Defensive stocks extend rally as caution sets in

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Tuesday, led by defensive sectors, in a sign the cash piles moving into the market recently are being put to use by cautious investors to pick up more gains.


The S&P 500 is on track to post its best monthly performance since October 2011 as investors poured $55 billion in new cash into stock mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in January, the biggest monthly inflow on record.


Among rising defensive shares, which are companies relatively immune to economic swings, were drugmaker Pfizer, up 1.2 percent to $27.16 and AT&T , 1.5 percent higher to $34.64.


The S&P hovered near 1,500, and market technicians say the benchmark is at a turning point which will determine if the index will keep moving higher or find it difficult to break through, resulting in a move lower in the near term.


"Cyclicals were moving very nicely, now you see balance with some of the defensives. Many managers use that as an internal hedge in equity portfolios," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.


She said the market is cautious ahead of Wednesday's statement following the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting. In addition, defensive stocks would hold up better if Friday's payrolls report surprises on the downside.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 57.42 points or 0.41 percent, to 13,939.35, the S&P 500 <.spx> gained 4.88 points or 0.33 percent, to 1,505.06 and the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> dropped 3.24 points or 0.1 percent, to 3,151.06.


The top performing sectors on the S&P 500 were healthcare <.spxhc> and telecom services <.splrcl>, both up more than 1 percent.


The equity gains have largely come on a strong start to earnings season, though results were mixed on Tuesday with Pfizer rising but Ford Motor Co dropping after its report.


Both companies reported profits that topped expectations, but Ford also forecast a wider loss in its European segment. Shares dropped 3.6 percent to $13.32 as one of the biggest percentage losers on the S&P 500.


Thomson Reuters data showed that of the 174 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings this season, 68.4 percent have been above analyst expectations, which is a higher proportion than over the past four quarters and above the average since 1994.


The Nasdaq was pressured by disappointing outlooks from Seagate Technology and BMC Software . Seagate shares lost 8.3 percent to $34.30 and BMC fell 8.5 percent to $40.70.


Software maker VMware Inc lost 20 percent to $78.26 also after a cautious 2013 outlook.


Amazon was the biggest drag on the Nasdaq with a 2 percent drop to $270.57 before its results, expected after the closing bell.


U.S. home prices rose in November to rack up their best yearly gain since the housing crisis began, a further sign that the sector is on the mend, but consumer confidence fell to its lowest level in more than a year in the wake of higher taxes for many Americans.


(Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)



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Violence flares in Egypt after emergency law imposed


CAIRO (Reuters) - A man was shot dead on Monday in a fifth day of violence that has killed 50 Egyptians and prompted the Islamist president to declare a state of emergency in an attempt to end a wave of unrest sweeping the biggest Arab nation.


Emergency rule announced by President Mohamed Mursi on Sunday covers the cities of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez. The army has already been deployed in two of those cities and ministers agreed a measure to let soldiers arrest civilians.


A cabinet source told Reuters any trials would be in civilian courts, but the step is likely to anger protesters who accuse Mursi of using high-handed tactics of the kind they fought against to oust his military predecessor Hosni Mubarak.


Egypt's politics have become deeply polarized since those heady days two years ago, when protesters were making the running in the Arab Spring revolutions that sent shockwaves through the region and Islamists and liberals lined up together.


Although Islamists have won parliamentary and presidential elections, the disparate opposition has since united against Mursi. Late last year he moved to expand his powers and pushed a constitution with a perceived Islamist bias through a referendum. The moves were punctuated by street violence.


Mursi's national dialogue meeting on Monday to help end the crisis was spurned by his main opponents.


They say Mursi hijacked the revolution, listens only to his Islamist allies and broke a promise to be a president for all Egyptians. Islamists say their rivals want to overthrow by undemocratic means Egypt's first freely elected leader.


Thousands of anti-Mursi protesters were out on the streets again in Cairo and elsewhere on Monday, the second anniversary of one of the bloodiest days in the revolution which erupted on January 25, 2011 and ended Mubarak's iron rule 18 days later.


"The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted Alexandria. "Leave means go, and don't say no!" they shouted.


VOLLEYS OF TEARGAS


Propelled to the presidency in a June election by the Muslim Brotherhood, Mursi has lurched through a series of political crises and violent demonstrations, complicating his task of shoring up the economy and of preparing for a parliamentary election to cement the new democracy in a few months.


Instability in Egypt has raised concerns in Western capitals, where officials worry about the direction of a key regional player that has a peace deal with Israel.


In Cairo on Monday, police fired volleys of teargas at stone-throwing protesters near Tahrir Square, cauldron of the anti-Mubarak uprising. A car was torched on a nearby bridge.


A 46-year-old bystander was killed by a gunshot early on Monday, a security source said. It was not clear who fired.


"We want to bring down the regime and end the state that is run by the Muslim Brotherhood," said Ibrahim Eissa, a 26-year-old cook, protecting his face from teargas wafting towards him.


The political unrest has been exacerbated by street violence linked to death penalties imposed on soccer supporters convicted of involvement in stadium rioting in Port Said a year ago.


As part of emergency measures, a daily curfew will be imposed on the three canal cities from 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) to 6 a.m. (0400 GMT). Residents have said they will defy it.


The president announced the measures on television on Sunday: "The protection of the nation is the responsibility of everyone. We will confront any threat to its security with force and firmness within the remit of the law," Mursi said, angering many of his opponents when he wagged his finger at the camera.


He offered condolences to families of victims. But his invitation to Islamist allies and their opponents to hold a national dialogue was spurned by the main opposition National Salvation Front coalition. Those who accepted were mostly Mursi's supporters or sympathizers.


SENDING A MESSAGE


The Front rejected the offer as "cosmetic and not substantive" and set conditions for any future meeting that have not been met in the past, such as forming a government of national unity. They also demanded that Mursi declare himself responsible for the bloodshed.


"We will send a message to the Egyptian people and the president of the republic about what we think are the essentials for dialogue. If he agrees to them, we are ready for dialogue," opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei told a news conference.


The opposition Front has distanced itself from the latest flare-ups but said Mursi should have acted far sooner to impose security measures that would have ended the violence.


"Of course we feel the president is missing the real problem on the ground, which is his own policies," Front spokesman Khaled Dawoud said after Mursi made his declaration.


Other activists said Mursi's measures to try to impose control on the turbulent streets could backfire.


"Martial law, state of emergency and army arrests of civilians are not a solution to the crisis," said Ahmed Maher of the April 6 movement that helped galvanize the 2011 uprising. "All this will do is further provoke the youth. The solution has to be a political one that addresses the roots of the problem."


Rights activists said Mursi's declaration was a backward step for Egypt, which was under emergency law for Mubarak's entire 30-year rule. His police used the sweeping arrest provisions to muzzle dissent and round up opponents, including members of the Brotherhood and even Mursi himself.


Heba Morayef of Human Rights Watch in Cairo said the police, still hated by many Egyptians for their heavy-handed tactics under Mubarak, would once again have the right to arrest people "purely because they look suspicious", undermining efforts to create a more efficient and respected police force.


"It is a classic knee-jerk reaction to think the emergency law will help bring security," she said. "It gives so much discretion to the Ministry of Interior that it ends up causing more abuse, which in turn causes more anger."


(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh in Cairo, Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia and Abdelrahman Youssef in Alexandria; Editing by Giles Elgood, Peter Millership and Alastair Macdonald)



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Siemens picks banks for two disposals: sources






FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Siemens AG has picked banks to organize the sale of two units as part of its efforts to streamline operations and stay competitive in a weak global economy, people familiar with the matter said.


Goldman Sachs Group Inc will advise the German conglomerate on the sale of its Water Technologies units, while Rothschild will oversee the divestment of its smaller security products arm, which makes access card readers and technology for intruder detection and surveillance, the sources said on Monday.






Siemens, Goldman and Rothschild all declined comment.


Siemens, which ranks as Germany’s second-most valuable company and which makes products ranging from trains to hearing aids, late last year announced the plan to divest several units in a bid to focus on its most profitable businesses.


It also aims to put itself in a better position to compete in core product areas with the likes of Switzerland’s ABB Ltd and U.S.-based General Electric Co.


Since then, several possible bidders for the water unit – which has annual sales of about 1 billion euros ($ 1.4 million) and employs 600 – have approached the Munich-based group and investment bankers have started to work on the possible sale, the sources said.


HATS IN THE RING


Siemens built up its water technology operations through a flurry of acquisitions over the last decade, buying the water systems and services division of U.S. Filter from Veolia Environnement for instance for $ 1 billion in 2004.


Since much of Siemens’s water business is focused on North America, industry sources expect U.S.-based peers Xylem Inc and Pentair Ltd to take a look at the asset.


“Asian companies are also likely to throw their hats into the ring,” one of the people said.


The region is experiencing rapid economic growth, climate change effects, rising populations and stricter energy and water regulations and is therefore expected to see heavy investment in water treatment equipment in coming years, he said.


Kurita Water Industries Ltd, Hyflux Ltd, Hitachi Ltd and Marubeni Corp are seen as possible suitors, he added.


Big private equity groups like KKR & Co LP, Bain and Permira are also expected to show interest.


Permira in 2011 bought Israel-based Netafim, a maker of irrigation technology, for 800 million euros.


Siemens Water Technologies offers products ranging from conventional water treatment to emergency water supply and water disinfection systems.


A report published in 2010 by Global Water Intelligence, an industry journal, put the size of the global water market at more than $ 500 billion.


Siemens shares were down 0.3 percent by 8.25 a.m, backtracking from a five-month high set last week, compared with a 0.1 percent drop in the main German index.


(Additional reporting by Jens Hack; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)


Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Barbara Walters Has Chicken Pox















01/28/2013 at 12:40 PM EST







Barbara Walters


Mark VonHolden/DMIPhoto.com/FilmMagic


While much of Hollywood is suffering from the flu, Barbara Walters has come down with the chicken pox.

The View host was hospitalized after injuring her head in a fall during inauguration festivities. She was transferred to a New York hospital late last week and remains there with her new infection.

"You all know that she fell and cut her head 10 days ago, and then was running a temperature, but it turns out it is all the result of a delayed childhood," her co-host Whoopi Goldberg explained on the air Monday.

"Barbara has the chicken pox. She'd never had it as a child," she continued. "So now she's been told to rest, she's not allowed any visitors, and we're telling you, Barbara, no scratching."

In a statement last week, Walters, 83, thanked her fans and "all the people who have called, written and been concerned about me."
– Charlotte Triggs

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Soldier who lost 4 limbs has double-arm transplant


The first soldier to survive after losing all four limbs in the Iraq war has received a double-arm transplant in Baltimore.


His father says Brendan Marrocco (muh-ROCK-oh) had the operation on Dec. 18 at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Marrocco is 26 and lives in New York City. He was injured by a roadside bomb in 2009.


He also received bone marrow from the same dead donor who supplied his new arms. That novel approach is aimed at helping his body accept the new limbs with minimal medication to prevent rejection.


It is the seventh double-hand or double-arm transplant done in the United States. The military is sponsoring operations like these to help wounded troops. About 300 have lost arms or hands in the wars.


Surgeons plan to discuss the transplant Tuesday.


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S&P 500 dips after rally, but Apple lifts Nasdaq

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Standard & Poor's 500 edged lower on Monday as a four-week rally stalled, while a rebound in Apple shares helped buoy the Nasdaq.


Caterpillar shares helped cap losses in the Dow industrials after the heavy equipment maker's outlook eased investors' fears about an economic slowdown in China. Caterpillar's shares rose 2.1 percent to $97.61.


The S&P 500 is coming off a streak of eight sessions of gains, the longest in eight years. On Friday, the major U.S. stock indexes closed a fourth straight week of gains with the S&P 500 ending the session above 1,500 for the first time in more than five years.


The rally has left the market vulnerable to a short-term pullback of up to 3 percent in the S&P 500 as bullish sentiment continues to rise, according to Richard Ross, Auerbach Grayson's global technical strategist.


"Still," Ross said, "we have a lot of momentum and nice seasonality, and technicals support the long-term bull market."


Data on Monday pointed to growing economic momentum as companies sensed improved consumer demand.


Thomson Reuters data showed that of the 150 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far, 67.3 percent have beaten analysts' expectations. Since 1994, 62 percent of companies have topped expectations, while the average over the past four quarters stands at 65 percent.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 4.34 points, or 0.03 percent, to 13,900.32.. The S&P 500 <.spx> shed 0.19 of a point, or 0.01 percent, to 1,502.77. The Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> added 11.40 points, or 0.36 percent, to 3,161.11.


Bargain hunters lifted Apple after the tech giant's stock dropped 14.4 percent in the previous two sessions. With Apple's stock up 2.8 percent at $452, the iPad and iPhone maker regained the title as the largest U.S. company by market capitalization as Exxon Mobil fell 0.9 percent to $90.90 and slipped back to second place.


"I think there is more downside in Apple if you did get a broad market pullback," Auerbach Grayson's Ross said.


"I'd be patient unless you're a trader. It might not be the most attractive entry point."


U.S. durable goods orders jumped 4.6 percent in December, a pace that far outstripped expectations for a rise of 1.8 percent. Pending home sales unexpectedly dropped 4.3 percent. Analysts were looking for an increase of 0.3 percent.


Equities have gained support from a recent agreement in Washington to extend the government's borrowing power. On Monday, Fitch Ratings said that agreement removed the near-term risk to the country's 'AAA' rating.


Hess Corp shares shot up 5.7 percent to $62.27 after the company said it would exit its refining business, freeing up to $1 billion of capital. Separately, hedge fund Elliott Associates is looking for approval to buy about $800 million more in Hess stock.


Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc said a late-stage trial of its experimental kidney disease drug met the main study goal, and its shares soared nearly 60 percent to $5.45.


(Editing by Jan Paschal)



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Nightclub fire kills at least 232 in Brazil


SANTA MARIA, Brazil (Reuters) - A fire in a nightclub killed at least 232 people in southern Brazil on Sunday when a band's pyrotechnics show set the building ablaze and fleeing partygoers stampeded toward blocked and overcrowded exits in the ensuing panic, officials said.


The blaze in the university town of Santa Maria was started by a band member or someone from its production team igniting a flare, which then set fire to the ceiling, said Luiza Sousa, a civil police official. The fire spread "in seconds," she said.


Local fire officials said at least one exit was locked and that bouncers, who at first thought those fleeing were trying to skip out on bar tabs, initially blocked patrons from leaving. The security staff relented only when they saw flames engulfing the ceiling.


The vast majority of the victims, most of them university students, died from asphyxiation, officials said. Others were crushed in the stampede.


"We ran into a barrier of the dead at the building's exit," Colonel Guido Pedroso de Melo, commander of the Santa Maria fire squad, said of the scene firefighters found on arrival. "We had to clear a path to get to the rest of those that were inside."


An estimated 500 people were in the Boate Kiss nightclub when the fire broke out at around 2:30 a.m., police said. Witnesses said the club, which has a 2,000-person capacity, was always busy on weekends but wasn't any more crowded than usual.


The death tally was lowered slightly, with police saying at midafternoon that 232 people had been killed, down from an initial figure of 245.


When the fire began, many revelers were unable to find their way out amid the chaos, confusing restroom doors for exits and finding resistance from bouncers when they did find an exit door.


"It all happened so fast," survivor Taynne Vendrusculo told GloboNews TV. "Both the panic and the fire spread rapidly, in seconds."


Once security guards realized the building was on fire, they tried in vain to control the blaze with a fire extinguisher, according to a televised interview with one of the guards, Rodrigo Moura. He said patrons were getting trampled as they rushed for the doors, describing it as "a horror film."


Television footage showed people sobbing outside the club before dawn, while shirtless firefighters used sledge hammers and axes to knock down an exterior wall to open up an exit.


SAFETY STANDARDS IN SPOTLIGHT


Rescue officials moved the bodies to a local gymnasium, where the deceased were segregated by gender. Male victims were easier to identify, they said, because most of them, unlike the women, whose purses were left scattered in the devastated nightclub, had identification on them.


One of the club's owners had already surrendered to police for questioning, GloboNews reported.


President Dilma Rousseff, who started her political career in the Rio Grande do Sul state where the fire happened, cut short a visit to Chile to return to visit the scene. Before leaving Chile, she broke out in tears as she pledged government help for the victims and their families.


"We are trying to mobilize all possible resources to help in the rescue efforts," Rousseff said. "All I can say at the moment is that my feelings are of deep sorrow."


The disaster recalls other incidents including a 2003 fire at a nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, that killed 100, and a Buenos Aires nightclub blaze in 2004 that killed nearly 200. In both incidents, a band or members of the audience ignited fires that set the establishment ablaze.


Brazil's safety standards and emergency response capabilities are under particular scrutiny as it prepares to host the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympics.


Santa Maria, with a population of more than 275,000, is about 186 miles west of the state capital of Porto Alegre.


Rio Grande do Sul state's health secretary, Ciro Simoni, said emergency medical supplies from all over the state were being sent to the scene.


(Additional reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal, Gustavo Bonato, Jeferson Ribeiro, Eduardo Simões and Brian Winter; Writing by Paulo Prada; Editing by Todd Benson, Kieran Murray and Eric Beech)



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CDC: Flu seems to level off except in the West


New government figures show that flu cases seem to be leveling off nationwide. Flu activity is declining in most regions although still rising in the West.


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hospitalizations and deaths spiked again last week, especially among the elderly. The CDC says quick treatment with antiviral medicines is important, in particular for the very young or old. The season's first flu case resistant to treatment with Tamiflu was reported Friday.


Eight more children have died from the flu, bringing this season's total pediatric deaths to 37. About 100 children die in an average flu season.


There is still vaccine available although it may be hard to find. The CDC has a website that can help.


___


CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/


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Scandal-hit Monte Paschi seeks new investor to revive bank


MILAN (Reuters) - Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena is seeking a financial investor to help revive the ailing lender and will remove a current cap on voting rights to help raise 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion), its chairman said.


"I would like to have a long-term financial investor," Alessandro Profumo told Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore in an interview published on Sunday. "Nationality is not a problem. The important thing is that it believes in our project".


Late on Saturday the Bank of Italy gave its approval to Monte Paschi's request for 3.9 billion euros ($5.3 billion) of state loans, which Profumo said would be issued by February.


The central bank's backing was the final stage required to free up the financial help for Italy's third-biggest lender, which this week revealed loss-making derivatives trades that could cost it about 720 million euros.


In October, investors cleared a 1 billion euro share issue as part of its business plan, which Profumo said would be launched by the end of 2015.


Shareholders in the world's oldest bank on Friday approved two additional capital boosting measures for a combined 6.5 billion euros to be used in case the bank is not able to pay back the loans and interest with cash.


Profumo said he was confident the bank would generate enough cash to pay back the state bailout over the next five years and may not need to turn to investors to raise the 6.5 billion euros, which he described "theoretical" guarantees.


"We believe in this. The objective is to return to profits already during the course of this year," he said.


The bank will remove its current 4 percent cap to voting rights before launching the 1 billion euro cash call, he added. The move would encourage investors who could end up with more than 4 percent stakes to participate.


The scandal around opaque Monte Paschi trades is widening fast and Italian media have reported that public prosecutors are investigating a large number of derivatives contracts.


The issue has shot to the centre of the campaign for next month's national election and has prompted questions about how the deals, which were conducted between 2006 and 2009 and involved Japanese bank Nomura and Deutsche Bank, could have been hidden from regulators.


Monte Paschi was already under investigation over its 9 billion euro cash acquisition of smaller lender Antonveneta from Spain's Santander in 2007.


In an interview with La Repubblica daily on Sunday, Monte Paschi Chief Executive Fabrizio Viola said he had no evidence at this time that any crime had been committed, but the bank would not hesitate to protect its interests by taking legal action should any crime be ascertained by judges. ($1 = 0.7421 euros)


(Reporting By Danilo Masoni; Editing by Alison Birrane and Jane Baird)



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