Ever wonder why Pat Sajak used to be so enthusiastic in the early days of Wheel of Fortune? Turns out it's because he and Vanna White often had a margarita -- or six -- before taking the stage for the popular game show.
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The stock market bounced to its highest close since last spring Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it expected to keep interest rates near zero for almost three more years.
Bond yields dropped sharply, then climbed back later in the day when investors began looking more closely into the Fed's deliberations. The yield on the five-year Treasury note touched an all-time low.
The big moves in both markets came at 12:30 p.m. EST, when the Fed's monetary policy committee said it was unlikely to raise interest rates before late 2014. It had previously said it expected to keep rates low into the middle of 2013.
"Unless there is a substantial strengthening of the economy in the near term, it's a pretty good guess we will be keeping rates low for some time," Chairman Ben Bernanke told reporters.
The Fed cut rates to near zero in December 2008, during the financial crisis, and has held them there ever since. The announcement was a sign that the Fed expects the economy, which is improving, to need significant help for three more years.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down as much as 95 points in the morning and about 60 points before the Fed announcement. It shot to a gain of 103 points during the afternoon.
The Dow closed up 81.21 points, or 0.6 percent, at 12,756.96. That's the highest close since May 10. The Dow peaked for last year in April at 12,810. Before that, it had not been so high since May 2008.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note was at 2.05 percent an hour before the announcement and quickly fell to 1.92, a significant move. It rose to 1.99 percent two hours later.
The bounce-back happened at about 2 p.m., when the Fed released details of how the committee voted. Six of its 17 members had favored an interest rate increase this year or next ? well before late 2014 in either case.
The yield on the five-year Treasury note hit 0.76 percent, an all-time low. Bond yields fall when their prices rise.
The Fed's extension of low rates signaled that it expects inflation to stay low. Low inflation makes Treasurys more attractive by helping to maintain the value of bond owners' fixed returns. Rising prices would eat into those returns.
The announcement guaranteed that short-term loans will remain cheap, making it easier for investors to finance longer-term purchases, such as 10- and 30-year Treasurys, said John Canally, investment strategist and economist for LPL Financial.
Monetary decisions by the Fed can change the market's momentum in the short term but rarely have a longer-term impact, Canally warned.
The market changed directions after 22 of the past 24 Fed policy announcements, he said, yet the change evaporates quickly. The market essentially has an equal chance of rising or falling in the five days after Fed meetings, he said.
"It's a coin flip, really," Canally said.
Keeping rates ultra-low for a longer period increases the likelihood that the Fed will engage in more bond-buying programs to help the economy, a policy known as quantitative easing, said Anthony Chan, chief economist with JPMorgan Private Wealth Management. Those tend to boost bond prices by increasing the overall demand in the market.
Chan called the Fed's move insurance against the European debt crisis and a recession across the Atlantic Ocean. Stock buyers, he said, were happy about the prospect of low inflation and a Fed leaning toward promoting economic growth.
The promise of lower rates pushed the dollar lower against other major currencies. Low interest rates make the dollar less attractive because they reduce the returns traders get on U.S. debt and other bonds priced in dollars.
Markets had opened mostly lower on fears about Greece's slow progress in talks with bondholders aimed at reducing that nation's crushing debt load.
Technology stocks rose all morning, bucking the wider market, after Apple reported its best quarter and blew away analyst estimates because of strong holiday sales of the iPhone and iPad.
Apple once again passed Exxon Mobil as the company with the biggest market value. Wall Street was watching the results closely because they were for the company's first quarter since the death of founder Steve Jobs.
Apple stock jumped 6.3 percent, helping lift the Nasdaq composite index by 31.67 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 2,818.31. The Nasdaq is up 8.2 percent this year, nearly twice the gain for the Dow Jones industrial average.
Netflix Inc., the DVD-by-mail and video streaming provider, jumped 13 percent in after-hours trading after reporting earnings that far exceeded Wall Street's expectations.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 11.41 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,326.06. The S&P is up 5.4 percent for the year and more than 14 percent from its Nov. 25 low.
As fears recede about Europe, big-time investors such as hedge funds will be drawn back into the market, fueling more gains, said Joe Bell, senior Equity Strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research.
After such a strong rally, there might be a slight decline, but "overall we're bullish," Bell said.
European markets mostly closed lower. Greece wants the investors, mostly banks and hedge funds, to voluntarily write off about half their debt. Otherwise, Greece will be unable to obtain bailout cash and won't be able to pay its bills. That could set off a financial crisis similar to what happened when Lehman Brothers investment bank failed in 2008.
Adding to the gloom was a report that Britain's economy shrank by 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter.
Among the other companies making big moves after announcing earnings:
? US Airways Group Inc. jumped 17.3 percent and Delta Air Lines Inc. rose 6.2 percent. Both airlines reported profits far better than Wall Street analysts expected. The airlines raised fares during the fourth quarter while keeping costs under control. Delta also cut the number of flights it makes to keep pace with demand.
? WellPoint Inc., the nation's largest health insurance company based on enrollment, fell 4.8 percent. Its quarterly profit dropped 39 percent, far more than analysts had expected. Its full-year forecast also fell short of forecasts. Medical claims, its largest expense, rose nearly 10 percent in the quarter.
? Guidewire Software Inc. soared 37 percent on its first day of trading. The company, which makes software for the insurance industry, rose to $17.80 after selling initially at $13. The 11-year-old company raised $115 million in its debut ? or about $27 million less than the profit Apple turned in an average day last quarter.
___
AP Business Writer Matt Craft contributed to this report from New York.
Follow Daniel Wagner at http://www.twitter.com/wagnerreports.
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Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=6021ab6f7dae5fa26889523f534c8069
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COMMENTARY | There is a doctored Washington Post front page making the rounds on Facebook with an image of President Barack Obama laughing with the headline "Gingrich Wins S.C. Primary." Clearly this is not a real headline from The Post, but it has probably been seen by even more people than if it were.
The reason so many people are sharing this faux front page is because it mimics exactly how many Democrats felt when they heard that Newt Gingrich handily beat Mitt Romney in last week's primary in South Carolina. Seriously; do Republicans really think that Gingrich is their best option? Are the pigs flying or do these folks just have their head buried extra deep along their lovely coastline?
As a Democrat, I have watched the Republican primaries with interest. Even though I will not be participating in the vote for the Republican nominee, it is important to me to be knowledgeable regarding the candidates as one of them will be running for the office of President.
It seemed clear early on that Mitt Romney would be the most formidable opponent for President Obama. Romney is conservative, but not so conservative that he would turn off independents. With so many people concerned about the economy, Romney has a wealth of real-world business experience that would seem to make him particularly qualified to deal with economic issues and possibly lead our country down the road to prosperity. He has been married to the same woman for many years, and seems to have raised a lovely family.
So, why, oh why, are so many Republicans choosing Newt Gingrich? Are they poorly informed or just dim? Newt Gingrich claims to have strong family values, but he is currently married to his third wife, who he began relations with while still married to his second wife, who he asked to marry him while he was still married to his first wife, who was battling cancer at the time. Is this a man that people actually believe puts a priority on family values?
Based on a 1997 ethics report, Newt Gingrich was sanctioned by an overwhelming bipartisan vote which forced him to pay back $300,000 in costs due to ethics violations. Gingrich later stepped down as Speaker of the House when he was told that as many as 30 Republicans would refuse to vote for him on the floor of the House. Those were members of his own party, Republicans, who refused his leadership of the House. Yet some people think he would make a good president?
The Republicans that are working to make Newt Gingrich the Republican nominee, if successful, will be handing President Obama his second term on a silver platter. As Republican political consultant Mike Murphy said on Meet the Press this Sunday, "Newt Gingrich cannot carry a general election swing state it if was made of feathers." He's exactly right, and the heads of Republicans leaders are spinning.
The reasons Mitt Romney would appeal to many who don't vote strictly along party lines are the same reasons he isn't conservative enough for tea party Republicans. However Newt Gingrich isn't the guy they are looking for, he's just pretending to be. Gingrich is the dream Republican nominee from a Democrat's perspective. It is truly astonishing that those who are voting for him are blind to this.
"Gingrich stuns Washington by stepping aside," cnn.com
Heidi Pryzbyla, "Gingrich's Ex-Wife Says He Sought 'Open Marriage' to Keep Affair," Businessweek
January 22nd transcript, Meet the Press, NBC
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If American Idol were a talking competition, Aubree Dieckmeyer would be screwed.
The 20-year old auditioned in San Diego for TV's top-rated series last night... only she had trouble remembering just which show she hoping to win. See what we mean in the interview that precedes her actual try out here:
In the end, Dieckmeyer's voice stood out more than her gaffe. We could see her advancing far on season 11. Among the opponents she'll face in Hollywood, courtesy of the most recent audition episode?
Kyle Crews, who made frat boys everywhere proud with his cover of "Angel of Mine."
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WASHINGTON ? Scientists who created easier-to-spread versions of the deadly bird flu said Friday they're temporarily halting more research, as international specialists debate what should happen next.
Researchers from leading flu laboratories around the world signed onto the voluntary moratorium, published Friday in the journals Science and Nature.
What the scientists called a "pause" comes amid fierce controversy over how to handle research that's high-risk but potentially could bring a big payoff. Two labs ? at Erasmus University in the Netherlands and the University of Wisconsin-Madison ? created the new viruses while studying how bird flu might mutate to become a bigger threat to people.
The U.S. government funded the work but last month urged the teams not to publicly reveal the exact formula so that would-be bioterrorists couldn't copy it. Critics also worried a lab accident might allow the strains to escape. The researchers reluctantly agreed not to publish all the details as long as the government set up a system to provide them to legitimate scientists who really need to know. The National Institutes of Health is creating such a system.
"We recognize that we and the rest of the scientific community need to clearly explain the benefits of this important research and the measures taken to minimize its possible risks," lead researchers Ron Fouchier of Erasmus and Yoshihiro Kawaoka of Wisconsin wrote Friday in the letter. They were joined by nearly three dozen other flu researchers.
They called for a public international meeting to debate how to learn from the work, safely. And they agreed to hold off on additional research with the existing lab-bred strains or that leads to any new ones for 60 days.
A U.S. official praised the development.
The moratorium "is a really good idea, because a lot of very important issues are at hand," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who expects most flu researchers doing such work to sign on. "There aren't a lot of people who are doing that, I can assure you."
The U.S. also wants international input; researchers are talking with the World Health Organization.
Today, the so-called H5N1 bird flu only occasionally infects people, mostly those who have close contact with sick poultry. But when it does, it's highly lethal. The lab-bred H5N1 strains were a surprise because they showed it was easier than previously thought for the virus to mutate in a way that lets it spread easily between at least some mammals ? in this case, ferrets.
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ASTANA, Kazakhstan ? Kazakhstan's long-serving prime minister said Friday that his Central Asian country will move gradually toward greater political liberalization and downplayed international criticism of this week's parliamentary election.
Karim Masimov spoke shortly after newly elected deputies assembled for the first time since the election that saw the ruling Nur Otan party's control of the Majlis, or lower house, fall from 100 percent to 89 percent.
Deputies from three parties were sworn in at an official ceremony overseen by the oil-rich former Soviet nation's powerful veteran president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe expressed substantial misgivings over the conduct of Sunday's election, saying the vote count lacked transparency.
Masimov said in an interview with The Associated Press that he respected the views of the OSCE and that Kazakhstan would continue working to improve standards.
"For the next election we will make the necessary steps to be close to international standards, but at the same time I, as the prime minister, strongly believe that we did have free-and-fair elections," he said, speaking in English.
Nur Otan's commanding victory in the elections gave it control of 83 of the lower house's 107 seats. The pro-business Ak Zhol and the People's Communist Party have eight and seven deputies, respectively. Nine deputies were appointed by a presidential advisory body.
The more militant wings of the opposition insist they have been denied a fair attempt at gaining even a foothold in parliament.
In its first session, parliament reconfirmed Masimov as prime minister, putting an end to speculation that Nazarbayev might appoint a new head of government.
Masimov has held the country's No. 2 post since 2007, making him the longest-serving prime minister since Kazakhstan gained independence in 1991.
An urbane polyglot with a command of several languages ? including English, Chinese and Turkish ? Masimov is liked by international investors and widely credited with steering the country through a downturn caused by the global economic crisis.
Masimov said political reforms are necessary if Kazakhstan is to further grow its economy, which has expanded at a robust pace over the past decade, with a brief interlude during the height of the crisis.
The government's oft-stated aim is for the country to shed its reputation as a middling economy dependent on its low labor costs and oil, gas and mineral exports for growth.
Masimov said authorities will soon look to give more power to local authorities in Kazakhstan ? a sparsely populated nation of 17 million that spans an area almost four times the size of Texas and shares long borders with China and Russia.
"In a few months we will make a concrete proposal how to advance forward," he said.
Kazakhstan is still reeling from a rare outburst of discontent and violence in December in the western oil town of Zhanaozen. A protest by oil workers who had been fired after striking for better pay degenerated into clashes with police who opened fire. At least 16 people were killed, and the bloodshed set off a riot in another town where police killed one person.
The discontent underlying that violence highlighted the risk of economic stagnation in some regions stemming from excess dependence on the energy sector.
Masimov said Zhanaozen would serve as a lesson to avoid a similar outcomes in other one-industry towns.
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PYONGYANG, North Korea ? North Korea is crediting its young new leader, Kim Jong Un, with spearheading past nuclear testing as it adds to a growing personality cult around him.
The North's official Uriminzokkiri website said Friday that Kim "frightened" the country's enemies by commanding nuclear testing in the past. North Korea tested nuclear devices in 2006 and 2009. But the website didn't specify which tests Kim oversaw.
Kim took over after his father and longtime ruler Kim Jong Il died in mid-December.
His youth and quick rise have spurred questions in foreign capitals about how ready he is to rule. North Korea has in recent days said that Kim Jong Un had a lengthy behind-the-scenes role and worked closely with his father.
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