Dow closes 265 points lower; gold also plummets

JeeYeon Park , CNBC ? ? ? 10 hrs.

Stocks finished at session lows Monday, posting their sharpest one-day drop this year, as disappointing economic data from China triggered a selloff in commodities.

Read More: Midday Movers: ABX, KGC & More

Meanwhile, major averages added to their losses following two explosions at the Boston Marathon finish line around 3 p.m. ET, injuring several spectators and runners. The explosions happened about three hours after the winners crossed the line.

New York City Police told CNBC that they have stepped up security at hotels and other prominent locations around the city.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 265.86 points, or 1.79 percent, to finish at 14,599.20. All 30 Dow components ended in the red, led by Caterpillar and ExxonMobil.

The S&P 500 plunged 36.49 points, or 2.30 percent, to close at 1,552.36. And the Nasdaq dropped 78.46 points, or 2.38 percent, to finish at 3,216.49.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, surged more than 40 percent to finish above 17.

Major averages snapped a four-day winning streak last Friday, but still closed up more than 2 percent for the week.

All key S&P sectors closed sharply in negative territory, dragged by materials and energy.

China's gross domestic product grew 7.7 percent in the first quarter, over the same period a year-ago, below the expected 8 percent level and down from 7.9 percent in the previous quarter. Data on Chinese industrial production for March also missed forecasts. China is the world's second-largest buyer of gold.

Read More: Has China's Economy Hit a 'Dead End'?

"These growth and activity numbers seem quite disappointing in light of the very rapid loan growth reported last year ... it has proved a sluggish start to the year and this suggests that the Chinese economy is less dynamic and reaching speed limits," said Greg Gibbs, senior foreign exchange strategist at RBS.

Gold prices plunged more than 9 percent to settle at its lowest since February 2011. Shares of Iamgold, Kinross and Barrick were down nearly 10 percent each. Freeport-McMoran, Newmont Mining and Cliffs Natural Resources rounded out the top three S&P 500 laggards.

Read More: Cramer: This 'Tipping Point' Great for Stocks

On the economic front, the pace of growth in manufacturing in New York state slowed more than expected to 3.05 in April from 9.24 in March, according to the New York Fed's "Empire State" index. Economists had expected a reading of 7.

And homebuilder sentiment slipped for the third consecutive month in April, declining to 42 from 44 in March, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market index. Economists had expected a reading of 45. A reading above 50 indicates that more builders view market conditions as favorable. Most homebulders were in the red, led by Meritage, Ryland and Toll Brothers.

"There will be a constant barrage of catalysts this week ? and we may be setting the table for a correction that people are looking for," said Art Hogan, managing director at Lazard Capital Markets. "We've seen a two-week pattern of less-than-stellar economic data from the U.S., so we seem to be hitting a seasonal soft patch?we'll also be watching earnings and getting more information from a parade of Fed speakers."

Citigroup bucked the downward trend after the bank posted quarterly results that topped expectations thanks to improvements on loans and credit spreads.

The pace of earnings season begins to pick up this week with major companies including Goldman Sachs, Intel, Bank of America,Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, Google and GE scheduled to report results. (Track the Earnings Calendar Here)

(Read More:Tech Earnings: What to Expect from Yahoo and Intel)

On the M&A front, Sprint Nextel surged nearly 15 percent to lead the S&P 500 gainers after Dish Network offered to acquire the telecom company for $25.5 billion in cash and stock. Meanwhile, Sprint's rivals AT&T and Verizon traded lower.

Also, Thermo Fisher Scientific is nearing a deal to buy genetic testing equipment maker Life Technologies for close to $13 billion, according to four people familiar with the matter, in what would be one of the year's biggest corporate takeovers. Shares of both companies soared.

Google settled its two-year antitrust investigation by the European Commission by agreeing to legally binding changes to its search results.

Also, JPMorgan downgraded Saks from "overweight" to "neutral," citing downward pressure on luxury spending due to the higher income tax burden.

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Selena Gomez Promises To 'Put On A Show' At MTV Movie Awards

Singer admits to pre-performance jitters on the red carpet Sunday, before taking the stage to perform 'Come & Get It.'
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Selena Gomez at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1705633/selena-gomez-red-carpet-mtv-movie-awards-2013.jhtml

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As US talks up diplomacy, NKorea takes hard line

U.S. Secretary of Sate John Kerry, left, is greeted by Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida prior to their meeting at Foreign Ministry's Iikura Guesthouse in Tokyo Sunday, April 14, 2013. After meeting with top Chinese leaders in Beijing, Kerry traveled to Tokyo to discuss the continuing North Korea crisis with Japanese officials. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

U.S. Secretary of Sate John Kerry, left, is greeted by Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida prior to their meeting at Foreign Ministry's Iikura Guesthouse in Tokyo Sunday, April 14, 2013. After meeting with top Chinese leaders in Beijing, Kerry traveled to Tokyo to discuss the continuing North Korea crisis with Japanese officials. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a "Tomodachi" youth event at U.S. Embassy in Tokyo Sunday, April 14, 2013. "Tomodachi" seeks to inspire and empower the young people of Japan and America, giving them the experiences, skills, and confidence to achieve their dreams and contribute to a better world with scholarships. (AP Photo/Paul J. Richards, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, salutes as he prepares to depart Capitol International Airport in Beijing for Tokyo Sunday, April 14, 2013. At left is Kerry Senior Staff member Glen Johnson. (AP Photo/Paul J. Richards, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, tours the Zojoji Buddhist temple in Tokyo Sunday, April 14, 2013. The United States and Japan on Sunday offered new talks with North Korea to resolve the increasingly dangerous standoff over its nuclear and missile programs, but said the reclusive communist government first must lower tensions and honor previous agreements. (AP Photo/Paul J. Richards, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of Sate John Kerry, left, whispers to Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida after their joint press conference at Foreign Ministry's Iikura Guesthouse in Tokyo, Sunday, April 14, 2013. Kerry and Kishida said their countries are committed to new talks with North Korea if the reclusive communist government begins abiding by previous agreements on its nuclear program. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

TOKYO (AP) ? The United States and Japan opened the door Sunday to new nuclear talks if North Korea lowered tensions and honored past agreements, even as the saber-rattling government rejected South Korea's latest offer of dialogue as a "crafty trick."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Tokyo that North Korea would find "ready partners" in the United States if it began abandoning its nuclear program.

Japan's foreign minister, Fumio Kishida, also demanded a resolution to a dispute concerning Japanese citizens abducted decades ago by North Korean officials.

The diplomats seemed to point the way for a possible revival of the six-nation talks that have been suspended for four years.

China long pushed has for the process to resume without conditions. But the U.S. and allies South Korea and Japan fear rewarding North Korea for its belligerence and endless repetition of a cycle of tensions and failed talks that have prolonged the crisis.

Kerry's message of openness to diplomacy was clear, however unlikely the chances appeared that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's government would meet the American's conditions.

"I'm not going to be so stuck in the mud that an opportunity to actually get something done is flagrantly wasted because of a kind of predetermined stubbornness," he told U.S.-based journalists.

"You have to keep your mind open. But fundamentally, the concept is they're going to have to show some kind of good faith here so we're not going to around and around in the same-old, same-old," he said.

Tensions have run high on the Korean Peninsula for months, with North Korea testing a nuclear device and its intercontinental ballistic missile technology.

The reclusive communist state hasn't stopped there. It has issued almost daily threats that have included possible nuclear strikes against the United States. Analysts and foreign officials say that is still beyond the North Koreans' capability.

While many threats have been dismissed as bluster, U.S. and South Korean say they believe the North in the coming days may test a mid-range missile designed to reach as far as Guam, the U.S. territory in the Pacific where the Pentagon is deploying a land-based missile-defense system.

Japan is the last stop on a 10-day trip overseas for Kerry, who visited Seoul and Beijing as well in recent days.

In South Korea, he strongly warned North Korea not to launch a missile and he reaffirmed U.S. defense of its allies in the region. In China, he secured a public pledge from Beijing, the lone government with significant influence over North Korea, to rid the North of nuclear weapons.

Before returning to the United States, Kerry planned a speech Monday in Japan on the Obama administration's Asia policy.

So far, Republican lawmakers in the U.S. have largely backed the administration's efforts on North Korea.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told CBS' "Face the Nation" that he was encouraged by Kerry's China visit and that he hoped "we can get the Chinese to care more about this issue.

U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona suggested on CNN's "State of the Union" that the U.S. make a counter-threat by using missile interceptors to hit any North Korean missile that is test-fired.

At each stop on his trip, Kerry stressed that the United States wanted a peaceful resolution of the North Korea situation six decades after a cease-fire ended the Korean War.

But North Korea on Sunday served a reminder of the difficult task ahead. Its Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said the government had no intention of talking with Seoul unless the South abandons its confrontational posture, as the North called it.

Seoul had pressed North Korea to discuss restarting operations at a joint factory park on the border and President Park Geun-hye has stressed peace opportunities after taking power from her more hard-line predecessor, Lee Myung-bak. The presidency expressed regret with North Korea's rebuttal Sunday.

At a news conference in Tokyo, Kerry stressed that gaining China's commitment to a denuclearized North Korea was no small matter given its historically strong military and economic ties to North Korea.

But he refused to say what the Chinese were offering to do concretely to pressure the North into abiding by some of the conditions it agreed to in a 2005 deal that required it to abandon its nuclear program.

"They have to take some actions," Kerry said of North Korea. "How many or how much? I'd have to talk to folks back in Washington about that. But if the Chinese came to us and said, 'Look, here's what we have cooking,' I'm not going to tell you I'm shutting the door today to something that's logical and might have a chance of success."

In remarks to U.S. journalists, Kerry said that under the right circumstances, he even would consider making a grand overture to North Korea's leader, such as an offer of direct talks with the U.S.

"We're prepared to reach out," he said. Diplomacy, he added, required risk-taking and secrecy such as when President Richard Nixon engaged China in the 1970s or U.S. back-channel talks were able to end the Cuban missile crisis a decade earlier.

Given their proximity and decades of hostility and distrust, Japan and South Korea have the most to fear from the North's unpredictable actions.

Kerry clarified a statement he made Saturday in Beijing, when he told reporters the U.S. could scale back its missile-defense posture in the region if North Korea goes nuclear-free.

It appeared to be a sweetener to coax tougher action from a Chinese government which has eyed the increased U.S. military presence in its backyard warily, but which has done little over the years to snuff out funding and support for North Korea's weapons of mass destruction program.

Kerry said America's basic force posture wasn't up to debate. "There is no discussion that I know of to change that," he said.

But he said it was logical that additional missile-defense elements, deployed specifically in response to the Korean threat, could be reversed if that threat no longer existed.

"I was simply making an observation about the rationale for that particular deployment, which is to protect the United States' interests that are directly threatened by North Korea," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-14-US-Japan-NKorea/id-c95f79d113d94a2f90c287880fcb61a4

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Valet, Finder Codes, Ninja Jamms, and More

This week's collection of apps went all over the place in terms of content. If you're someone prone to bouts of amnesia during daily activities, there's plenty to cure what ails you down below. Aspiring musicians and video chat-junkies won't be disappointed either. Everyone else: maybe next week. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/p0KR7SUt6XE/valet-finder-codes-ninja-jamms-and-more

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Blocking immune response protein helps body clear chronic infection; Potential therapy for HIV, other viral infections?

Apr. 11, 2013 ? UCLA scientists have shown that temporarily blocking a protein critical to immune response actually helps the body clear itself of chronic infection. Published in the April 12 edition of Science, the finding suggests new approaches to treating persistent viral infections like HIV and hepatitis C.

The research team studied type-1 interferons (IFN-1), proteins released by cells in response to disease-causing organisms that enable cells to talk to each other and orchestrate an immune response against infection. Constant IFN-1 signaling is also a trademark of chronic viral infection and disease progression, particularly in HIV.

"When cells confront viruses, they produce type-1 interferons, which trigger the immune system's protective defenses and sets off an alarm to notify surrounding cells," explained principal investigator David Brooks, assistant professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine and College of Letters and Sciences. "Type-1 interferon is like the guy in the watch tower yelling, 'red alert,' when the marauders try to raid the castle."

Scientists have long viewed IDF-1 as beneficial, because it stimulates antiviral immunity and helps control acute infection. Blocking IDF-1 activity, they reasoned, would allow infection to run rampant through the immune system.

On the other hand, prolonged IFN-1 signaling is linked to many chronic immune problems. The research team wondered whether obstructing the signaling pathway would enable the immune system to recover enough to fight off chronic infection.

To test this theory, Brooks and his colleagues injected mice suffering from chronic viral infection with an antibody that temporarily blocked IFN-1 activity.

Much to their surprise, they discovered that giving the immune system a holiday from IFN-1 boosted the body's ability to fight the virus. Stunningly, the respite also reversed many of the immune problems that result from chronic infection, such as a rise in proteins that suppress immune response, continuous activation of the immune system and disruption of lymph tissue.

The findings fly in the face of past studies that suggest eliminating IFN-1 activity in mice leads to severe, life-long infection.

"What we saw was entirely illogical," admitted Brooks. "We'd blocked something critical for infection control and expected the immune system to lose the fight against infection. Instead, the temporary break in IFN-1 signaling improved the immune system's ability to control infection. Our next task will be to figure out why and how to harness it for therapies to treat humans."

"We suspect that halting IFN-1 activity is like pushing the refresh button," said first author Elizabeth Wilson, a UCLA postdoctoral researcher. "It gives the immune system time to reprogram itself and control the infection."

Uncovering this mechanism could offer potential for new therapies to tackle viruses like HIV and hepatitis C, according to Brooks. The team's next step will be to pinpoint how to sustain IFN-1's control of the virus while blocking the negative impact that chronic IFN-1 activity wreaks on the immune system.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the UCLA Center for AIDS Research supported the research.

Brooks' coauthors included first author Elizabeth Wilson, Douglas Yamada, Heidi Elsaesser, Jonathan Herskovitz, Jane Deng and Genhong Cheng, all of UCLA; Bruce Aronow of the University of Cincinnati, and Christopher Karp of the University of Cincinnati and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences, via Newswise.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. E. B. Wilson, D. H. Yamada, H. Elsaesser, J. Herskovitz, J. Deng, G. Cheng, B. J. Aronow, C. L. Karp, D. G. Brooks. Blockade of Chronic Type I Interferon Signaling to Control Persistent LCMV Infection. Science, 2013; 340 (6129): 202 DOI: 10.1126/science.1235208

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/KziwAhoigYM/130411142712.htm

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Heat Goes on Retailers - industries - business | Stuff.co.nz

Retail spending is expected to rebound this month after Easter and warm weather took the wind out of March shopping.

Kiwis spent less on their credit and debit cards last month compared with February, in the first monthly spending slip in six months.

Spending in the core retail categories fell 0.8 per cent, or about $27 million, seasonally adjusted Statistics New Zealand data shows.

Clothing, footwear and soft goods shopping suffered the biggest blow - down 6.2 per cent, or $18m.

Total retail spending, including vehicle-related spending, fell 0.5 per cent last month, while total spending - which includes services and non-retail sectors such as health - was down 1.2 per cent, to $5.8 billion.

Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon said Easter wiped out two trading days in March - a rare event given Easter was usually in April - and that was likely to have affected the data.

A "strong rebound" was expected in April but "we'll need to take the two months' figures together to make sense of the trend".

- ? Fairfax NZ News

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Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/8534886/Heat-goes-on-retailers

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