kurt budke regis philbin regis and kelly reno fire regis philbin last show regis philbin last show

Costa Book Awards are dominated by newcomers

Two 2011 Costa Book Award winners were debuting in their genres, while writer Andrew Miller surprised some by beating out Booker Prize winner Julian Barnes for the best novel prize.

The winners of the 2011 Costa Book Awards ? one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious literary prizes, awarded to writers based in the UK and Ireland? ? were announced today and appear to be dominated by newcomers.

Skip to next paragraph

The Costa Book Awards, which were titled the Whitbread Literary Awards until 2006, are awarded in five categories: novel, biography, poetry, first novel and children?s book. The winners in each category will now compete for the title of Costa Book of the Year, which will be announced Jan. 24.

Author Andrew Miller won the prize for best novel against writer Julian Barnes, who was awarded the Booker Prize in October for his novel ?The Sense of an Ending.? The literary community was surprised when Miller was left off the longlist for the Booker Prize for his book ?Pure,? which tells the story of an engineer living in Paris before the French Revolution.

Writer Matthew Hollis won the biography prize for his book ?Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas,? the first biography Hollis has written, which focuses on the poet who was inspired to write by his friend Robert Frost and who was later killed in World War I. Moira Young, the winner of the Children?s Book prize, had written her first novel with ?Blood Red Road,? the story of a girl who tries to track down her kidnapped twin brother in a mysterious future world.?

The winner for the debut novel category, Christie Watson, received the award for her book ?Tiny Sunbirds Far Away,? a novel about a girl whose life is thrown into upheaval after her father leaves the family. Watson, who works as a nurse, wrote the novel while on maternity leave, only starting to write five years ago.

?The reasons why I got into nursing and writing are the same,? Watson told the Daily Mail. ?It?s about the human condition ? life, death, grief, loss. Both professions are interested in the same questions.?

Britain?s poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy won the poetry prize for her work titled ?The Bees.? A work of poetry won the title of Costa Book of the Year in 2010 when writer Jo Shapcott snagged the prize for her book ?Of Mutability.?

Each Costa winner receives a prize of 5,000 pounds, and the author who wins the Book of the Year award is given an extra 30,000 pounds. There are three judges in each category that evaluate work.

Molly Driscoll is a Monitor contributor.

Join the Monitor's book discussion on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/BD8IYFsFW-U/Costa-Book-Awards-are-dominated-by-newcomers

eat to live ron paul money bomb ron paul money bomb bon vivant gop debate republican debate zynga ipo

Dr. Oz Takes A Look At Stomach Cancer

Source: http://www.wxii12.com/video/30141275/index.html

saturday night live aortic aneurysm syracuse basketball minnesota timberwolves jr martinez melasma jimmy rollins

Finland grants transit permit for Patriot missiles (AP)

HELSINKI ? The Finnish government on Wednesday authorized the transport of 69 impounded Patriot missiles en route to South Korea from Germany on a British-registered cargo boat.

The M/S Thor Liberty, which arrived in Finland last month from Germany to load a shipment of anchor chains and paper machine parts for China, was held in port after authorities discovered the surface-to-air missiles and 160 tons of explosive picric acid.

Police impounded the cargo and launched an investigation after port handlers reported that the explosives, also headed for China, were inadequately packed and that the missiles did not have the required transit documents.

Government officials on Wednesday said they had studied the case and decided to grant the Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration a re-export license. It has until the end of August to ship the missiles from Finland.

"There was no reason to delay anymore," Finnish Defense Minister Stefan Wallin said. "Everything is in order."

Earlier, the German Defense Ministry said the cargo of missiles was an official shipment that was fully declared and had all necessary clearings from German authorities.

Also, Finnish officials have said that the picric acid could be shipped once it is safely packed.

However, despite the government decision on Wednesday it was not clear when the boat would be able to sail pending the outcome of the police investigation. Police declined comment on the investigation.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120104/ap_on_re_eu/eu_finland_missiles

rudy zynga free shipping free shipping esophageal cancer extreme makeover home edition marfan syndrome

Analysis: Will Panetta stave off deeper cuts to military? (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Six months into his tenure as U.S. defense secretary, Leon Panetta has simultaneously been branded an unreasonable defender of Pentagon spending and an ax-man who is forging ahead with dangerous cuts to the American military.

In Washington's power corridors, there are plenty of people who make one charge or the other about Panetta - and maybe even both at the same time.

But this much is clear: the 73-year-old defense chief is about to leave an indelible mark on America's military, reshaping it after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. He and President Barack Obama offered a glimpse of that leaner future at a press conference on Thursday.

And if Panetta plays his political cards right, he may be able to confound predictions of a second, major wave of defense cuts that he says would turn the Pentagon into a "paper tiger."

Whether he will succeed in holding the line on the defense budget is unclear but analysts say 2012 will likely decide Panetta's legacy as the 23rd secretary of defense.

"My bet would be that we'll have a lot of nervous Nellies biting their fingernails from now until December" about whether more cuts are coming, said Brookings Institution analyst Michael O'Hanlon, author of the book "The Wounded Giant: America's Armed Forces in an Age of Austerity."

FRICTION WITH WHITE HOUSE

Panetta, a former White House budget chief once known as something of a deficit hawk, has stunned some Democrats and even created friction with President Barack Obama's White House last summer as he attempted to limit the fallout on the Pentagon from America's budget woes.

One U.S. official said Obama had to press Panetta at one point to be more accepting of cuts.

"They're on the same page now and have been for a long time," said a second U.S. official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity. "But yes, last summer, there was a disconnect."

Panetta has a long history in Washington, much of it high-profile work dealing with tough choices on budgets that put him at odds with many Republicans in the past. He was White House budget director under President Bill Clinton before becoming his chief of staff.

Back in 1990 as chairman of the House Budget Committee, Panetta was one of the Democratic House members who negotiated with President George H.W. Bush's White House chief of staff, John Sununu, to reach a budget agreement to cut the deficit.

The agreement led Bush to violate his "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge, which disappointed Republicans and helped Clinton win the presidency in 1992.

Fast-forward two decades. His fiery rhetoric in support of limiting cuts to projected defense spending has surprised and impressed some of Obama's toughest Republican critics.

Senator John McCain told Reuters he admired Panetta and was "glad that he is where he is." These comments are in contrast to his withering criticism about the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and a faster drawdown in Afghanistan than military commanders recommended.

"When he was head of the budget committee, he had a very different view about spending on defense," said McCain, who ran against Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

"But we all live and learn, let's say. It's not where you stand, it's where you sit."

IS THE BUDGET GROWING?

The narrative about the Pentagon budget varies depending on who's talking. Obama, preparing for the 2012 election, was quick to point out on Thursday that the Pentagon's base budget will keep rising, even though the military is drastically scaling back its projected spending.

Obama, with military chiefs behind him, noted the defense budget "continues to be larger than roughly the next 10 countries combined."

In Congress, Republican defense hawks slammed the downsizing effort.

"This is a lead from behind strategy for a left-behind America. The President has packaged our retreat from the world in the guise of a new strategy," said Rep. Howard McKeon, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

In the middle was Panetta, who acknowledged some tough choices ahead. He said the defense budget involved accepting some "additional but acceptable risk."

"There are going to be members (of Congress) that will clearly not support some of those decisions ... That's the nature of making hard choices," he said. "I am confident that ultimately Congress will support what we're trying to do."

Panetta and top brass hope that Congress - once it has seen the extent of the cuts, which are expected to be fully detailed later this month - will look for further reductions elsewhere.

But analysts say there is a very real possibility that America's bitterly divided lawmakers will fail to avert another $600 billion in automatic Pentagon cuts from starting to kick in next year, a process known as sequestration.

"I don't think there's a clear path ahead (in 2012) that eliminates sequestration," O'Hanlon said, adding the most likely window for Congress to actually cooperate wasn't until after the presidential election in November.

Panetta warned in a letter to lawmakers last year that sequestration would leave the United States with its smallest ground force since 1940, the smallest number of ships since 1915 and the smallest air force in its history.

HOME DEPOT

Born to Italian immigrants in Monterrey, California, Panetta began public life as a moderate Republican, working for a time in the Nixon administration, but concluded in the 1970s there was no place in the party for him and became a Democrat.

He has acknowledged that the move from his job as CIA director, where he helped oversee the operation to kill Osama bin Laden, has been challenging.

"The Pentagon is a big damn bureaucracy," he told a conference last year, using some of his trademark rough language. "I feel like going from the CIA to the Pentagon is like going from the corner hardware store to Home Depot."

Even though he is expected to trim weapons programs, Panetta seems intent on preserving America's defense industrial base and the high-tech advantage it provides to the American military.

"Look, I know I'm going from three to two cops in a very rough neighborhood; that's what I've been asked to do," Panetta told workers at a submarine plant in Connecticut last November.

"But if I can give those two cops the best technology in the world, the best weaponry in the world, the best submarines in the world, then we can protect that neighborhood."

His tact so far has kept the military chiefs behind him even as they prepare to absorb larger cuts than they wanted.

As the budget ax falls, Panetta may see sniping erupt among the services, whose chiefs looked characteristically stern as Obama made his appearance.

"The acrimony between the chiefs is about to break out. The competition for resources is going to get ugly," said a former senior Pentagon official.

(Additional reporting by Laura McInnis, David Alexander and Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/usmilitary/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120105/pl_nm/us_usa_military

kim jong il vaclav havel vaclav havel kim jong ii dead snapdragon snapdragon kim jong ill dead

Lenovo Debuts A Pair Of Ultrabooks, The $1599 ThinkPad X1 Hybrid And $849 ThinkPad T430u

Lenovo is serious about ultrabooks. The company just introduced two new ultrabooks that will live alongside the company's existing model, the ThinkPad X1. These three models put Lenovo in a unique position in the ultrabook game. While other companies are releasing their first ultrabooks, here's Lenovo, with a relatively large product offering including a high-end model and an attractive entry-level model.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ecpnDMSdvk0/

kobe bryant wife bonjovi dead amber portwood sam shepard sam shepard san francisco 49ers san francisco 49ers