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...

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IHT Rendezvous: Can Armstrong be Redeemed? How About Galliano?

LONDON — While Lance Armstrong was (not quite) baring his soul to Oprah this week, a very different celebrity, the disgraced London fashion designer John Galliano, was taking a small step on the path to redemption.Two years after he was ousted from Dior in the wake of his arrest for a drunken, anti-Semitic rant in a Paris bar, Mr. Galliano is to make a modest comeback at the New York design studio...

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Thank You to the OpenStack Members Who Voted in the Individual Director Election

HP Cloud Services would like to thank all of the OpenStack® Foundation member/electors who participated in the recent Individual Director election.The OpenStack Foundation regularly conducts elections for Individual Directors of the Foundation’s Board.  This process is very important for the legitimacy of the Foundation and for the health of the project. These directors represent the voices and...

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Manti Te'o Speaks: 'I Wasn't Faking It'

By Stephen M. Silverman 01/19/2013 at 08:45 AM EST Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o has broken his silence on the topic of the his "dead" girlfriend, telling ESPN Friday night that he played no part in the bizarre hoax."I wasn't faking it," the star athlete, 21, told the sports cable network's Jeremy Schapp...

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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...

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Stock futures mixed as Intel offsets Morgan Stanley, China data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open little changed on Friday, a day after the S&P 500 rose to its highest level in five years, as a weak outlook from Intel was weighed against encouraging data out of China and a fourth-quarter profit at Morgan Stanley . Shares of Intel Corp slumped 6.5 percent to $21.20 in premarket trading after the tech company forecast quarterly revenue...

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U.N. Refugee Agency Warns of Crisis in Mali

GENEVA — As French and African troops prepare to escalate their offensive against Islamist forces in the north of Mali, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday it was preparing for around 700,000 people to flee the violence, many to neighboring countries. The U.N. believes more than 400,000 refugees could flee to neighboring countries and another 300,000 are likely to be displaced internally...

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Mo. lawmaker wants tax on violent video games

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Republican lawmaker from rural Missouri bucked her party’s anti-tax bent on Tuesday and called for a sales tax on violent video games in response to a deadly Connecticut school shooting.Rep. Diane Franklin, of Camdenton, said the proposed 1 percent sales tax would help pay for mental health programs and law enforcement measures aimed at preventing mass shootings. The tax...

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William & Kate and Harry's Gift List Reveals Riches from Their Travels

By Simon Perry 01/18/2013 at 08:20 AM EST What's on the gift list when party-lover Prince Harry comes to visit you? Reach for the rum.For the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge? How about matching bathrobes from a fabled hotel. These are just some of the gifts received last year by the Princes and Kate during their travels on behalf of Queen...

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Food servers more vulnerable to legal threats

WASHINGTON (AP) — People with severe food allergies have a new tool in their attempt to find menus that fit their diet: federal disabilities law. And that could leave schools, restaurants and anyplace else that serves food more vulnerable to legal challenges over food sensitivities.A settlement stemming from a lack of gluten-free foods available to students at a Massachusetts university could serve...

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Stock futures add to gains after housing, claims data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open higher on Thursday after better-than-expected results from online marketplace eBay and as data showed first-time claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a five-year low. Futures added to gains following cheery economic reports that also showed that groundbreaking to build new homes picked up in December to its fastest pace in over...

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IHT Rendezvous: Is Something Toxic Buried in China's Financial System?

BEIJING — China’s economy, whizzing ahead as the West struggles, seems quite remarkable. Perhaps a little too remarkable? Like many things too good to be true, is it all a little, well, too good to be true?There will be the yea- and nay-sayers in any debate, and China’s economy provokes plenty of both. So here’s the “yea” side: the forces of urbanization and industrialization unleashed here in the...

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Missouri Lawmaker Wants Violent Video Games Taxed

A rural Missouri lawmaker wants her state to tax certain video games to help curb gun violence. The Associated Press reports state Rep. Diane Franklin, R-Camdenton, believes a 1 percent sales tax on video games rated teen, mature and adults only would help finance mental health programs aimed at reducing gun violence such as the recent mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.What...

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Pawn Stars's Rick Harrison Sets Wedding Date

By Mark Gray 01/17/2013 at 08:30 AM EST Rick Harrison and Deanna Burditt MJT/AdMedia Rick Harrison has gone from pawning to planning.After months of going back and forth, the Pawn Stars ringleader and his fiancée, Deanna Burditt, have finally set a date for their...

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Large study confirms flu vaccine safe in pregnancy

NEW YORK (AP) — A large study offers reassuring news for pregnant women: It's safe to get a flu shot.The research found no evidence that the vaccine increases the risk of losing a fetus, and may prevent some deaths. Getting the flu while pregnant makes fetal death more likely, the Norwegian research showed.The flu vaccine has long been considered safe for pregnant women and their fetus. U.S. health...

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Stock futures dip, Boeing in focus; JPMorgan, Goldman report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures slipped on Wednesday with shares of Boeing set to weigh on the market after two Japanese airlines grounded their Dreamliner fleets. JPMorgan Chase & Co said fourth-quarter net income jumped 53 percent and earnings for 2012 set a record, while earnings at Goldman Sachs nearly tripled. Goldman shares rose 2.2 percent in premarket trading;...

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Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Meets Pope

Francesco Sforza/Osservatore RomanoDefense Secretary Leon E. Panetta met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Wednesday. ROME — On what is likely his last trip as defense secretary, Leon E. Panetta had an audience on Wednesday morning at the Vatican with Pope Benedict XVI, who told him, Mr. Panetta said, “Thank you for helping to protect the world.” Mr. Panetta said he replied, “Pray for me.”...

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iPhone demand said to be ‘robust,’ recent cuts don’t reflect weak demand

Following recent reports from Nikkei and The Wall Street Journal that suggested Apple (AAPL) slashed iPhone 5 component orders in half due to weak demand,  the company’s stock fell significantly and opened below $ 500 for the first time in nearly a year. The reports have been called into question, however, with many believing they do not...

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Jessica Simpson: Second Pregnancy Was a Shock, Much Different Than First

Paul Drinkwater/NBCJessica Simpson says she was channeling a certain curvaceous reality star when she posted for a bikini bump self-portrait on Twitter during her Christmas holiday in Hawaii.“I felt really hot, and I thought I deserved a Kim Kardashian moment, you know? I was really feeling it, like, ‘Oh, my bump looks cute. I’m going to share that,’” the Fashion Star mentor quipped...

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ER visits tied to energy drinks double since 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A new government survey suggests the number of people seeking emergency treatment after consuming energy drinks has doubled nationwide during the past four years, the same period in which the supercharged drink industry has surged in popularity in convenience stores, bars and on college campuses.From 2007 to 2011, the government estimates the number of emergency room visits involving...

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Stock futures fall amid debt limit, profit worries

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures slipped on Tuesday as investors fretted over the debate brewing in Washington over raising the U.S. borrowing limit as well as what is expected to be a lackluster earnings season. Economic reports include U.S. retail sales and producer prices for December as well as manufacturing activity in New York state for January, all due at 8:30 a.m. Business...

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IHT Rendezvous: And Now, via Google, Time Travel Through the Streets of Segovia

PARIS — Last month, Google and the Network of Jewish Quarters in Madrid announced an online pilot project that offers an expansive street-level tour of Spain’s long-ignored medieval neighborhoods that were emptied by the Spanish Inquisition. As I explored the site, to my surprise, the photographs of ancient, sand-colored stone walls in Segovia connected me with my own ancestors: my 16th great-grandparents.The...

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The Golden Globes, Starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and Nobody Else

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:  RELATED: The Way the World Could Have EndedNow, we know what you’re thinking. Forget the rest of the...

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Lance Armstrong Admits Doping, Says Oprah Winfrey

By Stephen M. Silverman 01/15/2013 at 08:30 AM EST Oprah Winfrey and Lance Armstrong Heather Wines/CBS; Sipa After being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles last August – and apparently lying in interviews for more than a decade – Lance Armstrong has admitted...

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Hospitals crack down on workers refusing flu shots

CHICAGO (AP) — Patients can refuse a flu shot. Should doctors and nurses have that right, too? That is the thorny question surfacing as U.S. hospitals increasingly crack down on employees who won't get flu shots, with some workers losing their jobs over their refusal."Where does it say that I am no longer a patient if I'm a nurse," wondered Carrie Calhoun, a longtime critical care nurse in suburban...

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