HP lifts Wall Street, S&P on pace for first weekly loss of year

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Friday, rebounding off two days of losses as Dow component Hewlett-Packard surged on strong results, but the S&P 500 was on track to end a seven-week-long streak of gains.

The S&P shed 1.9 percent over the previous two sessions, its worst two-day drop since early November, putting the index on pace for its first weekly decline of the year. The retreat was triggered when the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes for January suggested stimulus measures may be halted sooner than thought.

Still, the index is up nearly 6 percent for the year and held the 1,500 support level despite the recent declines, a sign of a positive bias in the market.

"The market is addicted to Fed stimulus and gets withdrawal shakes every time that's threatened, but now we're resuming our course and remain much more attractively valued than other asset classes," said Rex Macey, chief investment officer at Wilmington Trust in Atlanta, Georgia.

Hewlett-Packard Co jumped 9.6 percent to $18.74 as the top boost on both the Dow and S&P 500 after the PC maker's quarterly revenue and forecasts beat expectations. The company cut costs under Chief Executive Meg Whitman's turnaround plan. The S&P technology sector <.splrct> was up 0.8 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 69.41 points, or 0.50 percent, at 13,950.03. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 7.74 points, or 0.52 percent, at 1,510.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 18.26 points, or 0.58 percent, at 3,149.75.

For the week, the Dow is off 0.2 percent in its third straight week of slight losses, the S&P is off 0.6 percent and the Nasdaq is off 1.3 percent.

Also buoying tech stocks were gains in semiconductor companies after Marvell Technology Group Ltd forecast results this quarter that were largely above analysts' expectations. Marvell gained market share in the hard-disk drive and flash-storage businesses. The stock rose 2.5 percent to $9.71.

In addition, Texas Instruments Inc raised its dividend by a third and boosted its stock buyback program, lifting shares 5.1 percent to $34.16 while the PHLX semiconductor index <.sox> gained 1.8 percent.

"Dividends growing are another way the market's level is justified, if not especially attractive at these levels," said Macey, who manages about $20 billion in assets.

On the downside, Abercrombie & Fitch dropped 7.6 percent to $45.34 after the clothing retailer reported a drop in fourth-quarter comparable sales, even as its latest quarterly earnings topped estimates.

Insurer American International Group Inc posted fourth-quarter results that beat analysts' expectations. Shares advanced 3 percent to $38.43.

According to Thomson Reuters data through Friday morning, of 439 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results, 70 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, compared with a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters.

Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 6 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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Deadly Bombings Hit Southern India City

Mahesh Kumar A/Associated Press

A member of the bomb squad with a sniffer dog arrived at a blast site in Hyderabad on Thursday.

NEW DELHI — Two bombs planted on bicycles killed at least 11 people and wounded 50 in a busy shopping district in the southern India city of Hyderabad at the height of rush hour Thursday night in what officials said may have been a coordinated attack.

Sushil Kumar Shinde, India’s home affairs minister, told journalists in New Delhi that the bicycles had been 150 meters away from each other at the time of the explosions in the Dilsukh Nagar neighborhood, which happened about 10 minutes apart, killing eight at one site and three at the other. The neighborhood is packed with shops, restaurants, theaters and a huge produce market.

Mr. Shinde said the central government had warned state governments that such an attack was planned. “We have had some information for the last two days of such an incident,” he said.

“At this stage it is difficult to say more,” he said. He warned that the death toll may go up.

“This is a dastardly attack, the guilty will not go unpunished,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a Twitter message.

Hyderabad, one of India’s largest cities and capital of Andhra Pradesh state, is a leading center of the country’s burgeoning pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

The blast sites, one near a theater, were soon mobbed by protesters, politicians, reporters and the curious. Television news footage in the hours afterward showed chaotic scenes with some investigators trying to find the remains of explosive devices while huge numbers of people jostled for space around them.

The presence of government officials, who come with enormous entourages and their own police squads, was portrayed by NDTV-News as particularly unhelpful.

“We’ve seen political leaders come into the area and hold press conferences,” the anchor on NDTV said. “That’s the last thing they should be doing.”

Kiran Kumar Reddy, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, held a news conference away from the scene late Thursday night and asked people to stay away from the blast areas. Renuka Chowdhury, a leader of the Indian National Congress Party, pleaded with other politicians to stay away as well.

“I really wish politicians would recognize this,” Ms. Chowdhury said.

The money and resources spent on protecting bureaucrats and politicians has become a source of increasing controversy in India, especially in the wake of a highly publicized gang-rape case in December in New Delhi. But Indian politicians, like those elsewhere, often compete with each other to show who is tougher on acts of terrorism and other crimes.

Hyderabad has been the site of frequent bombings in recent years, particularly those using home-made explosives.

In May 2007, 13 people died after a bomb went off at the Mecca Masjid, including some who were killed in clashes between the police and Muslim protesters afterward. In August 2007, a pair of synchronized explosions tore through two popular gathering spots in Hyderabad, killing at least 42 and wounding dozens. Police found and defused 19 more bombs in the hours after the blasts, left at bus stops, theaters, pedestrian bridges and intersections.

In the immediate aftermath of such attacks, a common worry is that one religious community will blame another and attack them. Such sectarian-inspired riots have long plagued India.

Asked in a news conference if he believed that Muslim extremists were to blame for the bicycle blasts, Mr. Shinde said:

“We have to investigate. We should not come to conclusion immediately.”

The country’s prime minister sought to allay anger over the blasts.

“I appeal to the public to remain calm and maintain peace,” he said.

Asaduddin Owaisi, a Muslim member of Parliament from Hyderabad, called the blasts “a cowardly dastardly act.”

“I feel that the priority is to maintain peace,” he said. “Let us not fall pray to rumors.”

Hari Kumar contributed reporting.

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Scott and Lauren Sterling Adopt Five Peruvian Siblings

Heroes Among Us

By Ken Lee

02/21/2013 at 01:45 PM EST

Left to right: Gershon, 15; Joel, 11; Lauren, 30; Scott, 43; Sibila, 9; Yhonson, 17; Betsi, 12; Laney, 3; and Logan, 19

Courtesy The Sterling Family

Two years ago, Scott and Lauren Sterling were sitting in their Blue Springs, Mo., home when an email landed in their inbox with an eye-catching subject line: "Hi, we need a daddy and mommy."

That email, sent a world away from a small orphanage in Pacasmayo, Peru – and written by a fellow member of the couple's church where Scott, 43, is an associate pastor – introduced them to five siblings, then ages 7 to 15, who had lost both parents to tuberculosis about eight years ago. Because the children refused to be split up, the kids' chances of finding new parents were slim.

"Our first thought was, someone rich ought to adopt these beautiful kids," says Lauren, 30, a job recruiter who was already a mom to daughter Laney, now 3, and stepmom to Logan, 19, Scott's daughter from a previous marriage. "But over the next few months, we realized, why not us?"

The Sterlings began a year-long process to legally adopt the five siblings, which involved Skype chats with the kids, reams of paperwork, and $20,000 raised by the Sterlings' church to help with adoption fees. "It's very unusual to find a family willing to take in so many siblings," says Pat Baldwin, director of international programs at Villa Hope, which oversaw the adoption. "What the Sterlings have done is a true act of love.

In Nov. 2012, the Sterlings flew down to the orphanage to meet Yhonson, now 17, Gerson, 15, Betsi, 12, Joel, 11, and Sibila, 9, in person for the first time and to bring them back to the States.

"The girls came running to us from a distance and jumped into Scott's arms," recalls Lauren. Adds Yhonson, who speaks limited English: "We were so happy. It was very emotional. We waited so long to be together."

The new family returned to Missouri just a few days after Christmas and were greeted by friends and neighbors who had stocked the Sterlings' kitchen with food, repainted their bedrooms, and set up a Christmas tree loaded with presents for the kids.

"Our home is now a mixture of Spanish, English and Spanglish thrown in and we use Google Translate a lot," says Lauren. "People say these kids are lucky to have us, but we're the ones who're lucky to have them."

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

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Flu shot did poor job against worst bug in seniors

ATLANTA (AP) — For those 65 and older, this season's flu shot is only 9 percent effective against the most common and dangerous flu bug, according to a startling new government report.

Flu vaccine tends to protect younger people better than older ones and never works as well as other kinds of vaccines. But experts say the preliminary results for seniors are disappointing and highlight the need for a better vaccine.

For all age groups, the vaccine's effectiveness is moderate at 56 percent, which is nearly as well as other flu seasons, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

For those 65 and older, it is 27 percent effective against the three strains in the vaccine, the lowest in about a decade but not far below from what's expected. But the vaccine did a particularly poor job of protecting older people against the harshest flu strain, which is causing most of the illnesses this year. CDC officials say it's not clear why.

Vaccinations are now recommended for anyone over 6 months, and health officials stress that some vaccine protection is better than none at all. While it's likely that older people who were vaccinated are still getting sick, many of them may be getting less severe symptoms.

"Year in and year out, the vaccine is the best protection we have," said CDC flu expert Dr. Joseph Bresee.

To be sure, the preliminary data for seniors is less than definitive. It is based on fewer than 300 people scattered among five states.

But it will no doubt surprise many people that the effectiveness is that low, said Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota infectious disease expert who has tried to draw attention to the need for a more effective flu vaccine.

Among infectious diseases, flu is considered one of the nation's leading killers. On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.

This flu season started in early December, a month earlier than usual, and peaked by the end of year. Older people are most vulnerable to flu and its complications, and the nation has seen some of the highest hospitalization rates for people 65 and older in a decade.

Flu viruses tend to mutate more quickly than others, and it's not unusual for multiple strains to be spreading at the same time. A new vaccine is formulated each year targeting the three strains expected to be the major threats. But that involves guesswork.

Because of these challenges, scientists tend to set a lower bar for flu vaccine. While childhood vaccines against diseases like measles are expected to be 90 or 95 percent effective, a flu vaccine that's 60 to 70 percent effective in the U.S. is considered pretty good.

By that standard, this year's vaccine is OK. The 56 percent effectiveness figure means people have a 56 percent lower chance of winding up at the doctor for treatment of flu symptoms.

For seniors, a flu vaccine is considered pretty good if it's in the 30 to 40 percent range, said Dr. Arnold Monto, a University of Michigan flu expert.

Older people have weaker immune systems that don't respond as well to flu shots. That's why a high-dose version was recently made available for those 65 and older. The new study was too small to show whether that made a difference this year.

The CDC estimates are based on about 2,700 people who got sick in December and January. The researchers traced back to see who had gotten flu shots and who hadn't. An earlier study put the vaccine's overall effectiveness slightly higher, at 62 percent.

The CDC's Bresee said there's a danger in providing preliminary results because it may result in people doubting — or skipping — flu shots. But the data was released to warn older people who got shots that they may still get sick and shouldn't ignore any serious flu-like symptoms, he said.

The new data highlights an evolution in how experts are evaluating flu vaccine effectiveness. For years, it was believed that if the viruses in the vaccine matched the ones spreading around the country, then the vaccine would be effective. This year's shot was a good match to the bugs going around this winter, including the harsher H3N2 that tends to make people sicker.

But the season proved to be a moderately severe one, with many illnesses occurring in people who'd been vaccinated.

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Online:

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

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Wall Street drops again, data raises growth concerns

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Thursday and were on track for their biggest two-day decline since November as weak data suggested expectations for economic growth were overly optimistic.

The two-day decline marked the U.S. stock market's first sustained pullback this year. The Standard & Poor's 500 is up 5.2 percent so far this year. The benchmark index has climbed for seven straight weeks, putting it near five-year highs.

In the latest economic data, 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.

"The Philly Fed report was troublingly weak, and adds to concerns about whether growth will remain up," said Brad Sorensen, director of market and sector analysis at Charles Schwab in Denver. "The only growth we're seeing is sluggish."

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted their worst daily declines of the year after the minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting sparked concerns that the central bank may rein in its economic stimulus measures.

"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 1,473.58.

Other reports showed consumer prices were flat in January while existing-home sales edged higher and left the inventory of homes at the lowest level in 13 years.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc shares gained 2.5 percent to $70.94 and helped curb the Dow's decline after the world's largest retailer reported earnings that beat expectations, though early February sales were sluggish.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 70.03 points, or 0.50 percent, at 13,857.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 11.23 points, or 0.74 percent, at 1,500.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 36.50 points, or 1.15 percent, at 3,127.92.

The benchmark S&P 500 index has dropped 1.9 percent over the past two sessions, the biggest two-day decline since November.

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 1.8 percent. Intel Corp fell 2.2 percent to $20.27 while Advanced Micro Devices lost 4.8 percent to $2.57 as the S&P's biggest percentage decliner.

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

In company news, shares of supermarket operator Safeway Inc jumped 13.4 percent to $22.83 and ranked as the S&P 500's top percentage gainer 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 17.3 percent to $45.25 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 $37.33.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry and Jan Paschal)

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Tibetan Teenagers Die in Double Self-Immolation

Two Tibetan teenagers killed themselves by self-immolation on Tuesday to protest Chinese rule in Tibet, according to reports on Wednesday by a Tibet advocacy group and Radio Free Asia. The two were among the youngest Tibetans to kill themselves in protest, and the act was a rare instance in which Tibetans committed self-immolation together.

The teenagers were identified as Rinchen, 17, who went by only one name, and Sonam Dargye, 18. They had been elementary school classmates in Sichuan Province, in western China, according to Radio Free Asia, which is financed by the United States government. They killed themselves in Ngaba Prefecture, or Aba in Chinese, which has a large Tibetan population and has been at the epicenter of the self-immolation protests.

At least 104 Tibetans have self-immolated since 2009 in protests against China. Since a widespread Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in 2008, tensions between Tibetans and Chinese officials have been high across the Tibetan plateau, and officials have deployed large numbers of security forces, mostly ethnic Han, who rule China, in the crucial areas of the region.

Twenty of the self-immolators have been 18 or younger, according to statistics compiled by the International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group based in Washington.

Free Tibet, an advocacy group based in London, said the two teenagers who killed themselves on Tuesday had died at the scene of their self-immolation at about 9:30 p.m., and that their families had retrieved the bodies.

On Sunday, a Tibetan man, Namlha Tsering, 49, set himself on fire in the main street of Labrang, an important monastery town in Gansu Province. A photograph released by Tibet advocacy groups shows a man aflame and sitting in the street. Another photo shows security troops in riot gear marching in a street in Labrang, known as Xiahe in Chinese. The reports said the man was from a nomadic area.

The self-immolations began with monks, mostly from Kirti Monastery, in Ngaba. Since then, the profile of Tibetans who have self-immolated has widened. They have included women, middle-aged parents and nomads. Tibetans have self-immolated together a handful of other times, including in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and in Ngaba.

The Chinese government has blamed outside forces for the self-immolations, particularly the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of the Tibetans, who is regarded by China as a subversive. The Dalai Lama’s supporters have denied such accusations.

“Beijing should stop playing blame game,” Lobsang Sangay, the prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile, which is based in Dharamsala, India, said in an e-mail last week. “Instead, it should thoroughly overhaul its failed hard-line policies, which are the main cause of the self-immolations.”

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Scarlett Johansson Is Not Engaged to Romain Dauriac

Buzz

By Maggie Coughlan

02/20/2013 at 01:50 PM EST

Scarlett Johansson and Romain Dauriac

Elder Ordonez/INF

Is Scarlett Johansson headed down the aisle?

After the Hitchcock actress, 28, was spotted wearing a pear-shaped diamond ring in New York City on Monday, rumors began to swirl that Johansson and her French journalist beau, Romain Dauriac, may have taken their relationship to the next level.

But a rep for Johansson says she's not walking down the aisle.

"Scarlett is absolutely not engaged," her rep tells PEOPLE.

Even Johansson has said she isn't rushing to tie the knot, as she recently told ELLE UK that marriage is "really not important" to her.

"The only time I ever think about it is when people ask me, 'Would I get married again?' " she said at the time.

But Johansson – who was married to Ryan Reynolds for just over two years before divorcing in 2010 – recalled fond memories of her previous relationship.

She explained, "I got married when I was young and it was incredibly romantic and I liked being married, actually. But it is different. It's hard to put into words."

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Drug overdose deaths up for 11th consecutive year

CHICAGO (AP) — Drug overdose deaths rose for the 11th straight year, federal data show, and most of them were accidents involving addictive painkillers despite growing attention to risks from these medicines.

"The big picture is that this is a big problem that has gotten much worse quickly," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gathered and analyzed the data.

In 2010, the CDC reported, there were 38,329 drug overdose deaths nationwide. Medicines, mostly prescription drugs, were involved in nearly 60 percent of overdose deaths that year, overshadowing deaths from illicit narcotics.

The report appears in Tuesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

It details which drugs were at play in most of the fatalities. As in previous recent years, opioid drugs — which include OxyContin and Vicodin — were the biggest problem, contributing to 3 out of 4 medication overdose deaths.

Frieden said many doctors and patients don't realize how addictive these drugs can be, and that they're too often prescribed for pain that can be managed with less risky drugs.

They're useful for cancer, "but if you've got terrible back pain or terrible migraines," using these addictive drugs can be dangerous, he said.

Medication-related deaths accounted for 22,134 of the drug overdose deaths in 2010.

Anti-anxiety drugs including Valium were among common causes of medication-related deaths, involved in almost 30 percent of them. Among the medication-related deaths, 17 percent were suicides.

The report's data came from death certificates, which aren't always clear on whether a death was a suicide or a tragic attempt at getting high. But it does seem like most serious painkiller overdoses were accidental, said Dr. Rich Zane, chair of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

The study's findings are no surprise, he added. "The results are consistent with what we experience" in ERs, he said, adding that the statistics no doubt have gotten worse since 2010.

Some experts believe these deaths will level off. "Right now, there's a general belief that because these are pharmaceutical drugs, they're safer than street drugs like heroin," said Don Des Jarlais, director of the chemical dependency institute at New York City's Beth Israel Medical Center.

"But at some point, people using these drugs are going to become more aware of the dangers," he said.

Frieden said the data show a need for more prescription drug monitoring programs at the state level, and more laws shutting down "pill mills" — doctor offices and pharmacies that over-prescribe addictive medicines.

Last month, a federal panel of drug safety specialists recommended that Vicodin and dozens of other medicines be subjected to the same restrictions as other narcotic drugs like oxycodone and morphine. Meanwhile, more and more hospitals have been establishing tougher restrictions on painkiller prescriptions and refills.

One example: The University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora is considering a rule that would ban emergency doctors from prescribing more medicine for patients who say they lost their pain meds, Zane said.

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Stobbe reported from Atlanta.

___

Online:

JAMA: http://www.jama.ama-assn.org

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com

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U.S. General Picked for Top NATO Military Post Will Retire

WASHINGTON — General John R. Allen, who served until earlier this month as the top United States commander in Afghanistan, will retire from the military to focus on “health issues within his family,” President Obama said Tuesday.

In January, General Allen was officially cleared of misconduct by the Pentagon after an investigation into his exchange of e-mails with a socialite in Tampa, Fla., and Mr. Obama had nominated him to be the supreme commander of NATO.

“I told General Allen that he has my deep, personal appreciation for his extraordinary service over the last 19 months in Afghanistan, as well as his decades of service in the United States Marine Corps,” Mr. Obama said in a statement. “John Allen is one of America’s finest military leaders, a true patriot, and a man I have come to respect greatly.”

General Allen, a highly decorated officer, was caught up in the scandal that led to the resignation of David H. Petraeus as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. General Allen had gotten to know the socialite, Jill Kelley, when he was head of the Central Command in Tampa.

General Joseph F. Dunford Jr. succeeded General Allen as commander of both the American and intermational military forces in Afghanistan in a ceremony in Kabul on Feb. 10.

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Jenna Bush Hager Honors Her Grandfather for President's Day

Caught in the Act

02/19/2013 at 01:35 PM EST

Henry Hager and Jenna Bush Hager

Courtesy Sea Island

Both Jenna Bush Hager's father and grandfather served as Presidents of the United States, so it comes as no surprise that President's Day weekend holds special meaning for her.

This year, the NBC news correspondent – who will become a first-time mom this spring – headed to Sea Island, a five-star resort on the coast of Georgia, with her husband of nearly five years, Henry Hager, to honor her grandfather George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara, who honeymooned there in 1945.

George H.W. and Barbara Bush

George Bush Presidential Library and Museum

On Saturday night, the former First Daughter and her husband represented her grandparents at a special President's Day dinner, featuring favorite dishes of U.S. Presidents who have visited Sea Island – and they even cut a cake reminiscent of the one her grandparents served at their wedding.

For the rest of their stay, the Hagers turned the trip into a mini-babymoon: while Jenna relaxed at the spa – and took a prenatal yoga class with a pal – Henry and his friends played golf on the resort grounds.

– Lesley Messer

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