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Centre Daily Times, Friday, September 11, 2015 A7

Stocks close higher, investors parse Feds next move

By Bernard Condon
The Associated Press

NEW YORK Stocks in

the U.S. bucked a global
market slump Thursday as
investors look ahead to a
crucial Federal Reserve
meeting next week on interest rates.
Investors pushed major
U.S. indexes lower in the
morning following drops in
Asia and Europe, then reversed course as oil prices
rose. That helped send
shares of energy companies,
which have been battered in
recent weeks, higher.
Traders remain focused
on a two-day meeting of Federal Reserve policymakers
next week. They are trying
to anticipate when and how
quickly the central bank will
begin to raise interest rates
from their historically low
levels. Those low rates have

been a key factor sending

stock prices higher over the
past seven years.
A report Thursday showing a decline in applications
for unemployment claims
was the latest bullish sign on
the job market, which could
prompt the Fed to tighten
credit. Some say worries
about higher rates are overblown.
The U.S. economy is in
significantly better shape
than in the past, said Mike
Ryan, chief investment strategist at UBS Wealth Management Americas. Were
not dependent on Fed largess and stimulus to support
growth.
The Dow Jones industrial
average rose 76.83 points, or
0.5 percent, to close at
16,330.40. The Standard &
Poors 500 index gained
10.25 points, or 0.5 percent,
to 1,952.29. The Nasdaq

composite climbed 39.72

points, or 0.8 percent, to
4,796.25.
Global markets have been
moving sharply up and down
in recent weeks as investors
worry about a slowdown in
China, plunging currencies
in developing countries like
Malaysia and uncertainty over the Feds next move. In
five of the six previous days
of trading in September, the
S&P 500 has made big
moves both up and down, including a surge of 2.5 percent on Tuesday and a
plunge of 3 percent on the
first day of the month.
Trading was relatively
light on Thursday, with little
news moving prices one way
or the other.
Apple jumped $2.42, or 2.2
percent, to $112.57, on
Thursday, a day after the
company introduced updat-

Stocks of Local Interest

Name

Div

PE

AT&T Inc
Allergan
AmStsWtr
Arris
BkNYMel
Corning
FNBCp PA
GenDynam
IBM
IntPap
Kaman
Lowes
M&T Bk
McClatchy
NatPenn
NwstBcsh

1.88
...
.90f
...
.68
.48
.48
2.76
5.20
1.60
.72
1.12
2.80
...
.44
.56

33
...
23
15
13
10
15
16
12
17
14
23
16
1
16
17

Last

YTD
Chg %Chg

Name

Div

PE

Last

YTD
Chg %Chg

32.75
-.03
-2.5
293.60 -1.32 +14.1
37.55
-.01
-.3
27.80 +.32
-7.9
39.33 +.35
-3.1
17.61 +.05 -23.2
12.78 +.16
-4.1
140.71 -1.76 +2.2
146.20 +1.15
-8.9
41.82
-.17 -21.9
37.48 +.21
-6.5
67.93
-.18
-1.3
120.40
-.01
-4.2
1.08
-.05 -67.5
11.96 +.10 +13.6
12.73 +.08 +1.6

PNC
2.04
Penney
...
PepBoy
...
Raytheon
2.68
RexEnergy
...
SearsHldgs
...
SigmaAld
.92
SonocoP
1.40
SpeedM
.60
ThermoFis
.60
Total SA
2.93e
VerizonCm 2.26f
WalMart
1.96
WeisMk
1.20

Index

Last

Net
Chg

%Chg

YTD
%Chg

52-Wk
%Chg

16,330.40
8,030.48
544.89
10,019.39
4,796.25
1,952.29
1,406.61
20,610.16
1,153.02

+76.83
+74.26
-1.14
+30.49
+39.72
+10.25
+2.40
+93.37
+4.80

+.47
+.93
-.21
+.31
+.84
+.53
+.17
+.46
+.42

-8.37
-12.14
-11.84
-7.56
+1.27
-5.18
-3.16
-4.89
-4.29

-4.21
-6.14
-2.68
-8.72
+4.45
-2.26
-2.02
-2.70
-1.65

12 90.53
...
9.57
...
11.53
16 106.07
...
2.69
... 25.74
35 139.71
15 40.03
25 18.77
25 122.03
... 45.13
19 45.46
13 64.12
20 43.28

+.57
-.8
-.07 +47.7
-.08 +17.4
-.01
-1.9
-.16 -47.3
-.01 -22.0
+.12 +1.8
+.02
-8.4
+.02 -14.2
+.41
-2.6
+.51 -11.9
+.07
-2.8
-1.00 -25.3
+.79
-9.5

Indexes
High

Low

18,351.36 15,370.33
9,310.22 7,452.70
657.17
539.96
11,254.87 9,509.59
5,231.94
4,116.60
2,134.72 1,820.66
1,551.28 1,269.45
22,537.15 19,160.13
1,296.00 1,040.47

Dow Industrials
Dow Transportation
Dow Utilities
NYSE Composite
Nasdaq Composite
S&P 500
S&P MidCap
Wilshire 5000
Russell 2000

ed versions of the iPhone,

Apple TV and iPad. Technology stocks rose 1 percent

overall, the biggest gain

among the 10 industry sectors of the S&P 500.

The price of oil rose sharply after the Energy Department reported a strong increase in U.S. gasoline demand.
A report on unemployment claims early Thursday
showed fewer Americans applied for benefits last week,
adding to recent evidence of
robust hiring. The Labor Department said weekly applications benefits dropped
6,000 to 275,000.
A separate government report the day before said U.S.
job openings jumped to the
highest level in 15 years in
July. A report last week
showed the U.S. unemployment rate fell to a seven-year
low of 5.1 percent in August.
Investors are not so sure
they like the healthier economy because it could mean
the Fed raising rates sooner,
and faster, than anticipated.

GOVERNMENT DEBT LIMIT

PATRIOT COAL REORGANIZATION

GOP bill pays

bondholders

Ohio, Pa. regulators oppose plan

By Stephen Ohlemacher
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON As
Congress gears up for another fight over the federal debt,
House Republicans advanced legislation Thursday
to make sure investors in
U.S. Treasury bonds get
paid even if the government
reaches the limit of its borrowing authority.
Social Security recipients
would also be protected. But
federal workers, retirees,
soldiers and veterans would
not.
This bill takes default off
the table, said Rep. Paul
Ryan, R-Wis. It requires the
Treasury to make good on
all debt payments.
Rep. Jim McDermott, DWash., asked, What happens to everybody else?
Unless Congress acts, the
federal government is expected to exhaust its legal
ability to borrow in late October, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Thursday in a
letter to congressional leaders. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office
has said the debt limit will be
reached in November or December.
It would mark the first
time in U.S. history that the
government has defaulted
on its obligations. But so far,
congressional leaders have
been mum on plans to avoid
it.
The debt limit is just one of
several fiscal deadlines facing lawmakers, setting the
stage for a crisis-filled autumn in Washington.

The federal government

faces a partial shutdown at
the end of the month, unless
Congress agrees on funding.
The authority to finance federal highway programs expires at the end of October,
and Congress has until the
end of December to extend
billions of dollars in temporary tax breaks that expired at
the beginning of the year.
On a straight party-line
vote, the House Ways and
Means Committee passed a
bill Thursday that would require the Treasury to continue borrowing money to
make principal and interest
payments on Treasury
bonds, even if the statutory
debt limit is reached.

The bill would cover payments to public investors, including foreign governments, as well as payments
to Social Securitys two trust
funds.
The national debt stands
at just over $18 trillion. Social
Security holds about $2.7 trillion of the debt.
All 24 Republicans on the
committee voted in favor of
the bill; all 15 Democrats
were opposed. The bill now
goes to the full House.
Under Democrats and Republicans, Congress has increased the debt limit many
times to account for the fact
that the federal government
spends more money than it
collects in taxes and fees.

New food safety rules issued

in wake of deadly outbreaks
By Mary Clare Jalonick
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON Food
manufacturers must be
more vigilant about keeping
their operations clean under
new government safety
rules released Thursday in
the wake of deadly foodborne illness outbreaks
linked to ice cream, caramel
apples, cantaloupes and peanuts.
The rules, once promoted
as an Obama administration
priority, ran into long delays
and came out under a courtordered deadline after advocacy groups had sued. Even
then, the Food and Drug Administration allowed the
Aug. 30 deadline to pass
without releasing the rules
to the public.
The new rules will require
food manufacturers to submit food safety plans to the
government to show they
are keeping their operations
clean. Once the rules go into
effect later this year, companies will have to prepare detailed plans that lay out how
they handle the food, how
they process it, how they
clean their facilities and how
they keep food at the right
temperatures, among other
safety measures.
The idea is to put more focus on prevention in a system that for decades has
been primarily reactive to
outbreaks after they sicken

AP file photo/LM Otero

Shelves sit empty of Blue Bell ice cream at a grocery store

in Dallas after Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries issued a
voluntary recall for all of its products on the market after
two samples of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream
tested positive for Listeriosis.

or even kill people. The majority of farmers and food

manufacturers already follow good food safety practices, and the law would aim to
ensure that all do.
Michael Taylor, the FDAs
deputy commissioner for
foods, said the rules will
create a level playing field.
He added: The food safety
problems we face have one
thing in common they are
largely preventable.
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention estimate that 48 million people
or 1 in 6 people in the United States get sick annually from foodborne diseases.
An estimated 3,000 people
die.
FDA investigators have of-

ten found dirty equipment in

food processing facilities after deadly outbreaks. Agency reports issued after the
outbreaks linked to ice
cream, caramel apple and
peanuts, among others, detailed processing facilities
that were badly designed for
cleaning or not maintained
in sanitary conditions.
In the Blue Bell ice cream
outbreak this year, FDA inspectors found many violations at a company plant, including dirty equipment, inadequate food storage, food
held at improper temperatures and employees not
washing hands appropriately. Three listeria deaths were
linked to ice cream produced by the company.

By Pam Ramsey
The Associated Press

Motion says new violations will occur

CHARLESTON, W.Va.
Ohio and Pennsylvania regulators say Patriot Coals reorganization plan does not
adequately address the
companys obligations to
clean up mine pollution.
Both states filed separate
motions opposing the
plans approval this week in
U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
Richmond, Va.
A motion filed by the
Ohio Department of Natural Resources said the plan
would leave Patriot Coal
with little to no ability to address environmental problems and to perform required land reclamation following operations at the
Sunnyhill Mine Complex.
New violations will occur, but the debtors will not
have the resources or
equipment to repair any
problems that may occur
under the Ohio Permit.
These violations, which can
incur penalties, are not provided for in the plan, the
motion says.

Another motion filed by

the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said the reorganization plan does not provide
for how Patriot Coal affiliate
Eastern Associated Coal
will meet its environmental
obligations for the Colver
and Delmont mines, which
no longer operate.
Drainage from both
mines must be treated to remove iron, aluminum, manganese and other pollutants.
West Virginia regulators
have voiced similar concerns about the reorganization plan. In an August filing, the West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection said the plan
would leave the company
with no assets to cover hundreds of millions of dollars
in mine pollution cleanup.
Ohio and Pennsylvania
regulators also objected to
the plans release provisions.

The Ohio agency said releasing current and former

officers, directors, employees and others connected
with the company from any
claims violates bankruptcy
law.
The Pennsylvania department said the provisions
are so broad that they could
be read to release the Virginia Conservation Legacy
Fund and any liquidating
trustees from their obligations.
The Virginia nonprofit
plans to acquire the Ohio
permit and surety bond for
the Sunnyhill complex,
along with mining permits
for several Patriot Coal operations in West Virginia.
Patriot plans to sell a majority of its assets to Lexington, Ky.-based Blackhawk
Mining LLC.
Patriot Coal filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 12. An auction of the companys assets
is set for Friday.

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