Stocks gain; Dow hits fresh high

JeeYeon Park , CNBC ? ? ? 5 hrs.

Stocks eased off their session highs but finished in positive territory for the second day Tuesday. The Dow touched a fresh intraday high and the S&P 500 traded within 2 points of its all-time peak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average held modest gains after rallying to hit a fresh all-time high at 14,716.46, buoyed by Microsoft and Intel.

Interestingly, the blue-chip index has yet to log a three-day losing streak this year. The last time the Dow went this far into a year without a losing streak of that length was 1976. The Dow ended that year with a 18 percent rally.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also held their gains. If the S&P 500 ends higher, it could mark the end of the "alternation streaks" for the index. The S&P 500 has alternated between gains and losses for the past 14 sessions for the first time ever.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, slid below 13.

Among key S&P sectors, materials rallied, while utilities slid.

Alcoa struggled for direction after the aluminum producer reported an increase in quarterly profit as performance in its alumina and primary metals segments improved despite a tough market, but revenue fell slightly short of estimates. Still Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld told CNBC that he remains "relatively optimistic" that 2013 will be better than 2012 and continues to project 7 percent global demand growth in aluminum.

Alcoa unofficially kicks off this quarter's earnings season, which is expected to be fairly weak.

(Read More: Earnings Season Could Bring 'April Anxiety')

For the first quarter, earnings growth is expected to gain by just 1.6 percent, compared to 6.2 percent last quarter, according to Thomson Reuters. The negative warnings are higher than usual?with 108 negative revisions for S&P 500 companies. Compared to the 23 positive revisions, it is the worst pace in 12 years, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Banking giants JPMorgan and Wells Fargo are slated to post earnings on Friday.

(Read More: Earnings Season Arrives as Data Flash Warning Signs)

First Solar skyrocketed nearly 50 percent after the solar company announced it expects 2013 earnings of between $4 a share and $4.50 a share and revenue of between $3.8 billion and $4 billion, exceeding current Thomson Reuters expectations for $3.51 a share on sales of $3.12 billion. Rivals including Suntech Power and LDK Solar also soared.

Herbalife dipped after being halted for nearly two hours following news that KPMG resigned as auditor for the nutrition, weight management and skin-care products company, according to the New York Times.

Skechers rose after the footwear retailer also announced the resignation of KPMG as its lead auditor. In a statement, Skechers said that the resignation was "due to misconduct by KPMG's lead audit engagement partner on the Skechers account." Shares were briefly halted earlier.

(Read More: Once Shunned, Funds Now Ally With Activist Investors)

JCPenney slumped to lead the S&P 500 laggards after the company said former CEO Myron Ullman will return as the retailer's chief after Ron Johnson was ousted by the board. Ullman will an annual base salary of $1 million. Adding to woes, the company's sales are down more than 10 percent so far in the first quarter versus a year ago, according to Dow Jones.

(Read More: Cramer: Ullman 'Right Choice' for JCP, but 'I Worry')

Disney slipped slightly as the conglomerate readies to lay off 150 people this week, according to sources close to the situation. The job cuts will be predominately in home entertainment, as the company adjusts to industry-wide declines in DVD sales.

Traders will be looking out for clues about the future of quantitative easingthis week, with the Federal Reserve set to release minutes from its last meeting on Wednesday. There are also several appearances by Fed officials this week, including anti-inflation hawk Jeffrey Lacker and Atlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart on Tuesday.

(Read More: Pimco's Bill Gross: Beware of 'Monetary Red Bull')

U.S. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke overnight on Monday at an Atlanta Fed conference. In a speech that did not directly touch on monetary policy, Bernanke hinted at why the central bank continues to pursue ultra-easy monetary policy.

"The economy is significantly stronger than it was four years ago, although conditions are clearly still far from where we would all like them to be," he said.

Meanwhile, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard told CNBC that he'd be willing to reduce the central bank's massive bond-buying program in "small increments."

The government auctioned $32 billion in 3-year notes at a high yield of 0.342 percent. The bid-to-cover ratio, an indicator of demand, was 3.24.

On the economic front, wholesale inventories logged its biggest decline since September 2011 in February, according to the Commerce Department. Meanwhile, the National Federation of Independent Business reported that business confidence fell again in March.

In Europe, industrial production in the U.K. rose by more than expected in February, diminishing the risk the economy slipped back into recession in the first quarter of 2013.

(Read More: In Effort to 'Rebalance,' Europe Sticks to Austerity)

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew pushed for a growth rather than an austerity agenda during the first day of his two-day visit to Europe. Speaking in Brussels, Lew said that the U.S. had an "immense stake in Europe's health and stability" and called on Europe to boost demand.

China's annual consumer inflation eased to 2.1 percent in March from February's 3.2 percent while producer price deflation deepened, data showed on Tuesday, leaving policymakers room to keep monetary conditions easy and nurture a nascent recovery.

?By CNBC's JeeYeon Park (Follow JeeYeon on Twitter: @JeeYeonParkCNBC)

? 2013 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved

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Glass Explorer Edition To Ship Within Next Month, Google Confirms

Today during Google Venture’s “Glass Collective” event, Google told us that it hopes to get the Glass hardware into the hands of developers “within the next month.” The exact date for when Google plans to ship the first publicly available versions of Glass remains unknown, but Google has now confirmed to us that it is now very close to shipping the $1,500 devices to developers. Shipping Glass within the next month, of course, makes sense, given that Google will host its annual I/O developer conference in San Francisco from May 15 to 17. Glass will surely take center stage at this event, and if Google wants to get developers excited about the project and talk about (and launch) Glass’ Mirror API during I/O, it needs to get the hardware into the hands of developers soon. Last year, Google allowed I/O attendees to pre-register for Glass, but the company never really reached out to these developers since — except for sending them glass blocks with their wait-list number engraved on it. Google also recently allowed others to compete for the right to be among the first to buy Glass by posting their reasons for wanting Glass on Twitter and Google+. That project, which was going to bring about 8,000 additional early testers into the Glass community, was heavily criticized because it seemed Google (and the company it partnered with for this) just picked people randomly. Google later rescinded some of these invitations. Users who won the right to buy Glass have to pick it up in person in L.A., San Francisco or New York. It’s not clear if developers will have to do the same, but it would make sense for Google to allow developers to pick their kits up at I/O.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/E_KQBCEk_CI/

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Giant John Paul II statute ready for unveiling

CZESTOCHOWA, Poland (AP) ? Workers were putting the finishing touches Tuesday on what its backer says is the world's tallest statue of the late Pope John Paul II.

The 13.8-meter (45.3-foot) white fiberglass figure will tower over the southern Polish city of Czestochowa, home to the predominantly Catholic country's most important pilgrimage site, the Jasna Gora monastery.

Funded by a private investor and put up on private grounds, the Polish-born pontiff appears smiling and stretching his arms to the world. On Tuesday, workers were joining the pieces together and painting them before the official unveiling of the statue Saturday.

Leszek Lyson, who is funding the project, called the pope "a great and good man who has done a lot for the world: ended communism and opened borders in Europe, reached to people in his pilgrimages around the world. His statue "should make everyone stop and think about life."

Its construction comes as the traditionally respected church comes under criticism for its conservative views and as church attendance shrinks.

Born Karol Wojtyla in Wadowice, southern Poland, John Paul was elected in 1978, a surprise choice from communist eastern Europe. In Poland he is credited with inspiring the Solidarity movement that helped end communism in 1989. His death in 2005 was a time of national mourning.

Lyson said that the unveiling ceremony will mark three years since he saved his son from drowning and is a sign of thanks.

He is also trying to get the statue into Guinness Book of Records as the world's tallest of John Paul.

Poland already boasts that it has the world's tallest statue of Jesus, unveiled in 2010 in the western town of Swiebodzin.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/giant-john-paul-ii-statute-readied-unveiling-124018723.html

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Giant John Paul II statute readied for unveiling

CZESTOCHOWA, Poland (AP) ? Workers were putting the finishing touches Tuesday on what its backer says is the world's tallest statue of the late Pope John Paul II.

The 13.8-meter (45.3-foot) white fiberglass figure will tower over the southern Polish city of Czestochowa, home to the predominantly Catholic country's most important pilgrimage site, the Jasna Gora monastery.

Funded by a private investor and put up on private grounds, the Polish-born pontiff appears smiling and stretching his arms to the world. On Tuesday, workers were joining the pieces together and painting them before the official unveiling of the statue Saturday.

Leszek Lyson, who is funding the project, called the pope "a great and good man who has done a lot for the world: ended communism and opened borders in Europe, reached to people in his pilgrimages around the world. His statue "should make everyone stop and think about life."

Its construction comes as the traditionally respected church comes under criticism for its conservative views and as church attendance shrinks.

Born Karol Wojtyla in Wadowice, southern Poland, John Paul was elected in 1978, a surprise choice from communist eastern Europe. In Poland he is credited with inspiring the Solidarity movement that helped end communism in 1989. His death in 2005 was a time of national mourning.

Lyson said that the unveiling ceremony will mark three years since he saved his son from drowning and is a sign of thanks.

He is also trying to get the statue into Guinness Book of Records as the world's tallest of John Paul.

Poland already boasts that it has the world's tallest statue of Jesus, unveiled in 2010 in the western town of Swiebodzin.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/giant-john-paul-ii-statute-readied-unveiling-124018723.html

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5 UN peacekeepers, at least 7 civilians killed in ambush in South Sudan

By Charlton Doki and Nirmala George, The Associated Press

JUBA, South Sudan -- Five United Nations peacekeepers from India, and at least seven civilians, were killed Tuesday when armed rebels opened fire on a convoy in South Sudan.

South Sudan's military spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, blamed the attack on fighters led by David Yau Yau, a Sudan-backed rebel leader South Sudan's military has battled for months.

The top U.N. envoy in South Sudan, Hilde Johnson, said in a statement that five peacekeepers and seven civilians working with the U.N. mission were killed. She said at least nine additional peacekeepers and civilians were injured and some remain unaccounted for.

Aguer said the attack took place on a convoy traveling between the South Sudanese towns of Pibor and Bor on Tuesday morning.

"Definitely this attack was carried out by David Yau Yau's militia," Aguer said. "They have been launching ambushes even on the SPLA for about six months now," he said, using the acronym for South Sudan's military.

South Sudan ended decades of civil war with Sudan in 2005 and peacefully formed its own country in 2011. But the south is still plagued by internal violence and shaky relations with Sudan. Leaders in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, deny that they are arming Yau Yau.

Syed Akbaruddin, spokesman of India's Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, India, said the convoy, which included 32 Indian soldiers, was attacked by rebels in Gurmukh in the volatile state of Jonglei. He said the casualties are being brought to the capital of South Sudan, Juba, and the injured will be sent to the U.N. mission hospital. The Indian embassy will work with the U.N. to bring the bodies back to India, he said.

India has about 2,200 Indian army personnel in South Sudan. They are in two battalions. One is based in Jonglei and the other is in Malakal, in the Upper Nile, on the border with Sudan.

The Indian embassy said it will inform families before releasing the names of the soldiers killed.

The top U.N. envoy in South Sudan, Johnson, sent condolences to the families of the dead and injured.

Related:

South Sudan prisons in tatters after decades of war

S. Sudan president: Sudan has declared war on us

PhotoBlog: Building South Sudan from scratch

? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Insight: Insurers see promise in pay-for-performance health plans

By Caroline Humer

(Reuters) - Insurers and doctors are testing a way to pay for healthcare that has been more common in the corporate suite than the emergency room - paying for better performance, betting it is the key to controlling runaway costs.

Both private insurance plans and Medicare plans in hundreds of locations around the country are using incentives to try to cut healthcare spending and still keep Americans healthy.

After a few years of pilot programs and studies, companies as large as Intel Corp. are offering these plans to employees this year. They believe the programs' tenets - eliminating unneeded tests and following best practices for prescriptions and care - will work.

UnitedHealth Group Inc, Humana Group, Cigna Corp. and others are compensating medical providers if they meet targets in areas such as cancer screening or managing diabetics' cholesterol levels. While robust data is still scant, a study published last year in the Journal of American Medical Association showed these plans - called Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) - can produce savings of 5 percent to 10 percent, which are typically shared between the provider and insurer.

Much of the Affordable Care Act kicks in next year, which has increased the pressure on insurers and providers to provide more services while cutting healthcare costs, which are now 17 percent of the U.S. economy, up from 13 percent in 2000.

Insurers say they will double the number of members in plans based on incentives for care in the next few years.

PRIVATE AND GOVERNMENT PLANS

Large employers, which provide about half of Americans with healthcare plans, are adding these accountable care organizations and other coordinated care initiatives on top of other benefits that focus on prevention. For instance, they are charging smokers more and monitoring employees' health.

About 13 percent of them will have ACOs or similar quality-based contracts with providers by the end of 2014, and 29 percent expect to in the next five years, according to a recent Towers Watson/National Business Group On Health survey.

The U.S. government has several standardized models for ACOs for Medicare, which provides benefits for 50 million Americans, and has so far approved more than 250 ACOs.

In addition to trying to lower costs for individual and small group customers, insurers are creating the plans to hold onto large company business. Healthcare spending cuts and the Affordable Care Act have hit insurers with new taxes and mandatory services while also limiting profits.

"For many of them, that's how they see themselves surviving this transition. They'll have a major role in helping systems improve their care as one of their business lines in addition to insurance, or just paying claims," said Dr. Elliott Fisher, a health policy expert at Dartmouth University's medical school who worked on the study and with the Brookings Institute designed several ACO pilot programs in the private sector.

The plans are just starting, so it is not clear whether all the different designs set up by companies, hospitals and private insurers will produce the savings seen in the more regimented JAMA study, which was based on preset parameters.

"Everyone is rushing to change to a different model, but the results aren't in yet. So when you say what's the success of ACOs to date, the real honest answer is premature," said Dr. Phil Polakoff, a senior managing director in FTI Consulting's corporate finance group.

"TRENDING IN RIGHT DIRECTION"

One of the new programs is in Kentucky. Norton Healthcare, the state's largest hospital system, and Humana Inc., also based there, started an ACO several years ago for their employees as a pilot that it decided to renew this year. Norton aimed to cut what it spent sending its employees to other caregivers.

While neither company provided data on savings to them, saying it was too early for a full analysis of the claims, Humana said its program was "trending in the right direction."

Intel Corp. started its first ACO in January for employees and their families at its Rio Rancho, New Mexico, semiconductor plant. After savings from wellness and prevention initiatives slowed, it wanted to control spending, particularly for its sickest members, who account for about 20 percent of the company's $500 million annual healthcare spending.

Intel's plan includes full coverage of drugs for chronic conditions such as asthma and hypertension and preventive services. Beyond that, it pays more or less depending on how the plan provider, Presbyterian Healthcare Services, meets targets for providing same-day access to care, low cost and patient satisfaction, among other criteria.

Consumer advocates say the focus on quality and improved care is good for patients, but if ACOs limit access to care they could backfire.

"What we would want to ensure is happening is that people have access to the care they need and that all of the appropriate providers are engaged," said Kim Bailey, research director for Families USA in Washington, D.C.

CUTTING COSTS

The JAMA study was based on eight years of data at 10 institutions that took part in the Medicare Physician Group Practice Demonstration pilot and showed that coordinated care cut medical spending by 5 percent to 10 percent. The biggest savings were in lower hospital readmissions and in acute care among people eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.

The federal government says its Medicare ACO plans could save up to $940 million over four years. It set 33 measures related to patient safety, preventive health services, at-risk populations and patient experience.

Insurers say they are seeing financial benefits. Aetna Inc, for instance, said hospital admissions have dropped by up to 45 percent in a small Medicare Advantage program - private insurance for seniors - it ran in Maine.

UnitedHealth aims to more than double by 2017 its pay-for-performance medicine, to $50 billion, from $20 billion now.

"Measuring the impact on patients of the commercials ACOs is something we are all interested in doing," Fisher said. "The plans themselves are pretty confident they are doing both - improving care and lowering costs."

(Editing by Ed Tobin, Jilian Mincer and Douglas Royalty; Reporting By Caroline Humer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/insight-insurers-see-promise-pay-performance-health-plans-122905035--sector.html

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Missing hiker: 'I was in a big dream'

ORANGE, Calif. (AP) ? One of two hikers who got lost in the Southern California wilderness last week said Monday she remembers little about her four-day ordeal because she began hallucinating on the first night after the pair finished the three bottles of water they had and darkness fell.

Kyndall Jack, 18, and her friend, Nicolas Cendoya, went missing on March 31 in Cleveland National Forest after wandering off a trail during what they thought would be a short day hike. The pair had picked the hike on the popular Holy Jim Trail almost at random after deciding they wanted to climb to a mountaintop to "touch the clouds," Jack said at a brief news conference.

She said the last thing she remembers is fighting off an animal with Cendoya after darkness fell, but she does not recall how the two got separated or what she did between then and her rescue. She hallucinated she was being eaten by a python, she tried to eat rocks and dirt, and thought that tree twigs were straws from which she could suck water.

"I honestly didn't even know I was missing, I didn't know I was gone, I didn't know anything was going on," she said. "I just thought I was in a big dream."

Jack was plucked by helicopter from a tiny rocky outcropping on a near-vertical cliff Thursday, after searchers followed her cries for help across a canyon and up several dried-up waterfalls. She was severely dehydrated, could not move one arm and complained of shortness of breath and pain in her chest and legs, rescuers said at the time.

Her mouth was so full of dirt the first man to reach her was afraid she would choke if he gave her water.

Cendoya, 19, had been rescued the night before after a volunteer searcher heard him call out from chest-high brush not far from where Jack was found. He was released from the hospital Sunday and the two have since seen each other and tried to make sense of their hallucinations with little luck.

Jack, who was expected to be released late Monday, has frostbite in her left hand and swelling, cuts and bruises on her legs that still make walking difficult.

She sat in a wheelchair and appeared weak during a brief news conference outside the University of Irvine, California Medical Center. The ends of her fingernails were ragged and still coated with dirt and she wore a bandage on one arm, moccasins on her swollen feet and a neon yellow hospital bracelet that said "Fall Risk."

The hike started out well but things quickly went wrong when they left the trail, she recalled.

"We just saw a good place and we were like, 'Oh, we're just going to scale the mountain here," she said.

They realized as darkness fell that they were lost and nowhere near the mountaintop and Cendoya called 911 twice on his dying cellphone.

In the second call, he and Jack can be heard having a tense conversation as the operator tries to determine where exactly they are in the 720-square-mile national forest ? a vast wilderness that runs smack up against the suburban comforts of southeastern Orange County.

"Yeah, we wandered off the trail. We wandered off the trail," Cendoya told the operator. "I don't even know if we'll make it to the morning because we have no water."

At one point, Jack can be heard in the background telling Cendoya there is something moving in the wilderness and at another point, she cries out for help as the operator tells the pair deputies are on foot searching for them.

"We don't hear them, but we screamed and my echo went out for miles," Cendoya says during the nine-minute call.

Jack said Monday that she panicked as the darkness closed in around them. She tried to climb a tree and use her lighter to provide a signal for rescuers, but she dropped it. She thinks she remembers fighting off some type of animal with Cendoya before the two began to slip in and out of consciousness ? but that, too, could have been a dream.

"I started to get like an anxiety attack and I started throwing up and I just lost it. I just went in and out of consciousness after the 911 call," she said.

"We just kept telling each other, 'Don't close your eyes. Don't fall asleep,'" she said.

Jack vaguely remembers "scooting" down a steep embankment ? likely the cliff where she was found ? but she isn't sure when she did that and how she managed to cling to the rocks for so long.

The teen warned other hikers to pack more water and supplies and not stray off the trail.

She also said she'd like to thank two of her rescuers in person: The first reserve sheriff's deputy who reached her and the paramedic who airlifted her to safety in a harness.

Another Orange County reserve sheriff's deputy who participated in the rescue slipped and fell 10 feet, hitting his chest on a rock before falling another 50 feet and hitting his head. He suffered cuts to his head, a punctured lung, broken ribs and other injuries. He was released from intensive care over the weekend and upgraded to fair condition.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/calif-hiker-4-days-missing-felt-dream-234658888.html

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