S&P hits new high in broad rally, Wall Street up 1 percent

By Ryan Vlastelica

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 rose to a historic high on Wednesday as stocks advanced 1 percent in a broad rally, with technology shares among the strongest of the day.

For the second day in a row, cyclical shares advanced as investors bought into the sector, which has lagged other sectors recently. As these groups are closely tied to the pace of economic growth, many investors viewed the advance as a sign that the rally has staying power.

The S&P 500 broke past its previous all-time intraday high of 1,576.09, which was set on October 11, 2007, rising as high as 1,587.80. The Dow hit yet another intraday milestone, rising as high as 14,817.06.

"The path of least resistance for the market remains higher, and despite some mixed economic data, investors are concluding that stocks remain a better place to be than risk-free assets," said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist at Chicago-based Northern Trust Global Investments, which has about $760 billion in assets under management.

Gains were broad, with all but two of the S&P's 10 primary sectors up more than 1 percent. About three-fourths of stocks traded on both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq were higher on the day.

Tech was the day's strongest group, with the S&P technology sector <.splrct> up 1.8 percent. The group was lifted by strong results at Adtran Inc , which jumped 12.6 percent to $22.19 and boosted peer companies. JDS Uniphase Corp added 5.7 percent to $14.11 while Juniper Networks Inc rose 5.4 percent to $18.97.

Also boosting the sector was Facebook Inc , which jumped 4.4 percent to $27.77.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 138.49 points, or 0.94 percent, at 14,811.95. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 18.53 points, or 1.18 percent, at 1,587.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 56.74 points, or 1.75 percent, at 3,294.60.

With the gains, the S&P is now up 11.3 percent on the year while the Dow is up 13 percent.

The Federal Reserve unexpectedly released the minutes from its most recent policy-setting meeting five hours early. The minutes showed a few policymakers expected to taper the pace of asset purchases by mid-year and end them later this year, while several others expected to slow the pace a bit later and halt the quantitative easing program by year-end.

Accommodative monetary policy from the Fed has been credited with helping to boost equity prices, and uncertainty surrounding the minutes briefly hit indexes in the premarket session, though they subsequently recovered.

"The only way quantitative easing will be tapered off is if the labor market shows noticeable improvement, and the most recent data doesn't show that," said McDonald, referring to the March payroll report, which was sharply under expectations.

"QE will only be taken away when we're in a self-sustaining recovery. We're not there yet, which points to the Fed continuing to stimulate the economy."

Among the 5 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far, almost three-quarters have topped expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data.

But quarterly profits are expected to grow just 1.5 percent from a year ago, down from a January estimate of 4.3 percent. The lowered expectations could make it easier for companies to beat analysts' estimates and propel the market further.

Family Dollar Stores reported weaker-than-expected profit on Wednesday. Its stock was up 0.1 percent at $59.87 after falling 2.6 percent to a session low of $58.27 earlier.

Hospital operator Health Management Associates Inc cut its outlook for 2013 earnings and revenue, citing weak patient-admission figures in the first quarter of the year. The stock plummeted 18 percent to $10.27.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-futures-point-higher-start-081151044--finance.html

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Laser scans objects in 3D from half a mile away, scientists just need reason to use it

3D scanning at a range of 0.62 miles? It just became possible, thanks to a laser camera developed by physicists at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, UK. You can pretty much see how it works from the images above -- laser beams are bounced off the target and the duration of their return journey is measured precisely enough to detect millimeter depth changes even at extreme distances. Speaking of which, the researchers believe they could pump the range up to 10 miles with a bit of extra research, and even shrink the blaster down to make it "fully portable" in less than five years. Who knows, someday it might even work around corners. But there's a problem: skin doesn't reflect the beams properly, which means people can't be accurately scanned unless they also happen to be ringwraiths. As a result, the researchers seem slightly at loss as to what to do with the technology, with their best suggestions so far being watching the growth of foliage or tracking the movement of rocks. We'd try to think up some other ideas, were it not for the distracting and utterly irrelevant Nazgul v Wilhelm video embedded after the break.

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Source: Heriot Watt

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/zIf8mYRbPas/

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Sandy Hook families on Air Force One: why it matters

In an unusual move, 11 family members of Sandy Hook victims will fly with President Obama back to Washington on Air Force One so they can lobby Congress on gun control.

By Linda Feldmann,?Staff writer / April 8, 2013

President Obama (c.) arrives at Bradley Air National Guard Base in Hartford, Conn., Monday. Obama is in Connecticut to deliver remarks on measures to reduce gun violence, at the University of Hartford.

Jason Reed/Reuters

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President Obama is pulling out all the stops this week on gun legislation, amid news of a fresh effort at compromise to expand background checks for gun buyers.

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Mr. Obama delivers a speech late Monday afternoon on gun violence in Hartford, Conn., about an hour from the scene of last December?s massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Vice President Joe Biden will hold a gun-related event at the White House on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, first lady Michelle Obama travels to Chicago for another gun event. ?

But most unusual, perhaps, is the fact that 11 family members of Sandy Hook victims will accompany the president on Air Force One back to Washington after his speech at the University of Hartford. The family members will head to Capitol Hill to lobby members of Congress on gun legislation.

At his daily briefing, White House press secretary Jay Carney portrayed the Air Force One news as a matter of logistics.

?These are family members who are planning to be in Washington to speak with Congress about the importance of taking action to reduce gun violence,? Mr. Carney said, ?and in order to make sure they were able to attend the event in Connecticut and still be in Washington when they needed to be, we invited those family members to fly back with the president.?

Obama frequently surrounds himself with stakeholders ? be they middle-class taxpayers, law enforcement, or supporters of health-care reform ? when making public remarks. But having them hitch a ride on Air Force One to get them to D.C. for a lobbying push is rare. The move no doubt reflects the depth of Obama?s emotion on gun violence, and on the Sandy Hook massacre in particular, in which 20 first-graders were murdered by a lone gunman. The day of the massacre, the president brushed away tears and could barely speak when he addressed the tragedy in public for the first time.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/uAxlm5bsd54/Sandy-Hook-families-on-Air-Force-One-why-it-matters

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India use drones to protect rhinos from poachers

GAUHATI, India (AP) ? Wildlife authorities are using aerial drones to oversee a sprawling natural game park in northeastern India to protect the one-horned rhinoceros from armed poachers.

Security officers conducted flights of the unmanned aircraft over the Kaziranga National Park on Monday and will fly drones at regular intervals to prevent rampant poaching in the park in the remote Indian state of Assam.

The drones are equipped with cameras and will be monitored by security guards, who find it difficult to guard the whole 480-square kilometer (185-square mile) reserve.

"Regular operations of the unmanned aerial vehicles will begin once we get the nod of the Indian defense ministry," said Rokybul Hussain, the state's forest and environment minister.

The drones will also be useful during the annual monsoon season when large areas in the Kaziranga reserve are flooded by the mighty Brahmaputra River and three other rivers that flow through the game park, park officials said.

Hussain said the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's equivalent of the FBI, will soon begin investigations into the steep rise in rhino poaching this year.

Poachers armed with automatic rifles killed 22 rhinos last year, but have killed 16 rhinos already this year.

Rhino horn is in great demand in China and Southeast Asia where it is believed to have medicinal properties.

A rhino census conducted in Kaziranga reserve two weeks ago put their number at 2,329, up from 2,290 in 2012.

In recent weeks, wildlife authorities in Assam have deployed 300 armed guards to protect the rhinos in Kaziranga but they have been no match for organized gangs of poachers who have been managing to strike at the rhinos with increasing regularity.

"What worries us is the use of automatic weapons like Kalashnikovs by the poachers," said Assam police chief Jayanta Narayan Choudhury.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/india-drones-protect-rhinos-poachers-033350543.html

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Refurbished 27-inch iMacs hit the Apple store, start at $1,529

Lusting after Apple's giant, yet shockingly thin 27-inch iMac? The object of your desire just got a little cheaper -- well, as long as you don't mind refurbished goods. The extra large all-in-one is the latest Apple product to hit the company's certified refurbished store, offering as much as $270 the product's regular price. The iMac's 2.9GHz Core i5 base model can be had for $1,529, replete with 8GB of RAM, a 1TB HDD and that luxuriously large 2560 x 1440 display. Apple is also offering refurbished versions of the 3.2Ghz model for $1,699 and 3.4GHz Core i7 rigs for $1,869 and $2,199, depending on the configuration. As always, Cupertino promises that the machines have gone through a rigorous restoration process, but offers a included one-year warranty to put the concerns of cautious buyers to rest. Mosey on over to the source link to consider your savings. Still too rich for your blood? Well, there is a 21-inch model, too.

Filed under: Desktops, Apple

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Via: MacRumors

Source: Apple

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/09/refurbished-27-inch-imacs-hit-the-apple-store/

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Obama Takes Gun Control Push to Ct. (ABC News)

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U.S. Navy to field first laser weapon, could shoot down a drone

WASHINGTON | Mon Apr 8, 2013 7:49pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy said on Monday it will deploy for the first time a laser weapon on one of its ships that could be capable of shooting down drones and disabling vessels.

"The future is here," said Peter Morrison at the Office of Naval Research's Solid-State Laser Technology Maturation Program.

The weapon is being billed as a step toward transforming warfare. Since it runs on electricity, it can fire as long as there is power at a cost of less than $1 dollar per shot.

"Compare that to the hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to fire a missile, and you can begin to see the merits of this capability," Chief of Naval Research Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder, said in a statement.

The prototype, which one official said cost between $31 million and $32 million to make, will be installed aboard the USS Ponce, which is being used as a floating base in the Middle East, sometime in fiscal year 2014, which begins in October.

A Navy video showing the laser shooting down a drone can be seen at youtu.be/OmoldX1wKYQ

Klunder said the Navy expects that someday incoming missiles will not be able to "simply outmaneuver" a highly accurate laser beam traveling at the speed of light.

A new report from the Congressional Research Service praises the laser technology but also notes drawbacks, including the potential it could accidentally hit satellites or aircraft. Weather also affects lasers.

"Lasers might not work well, or at all, in rain or fog, preventing lasers from being an all-weather solution," it said in its report issued on March 14.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; editing by Xavier Briand)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/2GXCWs5K5gE/story01.htm

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