LONDON
Germany has reported another three deaths in its E. coli outbreak _ bringing the total to at least 47.
The Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s disease control center, said Monday that 46 deaths have now been reported in the country. One person has died in Sweden, and officials say one death in the U.S. may be linked to the outbreak.
The number of new infections has declined significantly over recent weeks but overall numbers are still rising _ due largely to delays in notification guaranteed payday loans.
The disease control center says 3,801 people have been reported sick in Germany. That includes 834 suffering from a complication that can lead to kidney failure.
A further 119 cases have been reported in 15 other countries.
The source has been traced to a sprout farm in northern Germany. It’s unclear how the sprouts were contaminated.
Investors largely put aside their concerns about the Greek financial crisis Monday and focused instead on value. Stocks rose broadly after the market shook off its longest weekly losing streak in nearly a decade.
The downturn brought the S&P 500 close to its average level over the prior 200 days. So long as the index doesn’t sink far below that level, many technical traders see it as a sign to start buying stocks again. The S&P is now 6 percent below the 2011 high it reached on April 29.
“In the short term, stocks have been oversold, and you’re going to get some sort of bounce, whether justified or not, just for technical reasons,” said Paul Simon, chief investment officer for Tactical Allocation Group, which has $1.5 billion in assets under advisement.
The S&P 500 index rose 6.86 points, 0.5 percent, to close at 1,278.36. The Dow Jones industrial average added 76.02 points, or 0.6 percent, to 12,080.38. The Nasdaq composite gained 13.18, or 0.5 percent, to 2,629.66.
Health care companies like Aetna Inc. and Humana Inc. rose 1 percent, the largest gain among the 10 industry groups that make up the S&P 500 index. Financial companies like Morgan Stanley, which lost 1.9 percent, were the only group to lose ground.
The S&P 500 notched its third straight day of gains, the longest stretch of increases in the stock market for nearly a month. The index eked out a tiny gain last week, breaking a six-week losing streak driven by concerns that U.S. economic growth would falter in the second half of the year and that Greece’s debt crisis would spread. It was the S&P’s longest slide since 2002.
Signs that the European financial crisis may be contained helped ease investors’ concerns. European Union officials in Luxemburg said Monday that the EU would take steps to prevent Greece’s debt problems from affecting other struggling countries like Ireland and Portugal.
European leaders failed over the weekend to agree on releasing more financial aid to Greece, saying the country must first agree to more budget cuts. Greece’s recent efforts to slash spending have led to street protests and political turmoil in Athens. The Greek government faces a confidence vote on Tuesday.
Prime Minister George Papandreou’s newly-reshuffled government is expected to prevail in the vote, and officials say they expect Greece to get its next installment of emergency loans in July. If Greece were to default, it could trigger losses for the banks that hold Greek bonds and more turmoil in financial markets.
Some analysts say investors are ready to move beyond the Greek crisis and focus on corporate earnings and the U.S. economy.
“There’s a little fatigue about hearing about the same problems, and there’s no shock factor anymore,” said Oliver Pursche, president of Gary Goldberg Financial Services. Traders are now starting to look ahead to the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting, which begins Tuesday, and the next round of corporate earnings reports that begin in July, he said.
Analysts expect that operating earnings per share for companies in the S&P 500 index rose 14 percent in the second quarter. They also expect the Fed to keep interest rates at nearly zero, a record low.
Among U.S. companies, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. fell 2 percent after saying it would buy the U.S. retail operations of Royal Bank of Canada for $3.45 billion. The deal will make PNC the fifth biggest U.S. bank with 2,870 branches.
Whole Foods Market Inc. gained 2.2 percent after a BMO Capital Markets analyst upgraded the stock following a recent sell-off. And Wal-Mart stores Inc. rose 0.4 percent after the Supreme Court blocked a sex discrimination lawsuit brought against the retailer by a large group of female employees.
Two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to 3.1 billion shares.
UNIVERSITY CITY
DETROIT
This Memorial Day weekend Americans will be skipping the souvenir tee-shirt.
More travelers are expected to hit the road than have since the Great Recession. But they’ll be keeping a tight grip on their wallets thanks to higher gas prices. The typical family plans to spend $692, a decrease of 14 percent from last year’s $809.
“You’ll see people eating sandwiches out the cooler instead of going into a restaurant,” says Susanne Pelt, spokeswoman for the South of the Border roadside attraction in South Carolina.
AAA projects 34.9 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home _ a slight increase of 100,000 travelers from last year and the highest number since 2007. But those who do make the journey will be spending a lot less, AAA and its survey partner IHS Global Insight say, based on interviews with 325 Americans who plan to travel for the holiday.
Rising gas prices are on the minds of 40 percent of travelers, with many planning to take shorter trips or otherwise conserve money. That might mean picking a Holiday Inn Express over a Holiday Inn or driving to a free beach instead of an amusement park.
But most refuse to abandon their vacation altogether.
“Americans really believe a vacation is a right,” says Joseph A. McInerney, CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. “It’s not a luxury.”
And it’s not just higher gas prices that families have to deal with.
Rates at AAA three diamond hotels are expected to increase 5 percent from a year ago to $148 a night. Cheaper two diamond properties are up 10 percent to $109.
“We are seeing some folks who are saying they have to pinch pennies to make the trip,” says Paula Werne, spokeswoman for Holiday World in the southern Indiana town of Santa Claus.
With the stock market up and the economy generally better than a year ago, not everybody is scrimping and saving.
AAA predicts that 2.93 million people will board an airplane over the Memorial Day weekend, up 11.5 percent from last year despite higher airfares. The airlines have hiked airfares seven times since the start of the year. The average cost of a ticket is up more than 10 percent from last year.
That spike in air travel has also driven up the total distance families are expected to travel to 792 miles. That’s 27 percent greater than last year’s average travel distance of 626 miles.
Increased air travel is a sign that people at the higher end of the income scale are faring better. Those with incomes above $50,000 a year make up 69 percent of those who plan to travel, according to AAA. Last year, they were just 58 percent of the total.
The reason: higher gas prices take up a larger share of lower-income families’ household budgets.
As Memorial Day weekend approaches, pump prices are at their highest level in three years. That’s because oil rose 35 percent from mid-February through late April.
AAA conducted its survey from April 19 to April 23. Since then, gas prices have fallen. The average retail price slipped 8 cents in the past two weeks. Further declines are expected. That could help hotels, resorts and restaurants who count on summer tourists.
Last year, the price of gas fell 20 cents a gallon from the time of AAA’s survey to Memorial Day. AAA had originally predicted 32.1 million would travel. Ultimately, that number was 34.8 million.
Still, gas prices are above $4 a gallon in nine states and the District of Columbia. That plays a large part in people’s vacation planning.
“Gas prices are much more psychological than financial for most people,” says Steve Carvell, associate dean for academic affairs at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.
Americans are paying an average of $3.91 a gallon at the pump _ $1.05 more than last year. That’s an extra $37 for a family driving 800 miles over the weekend.
“For most people, that’s not going to make or break a vacation plan,” Carvell says.
Brad Garner, chief operating officer at travel firm at STR Global, says people will find a way to make trips work.
The extra cost to fill up the family car over the holiday weekend equates to “a pizza and a six-pack of beer,” says Garner.
Many businesses are playing into that phycology, with hotels and tourist attractions once again offering gas cards to guests.
The Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., and the Wisconsin Maritime Museum about 100 miles to the south recently started a joint effort to encourage travelers to drive to the two museums, stopping at several cities along Lake Michigan along the way.
Bob Desh, executive director of the first museum says he wants tourists to look at the area differently.
“This is kind of a one-tank weekend trip along the coast,” Desh says.
____
Mayerowitz reporter from New York. Reporters Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C., John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Carrie Antlfinger in Milwaukee, Wis., contributed to this report.
Gas prices rose to a record high Tuesday, averaging $1.396 a litre at Toronto pumps, and gas-price watchdog Dan McTeague says the bad news isn
Markets in Asia were mostly higher Monday, as quake-devastated Japan began turning its attention to reconstruction.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was up 0.3 percent to 9,710.11, with shares rising of companies expected to play a major role in the country’s reconstruction following the devastating March 11 earthquake.
Japan’s government last Friday proposed a special $50 billion (4 trillion yen) budget to help finance reconstruction efforts and plans to build 100,000 temporary homes for survivors of the earthquake and tsunami, which all but destroyed the country’s northeastern coast and killed 27,000 people.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Nishimatsu Construction Co. Inc. both rose 1.6 percent. Komatsu Ltd., one of the world’s leading equipment makers, was 0.7 percent higher. Kobe Steel Ltd. was up 0.5 percent.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.1 percent to 2,200.84, with airline shares like Korean Air Lines Co. Ltd. making big gains. Korean Air was up 3.7 percent, and Asiana Airline Inc. jumped 4 percent.
Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite Index slid 1.1 percent to 2,976.45. Benchmark indexes in Singapore and Indonesia were also lower cash advance now.
Some investors stayed on the sidelines in anticipation of several key events later this week, including earnings reports of some major Japanese companies and the Federal Reserve meeting on April 26-27.
Benchmark crude for June delivery rose 66 cents to $112.95.
The dollar strengthened against the yen to 82.38 in Asia on Monday from 81.90 late Friday in New York.
The euro slipped to $1.4544 from $1.4550. It had risen to a 16-month high of $1.4648 during Thursday’s trading.
Investors have turned away from the dollar this year because they expect the Federal Reserve to keep U.S. interest rates near zero even as other central banks around the world raise interest rates to counteract rising food and energy prices. Higher rates tend to support a currency’s value.
Stock, bond and commodities markets were closed in the U.S. and many markets are also shut in Europe and Asia on Good Friday. Markets in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong remained closed Monday.
Japanese Trade Minister Banri Kaieda said he asked China and South Korea to rely on scientific evidence in deciding whether to ban Japanese goods over concern they may be contaminated with radiation.
Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming and South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong Hoon both agreed that will be the criteria for any import restrictions, Kaieda told reporters after meeting his counterparts in Tokyo today. Chen and Kim also said safety is their priority, Kaieda added.
Trading partners worldwide are testing Japanese products for radiation following leaks at the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
China, Japan’s largest export market, earlier this month expanded a ban on imports of food and agricultural produce, threatening to exacerbate an export slump in the world’s third- largest economy after a record earthquake disrupted supply chains.
South Korea, Singapore and the U.S. have also halted imports of some products on concern that produce grown around the stricken nuclear station has been contaminated.
Japan, South Korea and China agreed on the need to accelerate negotiations to form a free-trade agreement among them, and to “resist protectionism in all forms,” according to a joint statement released after the discussions today.
Here I am celebrating
Powered by WordPress -- XHTML 1.0