Hundreds of Christians are marking the crucifixion of Jesus in the Holy Land.
Worshippers have packed Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulcher church, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, buried and resurrected, for a morning mass that started Good Friday events.
Roman Catholics and Protestants will walk in processions following Jesus’ footsteps in Jerusalem’s Old City later in the day. And a mass at a church in Bethlehem, built atop the site where Jesus is believed to have been born, takes place in the evening.
Pilgrims and tourists from around the world descend on holy sites in Jerusalem for Easter week.
Christians believe Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and resurrected on Easter Sunday. Orthodox Christians, who follow the older, Julian calendar, will this year mark Good Friday in May.
At least 16 devotees have been nailed to crosses in the northern Philippines during an annual Good Friday reenactment of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The celebration mixes Roman Catholic devotion with Filipino folk beliefs on sacrifices and miracles.
The crucified devotees spent several minutes on the cross while thousands of tourists watched the spectacle, which the church has discouraged in recent years.
Earlier Friday, hooded male penitents trudged around villages in Pampanga province under the blazing sun while flagellating themselves with makeshift whips. Two men and a woman separately carried wooden crosses to dramatize Christ’s sacrifice.
Devotees undergo the hardships in the belief that such extreme sacrifices are a way to atone for their sins, attain miracle cures for illnesses, or give thanks to God.
Scott Olson/Getty Images Traders signal offers in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index options pit at the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
NEW YORK — There goes another stockmarket record. The Standard & Poor’s 500 crossed into record territory Thursday morning, beating the closing high it set in pre-financial crisis days. Three weeks earlier, the Dow Jones industrial average beat its own 2007 record.
The S&P 500, a barometer that investors use to gauge how the market is performing, edged above the Oct. 9, 2007, record close of 1,565 about an hour into trading. At midday it was still holding on to the record, trading at 1,567. That was up four points from the day before, a small increase but notable for the milestone it obliterated.
Investors will be waiting until the end of trading, at 4 p.m. EDT, to see if the index can hold on to the record. Their reactions were more guarded than celebratory. Even as the S&P touched new milestones, investors noted that the U.S. economy’s footing is still uncertain, and the European debt crisis still far from resolved. Some also are concerned that the gains are being artificially fueled by the Federal Reserve‘s easy money policy.
“Getting back to where we were is an important step,” said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices. But, he cautioned in a note to investors: “Markets are volatile, and if you are a long-term investor you should expect declines.”
For most of this year, the stockmarket has zoomed ahead. A mixed performance over the last two weeks, thanks to the bailout of cash-strapped Cyprus, has been more the exception than the rule. Thursday marks the end of first-quarter trading, as markets will be closed for the Good Friday holiday. The Dow is up 11 percent for the three-month period, the best performance in more than a year. Last year, it lost ground in two quarters and was up 4 percent and 8 percent in the other two.
On Thursday, though, news about the U.S. economy and the European debt crisis was far from decisive. For every sign that things were improving, another said it wasn’t.
The government reported that the U.S. economy grew faster than first estimated in the fourth quarter. But the growth, an annual rate of 0.4 percent, was still anemic. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits jumped for the second straight week. On a longer time frame, though, jobless claims have been declining since November.
Investors are also uncertain of what to make of the continuing debt crisis in Europe. Portugal reported that its budget deficit widened. In Cyprus, banks reopened for the first time in nearly two weeks, after closing because the government was worried that depositors would make panicked withdrawals. The country reached a deal late Sunday for …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Nearing the end of the first quarter, the Dow Jones Industrial Average pumped the breaks, ending a bit lower today. With the markets closed for Good Friday, tomorrow is the last trading day of the month. A quick look back reveals just how bullish 2013 has been: Should the market trade evenly tomorrow, the benchmark index is on pace for 50% gains this year. Still digesting the messy Cyprus situation, the Dow ended down 33 points, or 0.2%, to finish at 14,526.
Only a third of blue-chip stocks rose today, and UnitedHealth Group led all outperformers with gains of 1.7%. Though the sweeping changes in health care set to take place as a result of the Affordable Care Act haven’t fully taken place yet, investors hope that the larger pool of people with insurance will help providers like UnitedHealth. On top of that, the stock has some momentum behind it: It’s up more than 6% in the last month.
Still reeling from the fiscal concerns emanating from Europe, JPMorgan Chase finished 1.8% lower, to mark the third consecutive day where a financial ranks at the bottom of the Dow. But fears of being dragged down by foreign happenings aren’t the only thing holding JPMorgan back. The company’s also facing scrutiny from Washington, as investigations about everything from the Madoff scheme to rogue traders plague the bank.
Elsewhere, shares of Biogen Idec added 3.2% as Wall Street cheered news that the company’s new multiple sclerosis won FDA approval. The drug, Tecfidera, is projected to be the top oral treatment for MS, putting annual U.S. sales between $240 million and $300 million by some estimates.
While it’s been a remarkable year for the market as a whole, the same can’t be said for Apple , which is down 15% since New Year’s Day and slipped another 2% to fall for a second straight day, as a Pacific Crest Securities analyst cut projections for second-quarter sales and EPS on tempered expectations for the iPad. While as recently as last fall we saw investors drooling about the tech giant’s prospects, today’s cautious outlook on Apple advises that it may be “attractive for investors with lower return requirements.”
There’s no doubt that Apple is at the center of technology’s largest revolution ever and that longtime shareholders have been handsomely rewarded, with more than 1,000% gains. However, there is a debate raging as to whether Apple remains a buy. The Motley Fool’s senior technology analyst and managing bureau chief, Eric Bleeker, is prepared to fill you in on both reasons to buy and reasons to sell Apple and what opportunities are left for the company (and your portfolio) going forward. To get instant access to his latest thinking on Apple, simply click here now.
Normally, our weekly look at what’s going on within the health-care sectors involves a mixture of health-care conferences, FDA panel meetings and decisions, and a plethora of earnings reports. However, as we work our way into a holiday-shortened week thanks to Good Friday, it’s very evident that the upcoming week is going to be dominated by two FDA rulings with few earnings reports and no major conferences on the docket.
J&J for the win? With a PDUFA date of Sunday, March 31, the FDA is expected to relay its decision on Invokana, Johnson & Johnson‘s Type 2 diabetes drug. Invokana was studied in multiple late-stage trials in patients with an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease and was shown to reduce A1C levels at a much better rate than the placebo. The more interesting tidbit is that one of the placebos in trial was Merck‘s blockbuster drug Januvia, which my Foolish colleague Brian Orelli noted was beaten in every respect by Invokana.
An approval for Invokana would be extremely intriguing, as it’s part of a new class of Type 2 diabetes drugs known as SGLT2 inhibitors. This new drug class works in the kidneys and inhibits the reabsorption of glucose so as to normalize glucose levels. At the moment, only one SGLT2 inhibitor is approved worldwide. That drug is AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb‘s Forxiga, which is currently approved in Europe. However, it’s worth noting that Forxiga received a complete response letter in the U.S. because of concerns from the FDA about the potential for the experimental drug to cause cancer.
The skinny is that Invokana appears to support approval based on clinical data, but preceding concerns from Forxiga’s rejection hang a cloud over a guaranteed approval. J&J will definitely be a name worth keeping an eye on in the coming week.
Should United Therapeutics shareholders calm down? Also with a PDUFA date of March 31 (honestly, what was the FDA thinking with these dates?) is United Therapeutics , with its oral treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension, known as Treprostinil.
This is actually a new drug application resubmission for United Therapeutics, which received a complete response letter in late October. In that CRL, the FDAquestioned the clinical important of the six-minute walking-distance test demonstrated in its Freedom-M study, the inability of United Therapeutics to demonstrate an improvement in time to clinical worsening in all of its late-stage trials, and an inability to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in the 6MWD in two of its Freedom-C trials.
United Therapeutics responded by resubmitting its NDA in mid-February, much more quickly than anyone had expected.This is noteworthy, because it appears that United Therapeutics has decided not to run any additional trials. Investors probably shouldn’t expect a huge move either way, but I’d say there’s more downside risk potential at these levels than upside potential if approved.
In this series, we’ll explore the data announcements and events that may impact the performance of bank stocks during the upcoming week.
The past two weeks have been very eventful for bank investors. Most got a great result from the boost many banks got after receiving high marks from the Fed’s stress tests. This week, fear of the effects of a Cypriot economic reform and new lawsuit from Freddie Mac caused bank shares to drop. Let’s take a look at what’s going to be announced next week, what banks may be affected the most, and what you should look out for in the coming days.
Monday
Cyprus — Though it seemed like the Cypriot crisis might dominate the market landscape this week, investors have been able to overlook the European uncertainty and push the markets higher as the weekend approaches. But next week, if there is no resolution to Cyprus‘ troubles, we may feel the reverberations here in the U.S. Our banks are certainly vulnerable to any negative investor sentiment, especially Bank of America , which continues to trade at very high volumes, making it extremely volatile.
Tuesday
New home salesand Case-Shiller Price Index — a measure of closed sales of newly constructed homes, this key piece of data will give bank investors a gauge on how much new mortgage business is available for banks. This also ties into last week’s housing starts data that provides a gauge of the rate of new construction. The price index gives a signal to investors that the housing market is continuing to improve as home prices rise.
Wednesday
MBA purchase applications — a weekly look at the mortgage application activity from the Mortgage Banker’s Association. A decline in mortgage applications can be a sign that the banks are not getting new business from the housing sector, but look for a correlation between this data point and the other housing-related data during the week. The last two weeks of data have revealed declines in applications, creating worries that mortgage kings Wells Fargo and JPMorgan may not have the same flow of new loans coming in as they did in late 2012.
Pending Home Sales Index — providing additional information on the status of the housing market, the pending home sales numbers are a great indication of how buyers are feeling about the market and the availability of credit.
Thursday
Jobless claims — a weekly look at the new unemployment claims, the jobless report has been one of the main factors cited by analysts as to why the markets have been booming despite continued disagreement in Washington over the federal budget. With the labor market in the best condition we’ve seen in five years, it’s no wonder investors are confident.
Friday — markets are closed due to the Good Friday holiday
— This data will provide an update for personal income levels as well as expenditure rates. Why is this important to …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, it is a great pleasure to welcome back Taoiseach Kenny to the Oval Office, to the White House and his entire delegation. Obviously, we cherish this opportunity once a year to reaffirm the incredible bond between the United States and Ireland. This year, it also gives us an excuse to stretch out St. Patrick’s Day for a couple of extra days, which is always good.
This is now my fifth time to welcome the Taoiseach to the Oval Office. I’ve had the occasion to visit Ireland as well — one of the truly wonderful trips that I’ve taken as President of the United States. And the reason that these meetings go so well is because of the incredible bond and history between our two countries.
Obviously, the contributions of Irish Americans to the United States is legendary. But what is also true is that we have an incredibly strong partnership on economic issues, on security issues. The Taoiseach has shown great leadership during difficult times in Ireland. And we’re seeing progress in the Irish economy. That’s good for the U.S. economy because we have a lot of trade, a lot of investment in Ireland.
There was a story this morning about a deal between Ryanair and Boeing in which we’ll be selling a whole lot of airplanes to Ireland. And it’s an example of how the progress that’s made in Ireland benefits jobs and businesses here in the United States. Obviously, the Taoiseach is very interested, as well as in continuing to attract direct investment from the United States to Ireland. So this will be a major topic of discussion.
Ireland also punches above its weight internationally when it comes to humanitarian assistance, peacekeeping. Irish troops are in many very difficult places in the world and provide the kinds of stabilization and humanitarian efforts that make all the difference and save lives.
And so I am very much looking forward to having a good conversation. I’m sure we will also touch on the issue of Northern Ireland in which we have continued to see progress coming out of the Good Friday agreements, but we also have to recognize that there’s a lot more work to be done before there’s true unity of effort in that country. And I know that both in discussions with the Taoiseach as well as in talking to the ministers who are here from Northern Ireland, we’ll have an opportunity to find out how the United States can be helpful in that overall effort as well.
So, again, Taoiseach, I want to welcome you. Thank you for giving me an excuse to break out my green tie. (Laughter.) And I'm sure that we'll have a wonderful lunch up on Capitol Hill and once again be able to reaffirm the incredible friendship between our peoples.
Workers at Spain‘s royal palaces will stage their first strike ever to protest austerity cutbacks.
The CSI-F union said Wednesday the strikes on Mar. 28-29 during the Easter holidays of Holy Thursday and Good Friday will include some 500 national heritage site staff, including waiters to the royal family, gardeners and palace museum staff.
Among the sites affected will be the king’s Zarzuela Palace and two of Spain‘s most popular tourist sites — the San Lorenzo del Escorial monastery and the Valley of the Fallen mausoleum, where the late dictator Gen. Francisco Franco is buried.
The union said the sites could lose some 100,000 visitors because of strike.
It said government measures have slashed wages by 15 percent and extended working weeks.
Gerry Adams, leader of the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party, has appealed to IRA splinter groups to stop their violence and to support his campaign for a vote in Northern Ireland on uniting the island.
Adams, a reputed former Irish Republican Army commander, said Friday that sporadic attacks by small IRA factions make it harder to build public support for uniting Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland, the traditional Irish nationalist goal.
Adams this year has launched a campaign seeking a referendum in Northern Ireland on Irish unity, a possibility contained in the Good Friday peace accord of 1998. But he says members of the British territory’s Protestant majority need to be persuaded peacefully to switch allegiance, not threatened with violence.
