Dow ends at record again, S&P posts 7th straight gain

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street rose modestly on Monday, lifting the Dow to another record and giving the S&P 500 its seventh straight advance as early weakness enticed buyers. The gains briefly lifted the benchmark S&P 500 index to its highest intraday level since October 2007.

With the slight advance, U.S. stocks continued last week's rally with the Dow Jones industrial average ending at a record closing high, up 50.22 points, or 0.35 percent, at 14,447.29. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 5.04 points, or 0.32 percent, to 1,556.22, just below its record closing high of 1,565.15 reached on October 9, 2007.

Earlier in the session the S&P 500 climbed as high as 1,556.27 - its highest intraday level since October 15, 2007.

The Dow has gained over 10 percent for the year, while the S&P 500 is up more than 9 percent.

The Nasdaq Composite Index added 8.51 points, or 0.26 percent, to close at 3,252.87.

Meanwhile, Wall Street's "fear gauge" closed at its lowest level since February 2007, suggesting investors were not spooked by Monday's brief pullback, despite expectations by many investors that a correction may be looming. The CBOE Volatility Index, known as the VIX, dropped 8.2 percent to 11.56.

U.S. equities have rallied since the start of the year, helped by signs of improvement in the economy and the support of equities by the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program. These factors have contained recent pullbacks as investors have used them as a buying opportunity.

"These dips are consistently bought. There is definitely a soft floor for the market," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey.

"It's a QE bid," Kenny said, referring to the Fed's policy of keeping short-term interest rates near zero since late 2008. "Quite frankly, earnings have not disappointed to the point where it is has been disrupted, and there is nothing out there that seems to be getting in the way of this slow but very consistent and methodical drift higher in the market."

But volume was light, with about 5.39 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE MKT and Nasdaq, below the daily average of 6.47 billion, suggesting the rally may be losing steam.

Wall Street had traded slightly lower earlier in the day as Italy's credit downgrade and disappointing Chinese economic data gave investors a reason to pause.

Earlier in the session, the Dow reached another lifetime intraday high, rising as high as 14,448.06.

Boeing Co rose to $83.03, its highest level since May 2008, after the U.S. aircraft manufacturer said strong demand was prompting it to increase its production rates of commercial planes. The stock, which rose 2 percent to $82.94 at the close, was the Dow's biggest percentage gainer. Boeing also gave the biggest boost to the Dow in Monday's session.

The U.S.-listed shares of BlackBerry surged 14.1 percent to $14.90 after AT&T said it will start selling the company's new BlackBerry Z10 touchscreen smartphone in the United States on March 22.

Dell Inc has agreed to give Carl Icahn a closer look at its books less than a week after the activist investor joined a growing chorus of opposition to founder Michael Dell's plan to take the world's No. 3 personal computer maker private. Dell shares gained 1.5 percent to $14.37, above the take-private offer price of $13.65.

Genworth Financial Inc shares jumped 6.7 percent to $10.50 following a report by Barron's that the mortgage insurer's stock could almost double in the next year, boosted by gains in mortgage and healthcare pricing.

In contrast, Dick's Sporting Goods Inc tumbled 10.8 percent to $45.11 after the retailer reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter results and gave a disappointing forecast.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1,586 to 1,375, while on the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners by 1,254 to 1,192.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal and Diane Craft)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-st-slips-china-data-italy-downgrade-134048498--finance.html

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Your chances of dying by 2023? Test offers a clue

In this March 1, 2013 photo, Dr. Marisa Cruz is photographed at the University of San Francisco VA Medical Center in San Francisco. Cruz is the lead author of a study showing that a 12-item list of health questions can help predict chances for dying within 10 years for patients aged 50 and older. The ?mortality index? is designed for doctor-patient discussions about which treatments may be too risky for patients with limited life expectancy. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

In this March 1, 2013 photo, Dr. Marisa Cruz is photographed at the University of San Francisco VA Medical Center in San Francisco. Cruz is the lead author of a study showing that a 12-item list of health questions can help predict chances for dying within 10 years for patients aged 50 and older. The ?mortality index? is designed for doctor-patient discussions about which treatments may be too risky for patients with limited life expectancy. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

CHICAGO (AP) ? Want to know your chances of dying in the next 10 years? Here are some bad signs: getting winded walking several blocks, smoking, and having trouble pushing a chair across the room.

That's according to a "mortality index" developed by San Francisco researchers for people older than 50.

The test scores may satisfy people's morbid curiosity, but the researchers say their 12-item index is mostly for use by doctors. It can help them decide whether costly health screenings or medical procedures are worth the risk for patients unlikely to live 10 more years.

It's best to take the test with a doctor, who can discuss what the score means in the context of patients' own medical history, the study authors say.

The index "wasn't meant as guidance about how to alter your lifestyle," said lead author Dr. Marisa Cruz of the University of California, San Francisco.

Instead, doctors can use the results to help patients understand the pros and cons of such things as rigorous diabetes treatment, colon cancer screening and tests for cervical cancer. Those may not be safe or appropriate for very sick, old people likely to die before cancer ever develops.

The 12 items on the index are assigned points; fewer total points means better odds.

? Men automatically get 2 points. In addition to that, men and women ages 60 to 64 get 1 point; ages 70 to 74 get 3 points; and 85 or over get 7 points.

? Two points each: a current or previous cancer diagnosis, excluding minor skin cancers; lung disease limiting activity or requiring oxygen; heart failure; smoking; difficulty bathing; difficulty managing money because of health or memory problem; difficulty walking several blocks.

? One point each: diabetes or high blood sugar; difficulty pushing large objects, such as a heavy chair; being thin or normal weight.

The highest, or worst, score is a 26, with a 95 percent chance of dying within 10 years. To get that, you'd have to be a man at least 85 years old with all the above conditions.

For a score of zero, which means a 3 percent chance of dying within 10 years, you'd have to be a woman younger than 60 without any of those infirmities ? but at least slightly overweight.

It's hardly surprising that a sick, older person would have a much higher chance of dying than someone younger and more vigorous, and it's well known that women generally live longer than men. But why would being overweight be less risky than being of normal weight or slim?

One possible reason is that thinness in older age could be a sign of illness, Cruz said.

Other factors could also play a role, so the index should be seen as providing clues but not the gospel truth, the research suggests.

The findings were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Grants from the National Institute on Aging and the American Federation for Aging Research helped pay for the study.

The researchers created the index by analyzing data on almost 20,000 Americans over 50 who took part in a national health survey in 1998. They tracked the participants for 10 years. Nearly 6,000 participants died during that time.

They previously used the test to predict the risk of dying within four years. They said their new effort shows the same index can be used to predict 10-year mortality.

Dr. Stephan Fihn, a University of Washington professor of medicine and health quality measurement specialist with Veterans Affairs health services in Seattle, said the index seems valid and "methodologically sound."

But he said it probably would be most accurate for the oldest patients, who don't need a scientific crystal ball to figure out their days are numbered.

___

Online:

Mortality test: bit.ly/QeOX23 (p. 807)

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

___

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

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-03-06-Aging%20America-Predicting%20Death/id-e3766ef312114378afb56baa34ffbb3e

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The Vatican as the TV show Dallas (video) (Americablog)

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What media blackout? Cardinal tweets conclave near

Max Rossi / Reuters

Cardinal Roger Mahony, shown here arriving at Saint Peter's Basilica on Wednesday, says a conclave date will be set soon.

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

American Cardinal Roger Mahony tweeted Thursday that his fellow princes of the church are close to setting a date for the conclave that will choose the next pope.

"Days of General Congregations reaching a conclusion. Setting of date for Conclave nearing. Mood of excitement prevails among Cardinals," wrote Mahony, who was stripped of his public duties in January over his handling of sex abuse claims in Los Angeles. He still retains a vote in the conclave.

Andrew Medichini / AP

Vietnamese Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man arrives at the Vatican on Thursday. He was the last of the 115th electors to arrive in Rome for the conclave.

Mahony took to Twitter a day after all cardinals agreed to a media blackout after concern was raised that some of them -- chiefly the Americans, who held two press briefings -- were talking too much.

His prediction that the pre-conclave meetings known as general congregations were almost over came as the the last of 115 voting cardinals finally arrived in Rome from Vietnam.

The cardinals have been meeting each day since Monday to discuss church business under an oath of secrecy. After Thursday's morning session, they announced no conclave date had been set.

The three-hour meeting focused instead on a report from the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, about the state of Vatican finances. Sixteen cardinals spoke, some of them about what attributes the next pontiff should have.

The cardinals are having an afternoon session Thursday and a conclave date could be announced then.

Vatican watchers have said that the insider cardinals who control the Roman Curia, the bureaucracy of the Vatican, are hoping for a quick conclave to keep outsider candidates from coming to the fore.

NBC News' Claudio Lavanga contributed to this report.

Related:

Riots, revenge and royal rigging: A history of controversial conclaves

Will Catholics embrace change? The view from one parish in Rome

Vatican spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi, announced Thursday that no date for the conclave was established at the morning session of the cardinals' general congregations.

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This story was originally published on Thu Mar 7, 2013 11:16 AM EST

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/07/17224360-las-cardinal-mahony-tweets-were-close-to-setting-conclave-date?lite

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Watch: Teaser For Ridley Scott-Produced Jaguar Short ?Desire? With Damian Lewis; Tarsem?s Sony Commercial

While he had a hand in producing some of BMW?s short film series The Hire (including a short directed by his late brother Tony Scott), director Ridley Scott has commissioned one of his commercial directors for a new car-related short film and we?ve got the first look at the results today. Directed by Adam Smith, the slick teaser for Desire has popped online, which features the Jaguar F-TYPE ?and stars Homeland?s Damian Lewis, Shannyn Sossamon, Jordi Moll?, as well as music from Lana Del Rey.

There?s no mention regarding when the full version will pop online, but the story of ?betrayal, retribution, passion and greed??follows Lewis as Clark, a car delivery man who runs into trouble ?after a chance encounter with a mysterious young woman (Sossamon) in the middle of a lawless desert. However, Scott?s not the only director with his hand in commercial filmmaking, as a the latest work from The Fall and Mirror Mirror director Tarsem has also been released. The Immortals helmer recently teamed with Sony for an Experia Z smartphone commercial set to a remix of David Bowie?s Sound and Vision. Check out the vibrant short below, along with the Scott-produced Jaguar teaser.

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Tags: Damian Lewis, Ridley Scott, Tarsem

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thefilmstage/~3/vfBXZJDWVHI/

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