Wall Street Week Ahead: Earnings, money flows to push stocks higher

NEW YORK (Reuters) - With earnings momentum on the rise, the S&P 500 seems to have few hurdles ahead as it continues to power higher, its all-time high a not-so-distant goal.

The U.S. equity benchmark closed the week at a fresh five-year high on strong housing and labor market data and a string of earnings that beat lowered expectations.

Sector indexes in transportation <.djt>, banks <.bkx> and housing <.hgx> this week hit historic or multiyear highs as well.

Michael Yoshikami, chief executive at Destination Wealth Management in Walnut Creek, California, said the key earnings to watch for next week will come from cyclical companies. United Technologies reports on Wednesday while Honeywell is due to report Friday.

"Those kind of numbers will tell you the trajectory the economy is taking," Yoshikami said.

Major technology companies also report next week, but the bar for the sector has been lowered even further.

Chipmakers like Advanced Micro Devices , which is due Tuesday, are expected to underperform as PC sales shrink. AMD shares fell more than 10 percent Friday after disappointing results from its larger competitor, Intel . Still, a chipmaker sector index <.sox> posted its highest weekly close since last April.

Following a recent underperformance, an upside surprise from Apple on Wednesday could trigger a return to the stock from many investors who had abandoned ship.

Other major companies reporting next week include Google , IBM , Johnson & Johnson and DuPont on Tuesday, Microsoft and 3M on Thursday and Procter & Gamble on Friday.

CASH POURING IN, HOUSING DATA COULD HELP

Perhaps the strongest support for equities will come from the flow of cash from fixed income funds to stocks.

The recent piling into stock funds -- $11.3 billion in the past two weeks, the most since 2000 -- indicates a riskier approach to investing from retail investors looking for yield.

"From a yield perspective, a lot of stocks still yield a great deal of money and so it is very easy to see why money is pouring into the stock market," said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.

"You are just not going to see people put a lot of money to work in a 10-year Treasury that yields 1.8 percent."

Housing stocks <.hgx>, already at a 5-1/2 year high, could get a further bump next week as investors eye data expected to support the market's perception that housing is the sluggish U.S. economy's bright spot.

Home resales are expected to have risen 0.6 percent in December, data is expected to show on Tuesday. Pending home sales contracts, which lead actual sales by a month or two, hit a 2-1/2 year high in November.

The new home sales report on Friday is expected to show a 2.1 percent increase.

The federal debt ceiling negotiations, a nagging worry for investors, seemed to be stuck on the back burner after House Republicans signaled they might support a short-term extension.

Equity markets, which tumbled in 2011 after the last round of talks pushed the United States close to a default, seem not to care much this time around.

The CBOE volatility index <.vix>, a gauge of market anxiety, closed Friday at its lowest since April 2007.

"I think the market is getting somewhat desensitized from political drama given, this seems to be happening over and over," said Destination Wealth Management's Yoshikami.

"It's something to keep in mind, but I don't think it's what you want to base your investing decisions on."

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak and Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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Algeria Begins ‘Final Assault’ on Gas Field; 7 Hostages Reported Killed

BAMAKO, Mali — The hostage crisis in the Algerian desert appeared to be reaching a bloody conclusion Saturday as the official Algerian news agency reported that the army had launched a final assault on the gas field taken over by Islamist militants, killing 11 of them, but only after they had executed seven hostages.

“In principle, it’s all over,” a senior Algerian government official said from Algiers. The official said that security forces were “doing clean-up” to make sure some of the kidnappers were not hiding in the sprawling industrial complex.

Philip Hammond, the British defense secretary, said at a news conference in London that the Algerian military operation was over, but he called the loss of life since the start of the crisis “appalling and unacceptable.” United States Defense secretary Leon E. Panetta, who appeared with Mr. Hammond, said he did not yet have reliable information about the Americans at the facility, although the Algerian official said two had been found “safe and sound.”

The news agency report did not give the nationalities of those it said were executed, and it remained unclear if there were other hostages at the remote plant and whether they were alive. Earlier news reports said between 10 and dozens of hostages from several nations were in the hands of the kidnappers as of Friday.

United States officials said last week that “seven or eight” Americans had been at the In Amenas field when it was seized by the militants on Wednesday.

One American, Frederick Buttaccio, 58, of Katy, Tex., was confirmed dead on Friday, and the French government said one of its citizens, identified as Yann Desjeux, had also died before Saturday’s raid. The British government earlier said at least one Briton was killed, and an Algerian state news agency said 12 Algerians had died as of Friday.

The Algerian official insisted that no precise tally of the dead had yet been made, and that it would be difficult to establish one quickly. “There are corpses that are totally charred,” he said. “We’ve got to do identification work. It’s very difficult.” It was not immediately clear why the bodies were burned, although the Algerian press agency said the militants had set fire to part of the complex Friday night, which prompted the troops to launch their assault Saturday. Saturday’s assault on the attackers, if it swept up all the attackers, would bring to an end a four-day siege involving dozens of hostages and kidnappers that drew criticism from Western governments for the tough manner in which it was handled by the Algerian security services. Attacks on the kidnappers by the government forces have caused an unknown number of deaths among the hostages, in addition to those who were executed by the Al Qaeda-affiliated militants.

One Algerian who managed to escape told France 24 television late Friday night, that the kidnappers said “We’ve come in the name of Islam, to teach the Americans what Islam is.” The haggard-looking Algerian, interviewed at the airport in Algiers, said the kidnappers then immediately executed five hostages. The militants who attacked the plant said it was in retaliation for French troops sweeping into Mali this month to stop an advance of Islamists south toward the capital.

The Algerian state oil company, Sonatrach, said Saturday that the attackers had evidently mined the facility with the intention of blowing it up and that the company was working to disable the mines.

Throughout the siege, precise information about the number of killed has been difficult to obtain from the remote site, with the government putting out varying figures.

The Algerians have rejected the criticism of its go-it-alone approach, toughest from the British and Japanese governments whose nationals were among those kidnapped, saying they have had years of experience dealing with terrorist attacks. The Algerian government has also denied launching an assault on the facility, saying troops were merely responding — on Thursday — to the militants’ attempts to leave the field with with hostages.

The government official acknowledged Saturday morning though that this week’s assault was of a scale and complexity the country had never experienced before.

“This was a multinational operation,” he said of the kidnappers. “These are not Algerians. They’ve come from all over, Tunisia, Egypt, Mauritania. It’s the first time we’ve handled something on this scale. This one is different, it’s of another dimension,” he said. Although some of the escaped hostages in recent days have said some of the militants were not from Algeria, it is not yet clear that none were, and the Algerian government and militants have previously said the mastermind was an Algerian who had broken away from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Nonetheless, the brazenness of the assault — dozens of Islamist fighters attacking one of the country’s most important gas-producing facilities — is likely to call into question Algeria’s much vaunted security strategy in dealing with the Islamic militants who shelter in its southern deserts, near the Mali border.

The Algerians have made a virtue out of keeping a lid on these militants, pushing them towards Mali in a strategy of modified containment, and ruthlessly stamping them out when they attempt an attack in the interior of the country. So far it has worked, and the country’s extensive oil and gas fields, an extremely important revenue source, have been protected.

That relative success had allowed Algeria to take a hands-off approach to the Islamist conquest of northern Mali in recent months, even while western governments have pleaded with it to become more directly involved in confronting the militants, who move across the hazy border between the two countries.

But now, with this week’s attack, Algeria may have to rethink its approach, analysts suggest, and engage in a more frontal strategy against the Islamists.

The senior government official appeared to acknowledge this in the interview Saturday, saying: “This has international implications. This is not just about us, it’s international.”

If the outcome represents a relative setback for Algeria, it could be viewed as a decided victory for Islamists who carried out the assault, who achieved several of their shared perennial goals: killing large numbers of westerners and disrupting states they have put on their enemies list — including Algeria.

Indeed, the militants said Friday they plan more attacks in Algeria, in a report carried on a Mauritanian news site that often carries their statements.

Steven Erlanger and Scott Sayare contributed reporting from Paris and Elisabeth Bumiller from London. .

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 19, 2013

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated the nationality of a government official who said security forces were searching the gas complex. The official was Algerian, not Turkish.

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Social media dispute resolution stumps some companies

(Reuters) – If HBO cuts out on you in the middle of the latest “Girls” episode, and you have Charter Communications Inc as your cable provider, don’t try tweeting your dismay to their customer service department. Nobody will hear your lament.

Charter, the fourth largest cable provider in the U.S. with 5.2 million customers across 25 states, closed up its social-media based customer service team in December. “Umatter2Charter,” as it was known, had been taking customer complaints over Twitter and Facebook and trying to resolve them, but the company says it is now done with working out customer service issues in social media forums.

The move, which might seem to conflict with the growth of social media, highlights the difficulty some businesses are having with free-flowing, round-the-clock social media, its public nature and the expectation of immediate responses.

With Facebook users numbering about a billion and Twitter drawing 200 million, it might be hard to believe that any retail enterprise would drop out of the fray, but Charter isn’t the only major company to announce such a move. Also in December, the largest single grocery store in New England – the Wegmans in Northborough, Massachusetts – shuttered its Facebook page despite having some 8,000 fans.

“It’s a tough sport,” says J.D. Peterson, vice president of product marketing for San Francisco-based Zendesk, which helps companies manage customer service. “The real-time nature of it – at times the volume that can come from it – it’s very new and different for businesses.”

While Peterson’s company recommends going where the customers are – and a big chunk are clearly on social media – Peterson says not all businesses share the same philosophy or have the ability to engage those consumers in these open forums. But any company that has a significant online presence doesn’t really have a choice, he says, working with consumers through social media is expected of them.

Advocates for the use social media say the challenge actually presents an opportunity for businesses – showing they are responsive to complaints and care about their customers can bring in revenue.

“I have seen this time and time again, and the end result is that the interaction often turns an irate customer into an advocate for the brand. And that is worth it’s weight in gold,” says Mike Rowan, chief marketing office for Atlanta-based Swarm, which manages social media for companies.

That’s certainly the way retailer Lands’ End, a division of Sears Holdings Corp, sees it.

“When we started using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter in early 2009, it gave us a new opportunity to do what we’ve done for 50 years, which is connect with our customers,” says Michele Casper, Lands’ End’s senior director of public relations. “Whether it is through social media, our call centers or online, we offer the same level of customer service through each channel.”

DIVERTING COURSE

Charter says it is not walking away completely from social media – just the idea of providing customer service via Twitter. The company says it has ample other avenues for consumers to get help – including telephone, customer service counters and live chat on its web page.

“We communicate with thousands of customers each day on the phone and in person, and that’s where we’ll focus our efforts,” says Charter spokeswoman Anita Lamont. “While social media is a method some consumers choose to seek help, Charter offers phone and web-based contact solutions where all customers can access resources to provide assistance.”

The abandonment of the Facebook page at the Massachusetts Wegmans store, which caused a great fuss among the store’s “fans,” was, in large part, due to the inability to respond quickly enough to consumers. Store personnel couldn’t break off enough time from their other roles to constantly monitor the page, Wegmans spokeswoman Jo Natale says, allowing comments to sit unanswered – a no-no in the world of social media.

“Our top priority has always been, and will continue to be, providing incredible service to customers who shop in our stores,” she says. “And it isn’t as though there aren’t other avenues for folks to connect with us if they have a question or concern.”

As much as customers expressed surprise and dissatisfaction at the decision, Natale says, it came down to a decision that if the store couldn’t serve the Facebook page at a level it felt was expected that it shouldn’t do it at all.

“They quickly discovered, once the store opened and got very, very busy, that it wasn’t so easy to stay on top of comments or to find the time to post,” Natale says. “In a retail operation like ours, there isn’t anyone sitting at a PC or checking a mobile device throughout the day. It’s a fast-paced business that requires our people to be on the floor serving customers.”

(The author is a Reuters contributor. The opinions expressed are his own)

(Follow us @ReutersMoney or at http://www.reuters.com/finance/personal-finance; Editing by Beth Pinsker and Tim Dobbyn)

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Rob Lowe Acquits Himself Nicely in Lifetime's Prosecuting Casey Anthony (Review)

TV Watch

By PEOPLE TV Critic Tom Gliatto

01/19/2013 at 11:45 AM EST

Rob Lowe in Prosecuting Casey Anthony

Allen Fraser/Lifetime

    

When last we saw Rob Lowe in a Lifetime movie, he was playing murderer Drew Peterson with a sandy mustache that made him look like the world's most dangerous park ranger.

Lowe has a much better vehicle for himself in Prosecuting Casey Anthony (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET/PT), in which he plays Jeff Ashton, the Florida prosecutor who last year failed to win one of the country's most notorious capital cases.

As the court announces that Anthony, who had been charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, is guilty only of misdemeanor charges, Lowe clasps his hands in front of him and – in a fine, simple moment – appears to have all the life siphoned out of him. His face has the pallor of a wide smudge of cigarette ash.

The rest of the country, as you may recall, was more visibly stirred up at the stunning verdict.

Nancy Grace, clips of whose hectoring, furious TV commentary pepper the movie, famously declared: "The devil is dancing tonight."

Anthony has been living in seclusion since her release.

Prosecuting Casey Anthony basically tries to explain how public opinion and the deliberating jury responded so differently to the conflicting stories of prosecution and defense, one alleging that Anthony murdered the child and dumped her in a swamp, the other that the actual cause of death was accidental drowning in a swimming pool.

Even though this is based on prosecutor Ashton's book about the case, Imperfect Justice, in the movie he comes across as overly confident – Lowe laughs in derision during the defense's summation – even while his team's mistakes are quickly seized upon and exploited by opposing attorney Jose Baez (The Office's Oscar Nunez).

(Ashton, by the way, was sworn in Jan. 11 as Florida's new state attorney.)

The movie is shot with a stylistic blankness that does no harm to a compelling legal narrative, and the acting – like Lowe's – is unmannered, believable and to the point. Since most viewers will already come to this with memories from the endless news coverage, any other kind of acting would probably seem like scenery-chewing.

Not surprisingly, Anthony herself (Virginia Welch) has virtually nothing to say.

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Lilly drug chosen for Alzheimer's prevention study

Researchers have chosen an experimental drug by Eli Lilly & Co. for a large federally funded study testing whether it's possible to prevent Alzheimer's disease in older people at high risk of developing it.

The drug, called solanezumab (sol-ah-NAYZ-uh-mab), is designed to bind to and help clear the sticky deposits that clog patients' brains.

Earlier studies found it did not help people with moderate to severe Alzheimer's but it showed some promise against milder disease. Researchers think it might work better if given before symptoms start.

"The hope is we can catch people before they decline," which can come 10 years or more after plaques first show up in the brain, said Dr. Reisa Sperling, director of the Alzheimer's center at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

She will help lead the new study, which will involve 1,000 people ages 70 to 85 whose brain scans show plaque buildup but who do not yet have any symptoms of dementia. They will get monthly infusions of solanezumab or a dummy drug for three years. The main goal will be slowing the rate of cognitive decline. The study will be done at 50 sites in the U.S. and possibly more in Canada, Australia and Europe, Sperling said.

In October, researchers said combined results from two studies of solanezumab suggested it might modestly slow mental decline, especially in patients with mild disease. Taken separately, the studies missed their main goals of significantly slowing the mind-robbing disease or improving activities of daily living.

Those results were not considered good enough to win the drug approval. So in December, Lilly said it would start another large study of it this year to try to confirm the hopeful results seen patients with mild disease. That is separate from the federal study Sperling will head.

About 35 million people worldwide have dementia, and Alzheimer's is the most common type. In the U.S., about 5 million have Alzheimer's. Current medicines such as Aricept and Namenda just temporarily ease symptoms. There is no known cure.

___

Online:

Alzheimer's info: http://www.alzheimers.gov

Alzheimer's Association: http://www.alz.org

___

Follow Marilynn Marchione's coverage at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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Wall Street little changed; Intel drags, Morgan Stanley up

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged lower on Friday from a five-year high for the S&P 500 as a weak outlook from tech heavyweight Intel offset a better-than-expected quarterly profit at Morgan Stanley.

Shares of Intel Corp slumped 6.3 percent to $21.25 a day after it forecast quarterly revenue below analysts' estimates and announced plans for increased capital spending amid slow demand for personal computers.

"Intel earnings weren't that bad, although their revenue was weak. It sparks fears about not only the company but about the whole PC sector, and that's pressuring the market today," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York.

The Intel results were offset somewhat by a gain of more than 7 percent in shares of Morgan Stanley , which reported a fourth-quarter profit after a year-earlier loss, helped by higher revenue at the bank's institutional securities business. Its stock jumped 7.4 percent to $22.29.

Overall, S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings rose an estimated 2.5 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. Expectations for the quarter have dropped considerably since October, when a 9.9 percent gain was estimated.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 19.89 points, or 0.15 percent, at 13,576.13. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 4.58 points, or 0.31 percent, at 1,476.36. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 15.90 points, or 0.51 percent, at 3,120.10.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose to its highest since late 2007, and that could prompt investors to lock in recent gains, analysts said.

But despite the day's decline, market sentiment was still positive on speculation that chances were better of avoiding a debt ceiling fight in Washington. House Republicans signaled on Thursday they might support a short-term extension of U.S. borrowing authority next month.

"The debt ceiling issue is sort of out of the news. The market has definitely become complacent. And we all know that the issue will be dealt with, we just need to find out when. If December is any guide, they are going to leave it up to the last minute so the market is definitely more complacent than it should be for now," Ghriskey said.

Economic data from China provided some support to the market, though the focus remained on U.S. corporate earnings. The country's economy grew at a modestly faster-than-expected 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter, the latest sign the world's second-biggest economy was pulling out of a post-global financial crisis slowdown which saw it grow in 2012 at its weakest pace since 1999.

General Electric reported a better-than-expected rise in earnings, spurred by robust demand in China and oil-producing countries. Shares were up 2.9 percent to $21.91.

Despite the gains by Morgan Stanley, financial stocks sagged as Capital One Financial reported disappointing profit. Capital One slumped 8.1 percent to $56.60, while the KBW bank index <.bkx> slipped 0.8 percent.

Research In Motion climbed 5.6 percent to $15.74 after Jefferies Group boosted the BlackBerry maker's rating and price target.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Kenneth Barry)

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India Ink: Image of the Day: Jan. 18

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Why Won’t the NRA Say Anything About Its (Possibly Fake) New Video Game?

If this app is, in fact, an unlicensed kind of hoax using the NRA acronym without permission, you’d think the NRA might want to squash the brand association quickly. Despite the gun lobby’s slow response to the Newtown massacre, the NRA isn’t afraid of issuing cease and desists or suing President Obama, the District of Columbia, or the Department of Justice.

RELATED: One Month After Newtown, NRA Releases First-Person Shooter Game with AK-47

What’s more, as ArsTechnica’s Kyl Orland points out, the NRA’s earlier efforts at officially licensed video games have been successful in the lobby’s seemingly unending efforts to the turn gun-violence debate away from guns and toward other industries accused of stoking violence. Orland writes:

So Practice Range fits right into the NRA’s arguments about video games’ insidious effects on our society. “There’s nothing wrong with guns in video games per se,” the organization seems to be saying; “the problem is the way those guns are used by most of the big-money game industry in service of ultra-violent revenge fantasies. If only the game industry could use its immense influence and power to promote responsible, safe use of guns, as we have with our humble app, the world might be a different place!”

If the app isn’t the NRA’s, then the app and the controversy surrounding it would seem to present an opportune time for NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre to hammer home his point about violence in video games. In his notorious post-Newtown press conference, LaPierre in the days following blamed the gaming industry for mass violence:

And here’s another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal: There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people.

The video-game industry has been reeling as it struggles to put together a lobbying defense of its own. Of course, all these theories would be moot if the app is indeed the NRA’s. As of today, the app is still up in the iTunes Store.

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Designers Create Dream Inauguration Dresses for Michelle Obama

Stylewatch
Style News Now

01/17/2013 at 01:00 PM ET

Courtesy L’Wren Scott; Inset: Cliff Owen/AP

It’s a big week for Michelle Obama: she turns 49 today, joined Twitter this morning and will stand by as her husband is sworn in to his second presidential term on Monday. (And here we thought our weeks were busy …)

Though we’ve been captivated by many of Mrs. O’s past dresses, we’re quite excited to see what she wears for Monday’s Inauguration and parties. According to WWD, the First Lady’s staff reached out to several different designers for samples and ideas — Derek Lam, Marchesa, Michael Kors, Prabal Gurung, Tory Burch, Tracy Reese, Narciso Rodriguez, Naeem Khan, Thakoon and Jason Wu among them.

WWD also asked several designers to create dream dress sketches for the First Lady and her fashion-forward daughters, Malia, 14, and Sasha, 11. Some of our favorites include L’Wren Scott’s belted, lace-topped blue gown (left), and Nicole Miller’s stunning strapless red dress, with youthful, complementary blue frocks for the girls (below).

Courtesy Nicole Miller

For the 2009 Inauguration, Obama selected a white one-shoulder dress by then-newbie Jason Wu; her stunning style moment instantly put the young designer on the map.

The dress was “a masterpiece,” the First Lady said one year after its debut. “It is simple, it’s elegant, and it comes from this brilliant young mind, someone who is living the American Dream.” No doubt her choice on Monday will be equally as beautiful — and important — as well. Tell us: How do you envision the First Lady looking on Inauguration day? 

–Kate Hogan

PHOTOS: SEE THE FIRST LADY’S 10 MOST STUNNING GOWNS

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Flu remains widespread in US; eases in some areas

Health officials say nine more deaths of children from the flu have been reported, bringing the total this flu season to 29.

In a typical season, about 100 children die of the flu, so it is not known whether this year will be better or worse than usual.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says half of confirmed flu cases so far are in people 65 and older.

This year's season is earlier than normal and the dominant flu strain is one that tends to make people sicker. The flu is widespread in all states but Tennessee and Hawaii and is starting to ease in some areas.

Health officials say it's not too late to get a flu shot to help protect against the flu.

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