S&P 500 gains for fourth session on light volume

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks finished modestly higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 up for a fourth session, although volume was one of the year’s lowest on the day ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Investors welcomed news that a ceasefire was declared to end the flare-up in violence between Israel and the Palestinians, though the lack of a deal to release emergency aid for Greece limited the market’s advance.

Investors also remained anxious about the mandatory tax increases and spending cuts that would go into effect in the new year if a deal is not reached to prevent it – known as the “fiscal cliff” – though policymakers are not expected to get back to negotiations until after Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday.

About 4.76 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, compared with year-to-date daily average volume of 6.5 billion shares. On Thursday, the U.S. stock market will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, and on Friday, it will close early at 1 p.m. (1800 GMT).

“Usually on patriotic holidays, which I think Thanksgiving is one, we often see a rally on a light volume. So I wouldn’t be surprised if we see that on Friday, if there is no major news,” said J.J. Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at TD Ameritrade in Chicago.

“So far this week, we have heard good news in terms of (the) fiscal cliff. Both sides seem to be playing nice, but we will start to see big day-to-day swings (in the market) from next week, when we get more details.”

Greece’s international lenders failed again to reach a deal to release emergency aid to the debt-saddled country. Lenders will try again next Monday, but Germany signaled that significant divisions remain.

A truce between Israel and Hamas gave stocks some support around midday after Egypt announced a ceasefire would come into effect later in the day.

Fears that the fiscal cliff discussions in Washington could be drawn out or yield no resolution have been at the forefront of investors’ minds in recent weeks. Combined with concerns about the euro zone’s continued debt problems, the worries had driven a sell-off that has taken more than 5 percent off the S&P 500 since Election Day in early November.

Positive comments from U.S. politicians that they will work to find common ground have helped the S&P 500 recoup some of that loss in recent sessions.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 48.38 points, or 0.38 percent, to end at 12,836.89. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index <.SPX> added 3.22 points, or 0.23 percent, to finish at 1,391.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> rose 9.87 points, or 0.34 percent, to close at 2,926.55.

St Jude Medical shares tumbled 12.2 percent to $ 31.37 after an inspection report from health regulators raised new safety concerns about one of the company’s leads that are used with implantable defibrillators, analysts said.

A modest gain in International Business Machines helped the Dow outperform the other indexes. IBM rose 0.6 percent to $ 190.29.

Dow component Hewlett-Packard Co climbed 2 percent to close on Wednesday at $ 11.94, recouping a small slice of Tuesday’s loss, when the stock slid to a 10-year low after the computer and printer maker reported a $ 5 billion charge related to “accounting improprieties” at Autonomy, a British software company that HP bought last year. At least two brokerages have cut their ratings on HP’s stock, while analysts at several firms lowered their price targets.

Salesforce.com Inc jumped 8.8 percent to $ 158.78 a day after the business software provider reported results that beat Wall Street‘s expectations for the third quarter and maintained its outlook for the rest of the year.

But Deere & Co dragged on the S&P 500 after the world’s largest farm equipment maker reported a weaker-than-expected quarterly profit. Its stock lost 3.7 percent to $ 82.83.

The market did not derive much direction from the day’s economic data, with initial jobless claims falling last week, as expected.

Other data showed manufacturing picked up at its quickest pace in five months in November, while the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s final reading for November showed the consumer sentiment index improved only slightly from the previous month.

The focus will likely turn to retailers on Friday as analysts try to assess how strong the holiday shopping season will be this year, according to Kurt Brunner, portfolio manager at Swarthmore Group in Philadelphia.

The S&P 500 retail sector index <.SPXRT> was up 0.6 percent.

Holiday shopping traditionally kicks off the day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, as stores offer deals and discounts to lure consumers.

Advancers beat decliners by a ratio of about 2 to 1 on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

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Cameron set for EU budget battle

22 November 2012 Last updated at 02:29 ET

David Cameron is set to press for a minimum real-terms freeze in the EU’s budget as European leaders gather ahead of a crunch summit to determine its spending between 2014 and 2020.

The UK PM is seeking to build alliances in Brussels ahead of what is expected to be two days of intense negotiations.

Germany is among the UK’s main allies but other nations support the European Commission’s call for higher spending.

The UK Parliament recently urged the EU to cut its total expenditure.

Ahead of the special budget summit, UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the government’s position was “tough but realistic”.

He said most people would think it was “perfectly reasonable” for the EU to tighten its belt.

Spending ceiling

The EU’s 27 member states must set a ceiling for what they are prepared to spend in total over the 2014-2020 period, as well as discuss how much will be set aside for specific areas such as business, agriculture and security.

The European Commission has proposed a ceiling of 1,033 billion euros (£831bn), which would be 5% higher than the current 2007-2013 period. The UK, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands are among those who have said such a rise would be unacceptable at a time of austerity across the continent.

Continue reading the main story

Both the prime minister and I have spent, whatever our other differences on Europe, a lot of time working together to make sure the British voice is heard”

End Quote Nick Clegg Deputy Prime Minister

The UK has described a separate proposal from European Council President Herman van Rompuy for a 973 billion euro (£782bn) threshold as a step in the right direction.

But the UK believes that further cuts, potentially of up to 80bn euros, can be achieved as Mr van Rompuy’s plan anticipates substantial increases in certain areas such as infrastructure spending.

Mr Cameron has said he is prepared to veto any budget deal that is bad for the UK and argued that any above-inflation rise would be unjustified when many countries are cutting spending at home.

MPs voted last month to back a real-terms cut in spending, saying it would strengthen the UK’s negotiating position.

But UK officials have acknowledged this will be difficult to achieve given many of the EU’s poorer nations – unlike the UK, Germany and France – are net beneficiaries of the budget and unlikely to countenance any cuts.

‘British voice’

Although countries’ individual contributions are not up for discussion at the summit, Mr Cameron has also vowed to defend the UK’s multi-billion pound rebate first secured by the Thatcher government in the 1980s.

Who wants what from the EU budget deal?

Mr van Rompuy is expected to hold one-on-one meetings with EU leaders on Thursday to establish what their “red lines” are ahead of general negotiations, which officials admit could slip into Saturday or even Sunday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she is not sure the summit will come up with a “definitive deal” and EU leaders may have to reconvene early in the new year.

Mr Clegg said the UK was looking for “just common sense”.

“A common sense approach, which says look there’s not enough money to go around at the moment… let’s make sure that’s reflected in the European Union budget and that’s why we’re saying that it shouldn’t increase by more than inflation.”

If the opportunity arose to cut the budget, the UK would seize it, he added.

“We have had to cut out many budgets here at home. We’ve got a tough approach but it’s a realistic approach and both the prime minister and I have spent, whatever our other differences on Europe, a lot of time working together to make sure the British voice is heard.”

But UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said Mr Cameron would be unable to get a “good deal” for the UK and that the European Commission and MEPs believed the state could “create wealth”.

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Greek PM presses for deal on loan

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece has reacted with dismay to the European Union‘s failure to agree to release vital rescue loan funds for the debt-ridden country, with the prime minister warning it was not just Greece’s future that hangs in the balance.

The delay prolongs uncertainty over the future of Greece, which faces a messy default that would threaten the entire euro currency used by 17 EU nations.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras stressed that Greece has done what its creditors from the EU and International Monetary Fund required. “Our partners, along with the IMF, also must do what they have committed to doing,” he said.

He said that “it is not just the future of our country, but the stability of the entire eurozone” that depend on the success of negotiations in coming days.

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Republic Wireless Now Offering $19/Month Unlimited Smartphone Service to All

Prepaid wireless carrier Republic Wireless has been offering its $ 19 per month, unlimited everything, prepaid smartphone plan since about this time last year. At the time, though, there were a few catches; you had to buy a very low-end smartphone from them, you had to use its Hybrid Calling technology for most of your calls, and you could only get in if you were lucky enough to be accepted to an exclusive “beta wave.”

Since then, Republic Wireless has upgraded to the slightly more modern Motorola Defy XT as its flagship smartphone model, and has changed to allow unlimited calling, texting, and data over Sprint’s nationwide network, for the same $ 19/month price. Now the North Carolina-based startup is dropping its last restriction; the doors are open for anyone to preorder up to four Defy XT phones, “and they’ll begin shipping in mid-December.”

​The phone

The Motorola Defy XT is designed to be dustproof and waterproof, with rubber bumpers covering each port and an unlocking switch keeping the back cover sealed. Its specs are decidedly last year’s; powered by a 1 GHz, single-core processor, it often shows Kindle Fire-style lag when swiping between home screens on its 3.7 inch display. It runs 2010′s Android 2.3 Gingerbread, with no OS upgrades announced, and it doesn’t have much room to store games and apps, although it comes with a 2 GB microSD card.

​The service

Republic Wireless’ low monthly fee is partly made possible by its Hybrid Calling technology, which is basically an app that loads on startup and lets you make calls and send texts over Wi-Fi. Call quality is generally good, although it depends on how good your Wi-Fi connection is and how many people are streaming video over it while you’re trying to make your call. You can switch off Hybrid Calling by disabling Wi-Fi, if you want to make calls over Sprint’s network instead; this happens automatically if your Wi-Fi signal drops, which has the effect of hanging up your call.

​The support

“Here at Republic,” its Support page explains, “we believe in helping each other out as much as possible.” What this translates to is that there’s no number to call for questions or tech support. Instead, customers are directed to a community wiki and forums, for answers to their issues. If all else fails, you can contact Republic using an online form, and receive a response within 24 hours.

​The price

It costs close to $ 300 to begin using Republic Wireless’ service; $ 249 for the phone, a $ 10 startup fee, and $ 19 for your first monthly fee, before any applicable taxes. That $ 19 is charged once your phone ships, and if Republic’s difficulty keeping up with orders for its first beta waves is any indication, just because the phones “begin shipping in mid-December” doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s when you’ll get yours.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.
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Singer Fiona Apple cancels tour dates to be with ailing dog

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Grammy award-winning singer Fiona Apple said in a handwritten letter posted on her website on Tuesday that she has canceled upcoming tour dates in North and South America to be with her ailing dog.

Apple, who vowed to make up the concerts, called off three shows in Brazil between November 27 and 30, a Buenos Aires festival appearance on December 1-2 and a December 9 performance in Mexico City, according to her record label, Epic.

The “Criminal” singer and pianist said her 13-year-old pit bull Janet has been suffering from a tumor in her chest among other ailments and appears to be dying.

“She’s my best friend and my mother and my daughter, my benefactor and she’s the one who taught me what love is,” Apple wrote in the four-page letter she penned last week but did not release until Tuesday. “I can’t come to South America. Not now.”

Apple, 35, said that she wants to appreciate the final days with her dog. “I will not be the woman who puts her career ahead of love and friendship,” Apple wrote.

The singer-songwriter, who is touring in support of “The Idler Wheel … ” album, was arrested in September in Texas and charged with felony drug possession for having four grams of hashish, a form of cannabis.

(Reporting By Eric Kelsey; editing by Patricia Reaney and Todd Eastham)

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Pharmacy owners had no hand in meningitis outbreak: lawyers

BOSTON (Reuters) – Lawyers for New England Compounding Center‘s owners told a federal judge on Tuesday there is no evidence that any of them directly participated in the events that led to a deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak.

“Due process should not be washed away in a sea of newspaper articles and conjecture,” defense attorney Alan Winchester said.

Winchester made his remarks during a two-hour courtroom battle in Boston, where defense lawyers for the family that owns the specialty pharmacy sought to put distance between their clients and an outbreak that has killed 34 and injured nearly 500 people.

Barry Cadden, part owner and NECC‘s chief pharmacist, had not compounded any drugs at the pharmacy for several years before the meningitis outbreak, defense lawyer Bruce Singal said. Cadden’s wife, Lisa Cadden, also a part owner, has not worked as a pharmacist for seven years, Singal told the court.

The defense lawyers also argued to block a motion by meningitis victims to freeze the assets of NECC and its owners. U.S. District Judge Dennis Saylor took the matter under advisement and suggested a ruling could come by next week.

But Thomas Sobol, a lawyer for plaintiffs, disagreed with the assertions of the defense lawyers. He said Lisa Cadden, for example, cannot claim to be a soccer mom and then be one of the key people answering the questions of investigators about NECC’s operations.

“This woman shouldn’t be entitled to sell her house, her cars and dissipate her assets,” Sobol argued. He wants the judge to freeze the assets of NECC and its owners so they are not concealed or put under the protection of bankruptcy or a receivership.

Sobol said his motion would not preclude the Caddens or the other owners of NECC to buy a Thanksgiving turkey or gas for their cars. But he did ask the judge not to let the Caddens sell their luxury home in Rhode Island and then put the money in an account in the Cayman Islands.

Defense lawyers said there is no evidence that NECC’s owners have tried to conceal anything regarding their assets.

Defense lawyer Daniel Rabinovitz said there’s nothing to show that Greg Conigliaro, the recycling entrepreneur and co-owner who helped his brother-in-law, Barry Cadden, launch NECC, participated in any conduct related to the outbreak. U.S. authorities say NECC shipped thousands of vials of fungus-tainted methylprednisolone acetate to medical facilities throughout the United States.

At one point during the hearing, Judge Saylor talked about how a passive shareholder cannot be held liable for even the most outrageous acts of a corporation.

Singal suggested the outbreak was an isolated incident and told the judge how NECC had been compounding methylprednisolone acetate, which is typically used to ease back pain, for a number of years without incident. He said half a million vials had been shipped without incident over a period of several years.

But Sobol said that was not true, because authorities investigated an incident involving NECC and the drug several years ago.

“My clients are under legal siege,” Singal said, referring to the number of government agencies investigating NECC. “Almost anybody you can think of, except for NASA, has showed up so far.”

(Reporting By Tim McLaughlin; Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Dan Grebler)

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Map: Where the Emotionally Challenged Live

U.S. pollster Gallup conducted a survey in 152 countries to compare how people feel about their lives. Singapore ranks as the world’s most emotionless society, behind Georgia, Lithuania, and Russia. Singaporeans are unlikely to report feelings of anger, physical pain, or other negative emotions. They’re not laughing a lot, either. “If you measure Singapore by the traditional indicators, they look like one of the best-run countries in the world,” says Jon Clifton, a Gallup partner in Washington. “But if you look at everything that makes life worth living, they’re not doing so well.”

Some of Gallup’s questions are straightforward. Evaluate your life on a scale of zero to 10: ­Danes are the most satisfied and people from Togo in West Africa are the least. No surprises, too, when Gallup asked people to say whether life would be better or worse five years from now. The award for most pessimistic goes to the inhabitants of Greece, ground zero of the euro debt crisis. Last year, the people most likely to report feeling stress, anger, sadness, worry, or pain were Iraqis. The most emotional nation? The Philippines.

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U.S. fiscal impact of great concern to Canada: Canada’s Harper

TORONTO (Reuters) – Any fiscal problems that would significantly slow the U.S. economy would be of great concern to Canada, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Monday.

The United States needed a credible medium-term fiscal plan, Harper said at a business forum in Ottawa, adding that he was following the U.S. fiscal debate with “great interest.”

(Reporting by Solarina Ho)

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HTC “happy” with Apple settlement, slams media estimates

TOKYO (Reuters) – Taiwan’s HTC Corp is happy with its patent settlement with Apple Inc, but regards media reports on details of the licensing agreement as “outrageous”, chief executive Peter Chou told reporters on Tuesday.

HTC and Apple announced a global patent settlement and a 10-year licensing agreement this month after a bruising patent war between the two smartphone makers.

The companies did not disclose details of the settlement or the licensing agreement, but HTC said it will not change its fourth-quarter guidance.

Responding to a question about media reports that HTC will pay Apple $ 6 to $ 8 per Android phone as part of the patent settlement, Chou said it was an outrageous estimate.

“I think that these estimates are baseless and very, very wrong. It is a outrageous number, but I’m not going to comment anything on a specific number. I believe we have a very, very happy settlement and a good ending,” said Chou at a KDDI Corp product launch in Tokyo.

Apple sued the Taiwanese handset maker in 2010, its first major legal salvo against a manufacturer using Google’s Android operating system. Since the suit, a patent war has engulfed competitors including Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Google’s Motorola Mobility unit.

(Reporting by Mari Saito; Editing by Michael Watson and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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Why Oscar’s “Simple” Date-Change Is a Ticking Time Bomb

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – The press release didn’t look as if it contained big news.

“Key Dates Announced for the 85th Academy Awards,” read the headline on the September 18 announcement, which came significantly later than usual for the Academy and contained one seemingly innocuous line:

“In an effort to provide members and the public a longer period of time to see the nominated films, the Academy will reveal the 85th Academy Awards nominations on January 10, five days earlier than previously announced.”

But that little change – those five days, which moved the nominations from what was already an unusually early slot to the Thursday before the Golden Globes – has shaken all things Oscar, essentially detonating a time bomb across the Academy Awards landscape.

As advertised, the move will give members of the Academy and prospective viewers extra time to see the 35 or so features that will be nominated (plus another 10 documentaries and foreign-language films) – but it’ll give them significantly less time to see the 250 to 300 films that are eligible to be nominated.

“As an Academy member, I’m not happy about it,” said one voter, who was typical of those TheWrap has spoken to. “It’s short-sighted and unfair to members, and they’re limiting the number of movies that might get nominated because members won’t see as many. And as a marketer, it hampers you in every way and forces you to flood people with emails and mailings and screenings and screeners to get all your stuff out by January 1.”

Grumbling, moaning and the occasional gnashing of teeth over the compressed timeline has been almost constant since the announcement. One commonly heard phrase is, “What were they thinking?” Another is, “I know what they were thinking, and it has nothing to do with what they say they were thinking.”

To this latter camp, which includes both outsiders and AMPAS members, the clear intent of the move was to hurt the Golden Globes, the tacky show whose importance on the awards calendar has always rankled the Academy.

The governors were said to be determined to make the Globes (and its presenting body, the much-maligned Hollywood Foreign Press Association) irrelevant by announcing Oscar nominations before the Globes even happen … as if that would stop people from tuning in or persuade NBC, Dick Clark Productions or the HFPA to pull the plug on a multimillion-dollar cash cow that they would no doubt move to Thanksgiving weekend before they’d ever consider giving it up.

Yes, the move will put the Globes in the awkward position of taking place at a point where trade ads are more likely to proudly trumpet “six Oscar nominations!” than “Golden Globe winner!” And by the time Academy members are able to vote, the Globes results will most likely forgotten by anybody casting an Oscar ballot.

The move won’t impact the Globes ratings, but it could conceivably reduce attendance at the show: If a star hoping to use a fabulous Globes acceptance speech to boost an Oscar candidacy winds up not being nominated, will he or she still feel inclined to show up for the HFPA’s dog-and-pony show?

Among other awards shows, the real casualty could be the Broadcast Film Critics Association‘s Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, a reliable Oscar precursor that this year is scheduled to take place the evening of the day on which Oscar noms are announced.

It’s hard to imagine too many actors wanting to put on a brave face and mingle with nominated colleagues only a few hours after learning that Oscar voters have ignored them; I’m guessing the BFCA may find itself with at least a few last-minute cancellations and lame excuses.

But the move’s repercussions go far beyond other awards shows.

A voting window that ends on January 3, immediately after the Christmas/New Year’s holidays, will mean more pressure to book early screenings, more of a push to get parties and Q&As done before the holidays, and outright desperation to have screeners in voters’ hands before they head to Aspen or Hawaii for the break.

And for films released in December – a typical Oscar slot that has been utilized quite effectively in the past by the likes of “Million Dollar Baby” and “Shakespeare in Love” – the new calendar could be a killer: With nominating ballots due so soon after the holidays, films had better be must-sees if they want to get voters to check them out before casting their ballots.

Obviously, that won’t hurt the December releases “Django Unchained,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Les Miserables” and “The Hobbit” – those are no-brainers for any Academy member who wants to be the slightest bit thorough. But what about a lower-profile film like Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” which Sony Classics is releasing on December 19?

The Cannes Palme d’Or winner is strong enough to escape the foreign-language category and become a viable Best Picture contender if enough members see it, but SPC may have to push awfully hard to get it in front of voters already facing a year-end crunch.

The move also puts a hit on the Palm Springs International Film Festival, whose annual Awards Gala, which typically honors an array of Oscar hopefuls, now falls three days after polls close.

And the late-January Santa Barbara International Film Festival now sits in the 29-day no-man’s-land between the nominations and the opening of final voting, long enough after nominations that some potential honorees might want to wait for the Academy’s verdict before committing to an SBIFF tribute.

Still, it’ll make things easier for Oscar-watchers who also want to go to the Sundance Film Festival; rather than noms coming in the middle of that fest, they will happen two weeks before Park City kicks off.

And yes, the new calendar will, as advertised, give viewers and voters more time to watch the nominated films.

The same voter who slammed the move as unfair for members and terrible for marketers did concede one thing: “From the exhibition point of view, I think it’s a good thing. You get an additional two weeks in theaters with the films that have been nominated, and we all know that’s where the money is made.”

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