Stocks move higher; Avon, Michael Kors surge

NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks moved higher on Tuesday, with the Dow edging closer to a record, following strong earnings from Avon and Michael Kors.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 63 points to 14,034 by 1:57 p.m. EST, the highest level for the index since October, 2007. The index is now 130 points shy of its record close set in October 2007.

The Standard & Poor's 500 gained four points to 1,521 and is also close to its record level. The Nasdaq composite was up one point at 3,193.

Avon, a direct seller of beauty products, jumped $3.57, or 21 percent, to $20.86 after the company posted a fourth-quarter loss that wasn't as bad as analysts had expected. The company also hopes to save $400 million by slashing costs. Michael Kors, a luxury clothing and accessories seller, rose $5.42, or 10 percent, to $62.41 after reporting earnings that beat analysts' predictions.

Coca-Cola, the world's largest beverage company, fell $1.02 to $37.59 after reporting fourth-quarter revenue that fell short of analysts' forecasts.

About 70 percent of companies in the S&P 500 have reported earnings for the fourth quarter. Analysts are projecting that earnings will rise 6.4 percent for the period, an improvement from the 2.4 percent growth reported in the third quarter, according to S&P Capital IQ.

A start-of-the-year rally that pushed indexes close to record highs has slowed down. The S&P 500 is up 1.5 percent this month, following a 5 percent gain in January. The Dow has advanced 1.3 percent in February, after surging 5.8 percent a month earlier, logging its best January in almost two decades.

Investors may have become too optimistic about the outlook for stocks, said Uri Landesman, president of hedge fund Platinum Partners.

"The market is priced for perfection," said Landesman. "The odds of a disappointment are very, very high."

Landesman predicts that the S&P 500 will climb past its record and rise as high as 1,600 by April before then slumping as low as 1,300 as company earnings start to disappoint investors. The record close for the S&P 500 is 1,565, reached in October 2007.

Stock advanced at the start of the year after lawmakers reached a last-minute deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" of sweeping tax increases and spending cuts. Investors are also becoming more optimistic that the housing market is recovering and that hiring is picking up.

Investors will be watching closely Tuesday night when President Barack Obama delivers his annual State of the Union speech. Obama is expected to focus on the economy, including job creation.

Investors appear to be supporting the market by stepping in to buy stocks when prices dip, said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at TDAmeritrade. The S&P 500 has gained for six straight weeks since the start of the year.

Confidence in the outlook for global growth has strengthened among asset managers in recent months, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey. The poll found that 59 percent of investors believe that the global economy will strengthen in the year ahead, in line with the reading in January. The outlook for growth had improved in the four previous months.

A decline in bond prices since the beginning of the year has also slowed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, rose 3 basis points to 1.98 percent. The yield was 1.71 percent at the beginning of the year.

Among other stocks making big moves:

? Masco jumped $2.41, or 14 percent, to $20.23 after the home improvement and building products company reported earnings that beat analysts' expectations thanks to strong demand in North America.

? Dun & Bradstreet, a provider of credit and business data, fell $5.51, or 6.5 percent, to $79.75 after the company reported that a fourth-quarter profit that came in below market expectations.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-move-higher-avon-michael-kors-surge-190510169--finance.html

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Maze wins super-G gold at ski worlds, Vonn crashes

SCHLADMING, Austria (AP) ? Tina Maze became the first Slovenian skier to win a world championship gold medal in a speed event, taking the opening women's super-G Tuesday in a race overshadowed by a crash involving Lindsey Vonn that will sideline her for the season.

Vonn tore ligaments in her right knee and broke a bone in her lower leg when she lost balance while landing after a jump. She was taken to a hospital by helicopter.

Maze attacked all the way, winning in 1 minute, 35.39 seconds and beating Lara Gut of Switzerland by 0.38. Julia Mancuso of the U.S. was third, 0.52 behind.

"The gold medal means a lot to me," said Maze, who is having a standout season in the World Cup and is quickly closing in on the overall title. "I had a great run. Slovenia is a small country and has so many great athletes. That makes me really happy."

The race had been delayed by 3? hours because of thick fog and was called off after 36 racers because new clouds of fog were moving in. The results stand, with the top-30 racers having started their run.

"I was prepared for a long day," said Maze, who now has four world championship medals. "World championships are special, you have to stay focused. I knew we would race today despite all the delays."

Days of snow and rain softened the course, especially in the lower part. The evening before the race, Atle Skaardal, the women's race director for the international federation, called it an "extreme situation." The fog further complicated matters.

The clouds caused poor visibility in the middle section, the steepest part of the 1.4-mile Streicher course where skiers race at up to 62 mph.

Organizers repeatedly delayed the start. Clouds finally moved after three hours. Despite light snowfall and rain setting in, the race began.

Several racers struggled with the changing conditions, with favorites like Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany and Anna Fenninger of Austria missing gates and failing to finish, and Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany coming 0.94 off the leading time in eighth.

"It was OK," Maze replied when asked whether the race should have been started. "World championship races often have special conditions. The mistakes from the girls were not because of the slope."

Mancuso wasn't fully satisfied with the run that earned her a fifth world championship medal, two years after winning silver in super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

"It's always really nice to win a medal but of course I know I could have a better run," the American said. "It was not a perfect run. My brain shut off halfway down the course so that's why I had some mistakes but I knew I was going fast. This was the kind of course on which you have to be on the limit."

Mancuso said it was "really hard" to race after Vonn, who started three racers earlier.

"I didn't see it on TV," said Mancuso, who was in the start gate preparing for her run when the crash happened.

Vonn fell after a long jump, her ski came off immediately, and she slid off course and hit a gate before coming to a halt. The four-time overall World Cup champion received medical treatment on the slope for 12 minutes before being taken to the hospital. She left for the team hotel later Tuesday.

Vonn trailed Maze by 0.12 seconds shortly before the crash. The race continued after another 15-minute delay.

Gut had two mistakes in the turning middle part that slowed her but attacked the bottom part for a strong finish to earn her third world championship medal ? all in silver. She took second in downhill and super-combined at the 2009 event in Val d'Isere, France, where she became the youngest Swiss skier to medal at 18.

"It's fantastic to come second," Gut said. "My run was poor, I was too late at many turns and was surprised with my time."

After eight starters, the race was interrupted for 15 minutes following a crash by a course worker, who was removed by helicopter. He was brought to the hospital with a broken nose.

The men's super-G is scheduled for Wednesday and could also be affected by the weather, with overnight snowfall forecast.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/maze-wins-super-g-gold-ski-worlds-vonn-150610647--spt.html

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No Comments - Periconi, LLC Environmental Law Blog

Posted By Matthew Jokajtys on February 5, 2013

There are perhaps few other sights so closely associated with the summer scene at Coney Island than the wooden boardwalk. Predating even the venerable Coney Island Cyclone roller coaster, the boardwalk has been the main thoroughfare along which have strolled generations of New Yorkers and tourists alike, out for a game of ski-ball, some ice cream, or simply to enjoy the ocean views.

But despite the nostalgic and historical character of the boardwalk, changing times are buffeting Coney Island and turning the wooden boardwalk into a relic. In recognition of the need for an upgrade, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation proposed in 2010 a new design for the boardwalk that replaces the traditional tropical hardwood lumber with a green replacement: recycled plastic lumber and concrete, and that action has survived a challenge by those for whom the nostalgia of the wooden boardwalk is paramount.

The new design outraged some in the community who felt the wooden boardwalk was indispensable to Coney Island?s historical character. The Parks Department countered that the continued use of tropical hardwood in the boardwalk was too expensive and harmful for the environment. It cited a 2008 policy announced by Mayor Bloomberg to reduce the amount of tropical hardwood consumed by the city of New York?one of the country?s largest consumers of tropical hardwood.

Undeterred, a community group known as the Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance filed suit, alleging that the Parks Department had not properly considered the impact of replacing the wooden boardwalk under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, and its local analog, the New York City Environmental Quality Review Act.? The Alliance argued that the Parks Department had arbitrarily decided that the boardwalk replacement was exempt from full review under SEQRA and CEQRA, and that the Parks Department should be required to prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement.

In his opinion, Kings County Supreme Court Justice Martin M. Solomon held that the Parks Department had properly concluded that the boardwalk replacement was exempt from SEQRA and CEQRA review for two reasons. First, the boardwalk replacement merely involved ?routine or continuing agency administration? and did not involve any ?major re-ordering of priorities that may affect the environment.?? Matter of the Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance v. New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, 2012 NY Slip Op 32936(U) at p. 6.? Second, because the Alliance failed present any expert testimony on the alleged environmental impacts of the boardwalk replacement, the court concluded that the Alliance did not ?establish a substantial adverse change? in the local environment. Id.

As public awareness of the environmental impacts of our building materials has grown in recent years, so too has the push to include more environmentally responsible building materials in our public projects. Unfortunately, as the conflict that led to Matter of the Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance showed, the push for more environmentally responsible infrastructure sometimes clashes with historical nature of New York City?s landmarks. But environmental responsibility doesn?t always have to conflict with the historical character of New York City?s historic landmarks. One example of a project that ?greens? city infrastructure without altering the appearance of a landmark is the Brooklyn Bridge Forest Project, which seeks to replace the tropical hardwood in the Brooklyn Bridge boardwalk with ethically sourced wood from Guatemala.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has also sought to encourage the growing public awareness and support for green building materials through its administrative rulemaking process. Under a proposed amendment to the SEQRA regulations, projects that incorporate certain green building infrastructure techniques would be exempt from SEQRA review.

While the proposed amendments are still under consideration, if approved, the green building exemption would institutionalize support for green infrastructure, and discourage other lawsuits like the Matter of the Coney-Brighton Boardwalk Alliance in the future.

Categories: Green Building, New York State Environmental Law, NY Environmental Statutes, Codes, Regulations, NY State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA)
Tags: environmental, environmental requirements, New York municipal law, property, SEQRA, zoning & local land use

Source: http://www.periconiblog.com/after-surviving-a-legal-challenge-the-coney-island-boardwalk-is-going-green/

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Rep. Kuster owes nearly $11,000 in late property tax bills - National ...

Talk about the height of hypocrisy.

Millionaire Rep. Ann Kuster wants to raise your taxes but it turns out she doesn?t even pay her own.?? As you cover this breaking story about the newly minted Congresswoman trying to play by her own rules, consider the following quote:

NRCC Comment:? ?This is disgusting. Millionaire Ann Kuster wants to raise taxes on Granite State families, but she doesn?t even pay her own. How can Kuster be trusted to make the rules if she won?t even follow them herself??
? NRCC spokesman Nat Sillin

U.S. Rep. Kuster owes nearly $11,000 in late property tax bills

MANCHESTER, N.H. ?U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., currently owes nearly $11,000 in late property tax bills for her Hopkinton home and another home nestled in the White Mountains, WMUR Political Scoop has found.

In fact, property tax records show Kuster has been delinquent on more than $40,000 in property taxes over the last three years. For her primary residence, she?s been delinquent on six different, consecutive assessments. For the most part, Kuster and her husband do eventually pay these bills along with a penalty.

When she was sworn in to Congress in early January, Kuster owed $14,089.32 in delinquent property taxes on her Hopkinton home. She has since made a tax payment and currently owes $6,998.22 in past-due property taxes on that property. This pattern of not paying her taxes dates back to 2010, according to the records. On the property in Jackson, she didn?t pay either of the semi-annual tax bills in 2012 and owes $3,851.65.

While owing these taxes, Kuster also filed a required personal-finance disclosure form that lists a broad range of personal assets. Using this form, the Center for Responsive Politics estimated her net worth to be around $1.8 million. As a member of Congress, she receives an annual salary of $174,000.

Kuster spokesman Rob Friedlander didn?t offer a reason why the Kusters were so often behind in paying property taxes. However, the period in question was when Kuster stopped being a practicing attorney and started being a full-time congressional candidate.

Instead, Friedlander said, ?The Kusters are in the process of making these payments in full with interest.?

The New Hampshire Republican Party declined to comment.

Source: https://www.nrcc.org/2013/02/05/rep-kuster-owes-nearly-11000-in-late-property-tax-bills/

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Catholic hospital takes surprise stance in lawsuit

DENVER (AP) -- It was a startling assertion that seemed an about-face from church doctrine: A Catholic hospital arguing in a Colorado court that twin fetuses that died in its care were not, under state law, human beings.

When the two-year-old court filing surfaced last month, it triggered an avalanche of criticism ? because the legal argument seemed to plainly clash with the church's centuries-old stance that life begins at conception.

But it is also now fueling an already raging debate in Colorado and beyond about whether fetuses should have legal rights and, if so, what kind.

On Monday, the hospital and the state's bishops released a statement acknowledging it was "morally wrong" to make the legal argument.

News of the wrongful death lawsuit came as Colorado lawmakers weigh how far they should go in penalizing acts that harm a fetus, and some worry that the case could diminish the Catholic Church's credibility in advocating more rights for the unborn.

Miguel De La Torre, a professor at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, noted that the church often argues for laws recognizing a fetus as a human being.

"If that legislation was to come up again, how could the Catholic Church argue we should protect the rights of a fetus?" he said.

Indeed, last week Colorado's bishops met with executives at Catholic Healthcare Initiatives, a branch of the church that operates the hospital at the center of the case, to review how the lawsuit was handled. The two released separate statements Monday saying CHI executives had been unaware of the legal arguments and pledging to "work for comprehensive change in Colorado's law, so that the unborn may enjoy the same legal protections as other persons."

Spurred on by advancing medical technology that makes fetuses more viable and more visible, states have been expanding some rights to fetuses, sometimes in conjunction with anti-abortion groups and the Catholic Church.

State laws vary widely. It's difficult to quantify how many states allow wrongful death lawsuits on behalf of unborn children because each state has different case law and judicial interpretation. A report from the anti-abortion Americans United for Life estimates that 38 permit such lawsuits.

According to The Guttmacher Institute, which tracks reproductive health issues, 37 states allow some form of prosecution for killing a fetus. A federal law also makes it a crime to harm a fetus while committing other federal crimes.

The debate over such measures has been especially heated in Colorado, which has long battled over the legal status of unborn children. For example, Colorado has been ground zero for the "personhood" movement, which pushes laws that give fertilized eggs all the legal rights of human beings. Opponents warn that such laws would outlaw all forms of abortion and some types of birth control. Voters here so far have overwhelmingly rejected such proposals.

In 1986, a federal court ruled that fetuses are indeed people for purposes of wrongful death lawsuits in Colorado, but state courts have offered conflicting views. This latest case further calls the matter into question.

The case centers on St. Thomas More Medical Center in Canon City, a few hours south of Denver, and a wrongful death lawsuit filed by a husband who lost his pregnant wife.

Lori Stodghill was 28 weeks into her pregnancy when, on New Year's Day 2006, she began vomiting and feeling short of breath, according to court papers. Her husband, Jeremy, took her to the emergency room of St. Thomas More, where Stodghill collapsed and went into cardiac arrest.

Doctors and nurses tried to revive her, but she was declared dead from a pulmonary embolism. No one tried to remove the fetuses via an emergency cesarean section, and they perished, too, court papers said.

Jeremy Stodghill sued the hospital, some doctors and Catholic Healthcare Initiatives, which owns the company that operates Thomas More. Attorneys for CHI in 2010 filed court papers asking a judge to dismiss the case because the plaintiffs couldn't prove negligent care killed Lori Stodghill and her fetuses. They also argued that "under Colorado law, a fetus is not a 'person,' and Plaintiff's claims for wrongful death must therefore be dismissed."

The trial judge agreed, finding that previous state cases required a fetus to be "born alive" to have a legal claim. An appellate court upheld the dismissal on other grounds. Stodghill's attorneys are now asking the state Supreme Court to hear the case.

The arguments were first reported on Jan. 23 by The Colorado Independent and Westword and set off a firestorm because of Catholic health groups' past stances on such issues. The trade group representing Catholic Hospitals opposed a provision of the federal health care law mandating that birth control be covered by insurance.

In their Monday statement, Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila, Colorado Springs Bishop Michael Sheridan and Pueblo Bishop Fernando Isern said: "Catholic healthcare institutions are, and should, be held to the high standard of Jesus Christ himself."

They and CHI pledged not to argue against fetal personhood further in the case. They also said they and CHI sympathize with the Stodghill family.

Attorney Timms Fowler, who wrote a brief on behalf of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association in the case, doesn't believe that allowing lawsuits over wrongfully killed fetuses leads to giving them the same rights as human beings. He said there is a difference between "the duty owed by a stranger to the mother and the unborn child" and the mother's own decisions about the fetus' future.

"To die by the wrongful conduct of a stranger, you don't have to be a walking, talking, full person," Timms said, stressing he was speaking for himself and not the association.

Last Monday, no church representatives testified as a state legislative committee considered a proposal to make it a crime to kill a fetus. Republican Rep. Janak Joshi said his measure was not meant to wade into abortion politics but rather enable prosecutors to file additional charges in cases like the Aurora movie theater shooting. One victim was so severely wounded during the July massacre that she miscarried, but prosecutors could not file murder charges on her unborn child's behalf.

Witness Heather Surovik told the committee about how a drunken driver injured her last year and killed her 8 1/2-month-old unborn son, Brady. At the hospital, the emergency staff removed him from her body and dressed his corpse in infant clothes. Prosecutors could not file vehicular manslaughter charges because Brady was not legally a person.

Democrats and an attorney for Planned Parenthood argued that Joshi's measure, as written, could enshrine legal rights for fetuses in state law and lead to an abortion ban. The committee voted it down, but Democrats later unveiled their own bill that would make it a crime to kill a fetus during a criminal act committed against a pregnant woman. That measure specifically states that the intent is to neither outlaw abortions nor give unborn children additional rights.

A hearing on that proposal is scheduled later this month.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/catholic-hospital-takes-surprise-stance-200838961.html

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Terrorists with Western connections growing threat

They are called "homegrown terrorists," citizens of Western countries highly prized by Islamic militant groups because they can move across borders and carry out attacks easier than people from Middle East and South Asian countries closely identified with terrorism.

Two such people ? one Canadian and one Australian ? are believed to have been involved in the July bus bombing in Bulgaria that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian driver, according to Bulgarian investigators. Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said the two were members of the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah, which is in turn linked to Iran.

Here are some examples of Western citizens who have been linked to terrorism both in their home countries or abroad in recent years:

LONDON SUBWAY BOMBING

Four young Britons ? three of Pakistani and one of Jamaican origin ? carried out a series of suicide attacks July 7, 2005, on the London public transport that killed 56 people. More than 700 people were injured. All four had lived normal lives under the police radar and had no criminal records. They carried home-made bombs in backpacks. Al-Qaida released video testimonies of two of the bombers who denounced the West and declared their allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

SHOE BOMBER

Richard Reid was a British citizen who converted to Islam in prison. After his release he traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan, where authorities say he trained with al-Qaida. More than three months after Sept. 11 attacks, Reid boarded an American Airlines flight in Paris bound for Miami and tried to detonate a bomb in his shoes. He was subdued by passengers and crew members, and the plane landed safely in Boston. In 2002 Reid was sentenced to life without parole after pleading guilty to eight counts of terrorism and attempting to destroy a commercial airliner.

DAVID COLEMAN HEADLEY

Headley, a Pakistani-American, used his U.S. passport to travel frequently to India, where he allegedly scouted out venues for terror attacks on behalf of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist organization. The al-Qaida-affiliated group used the information to plan and carry out the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, in which more than 160 people died. Last month Headley was sentenced by a U.S. federal court in Chicago to 35 years in prison for his role in the Mumbai attacks.

TIMES SQUARE FAILED BOMBING

On May 1, 2010, two street vendors alerted police to smoke coming out of a vehicle parked on New York's Time Square ? an area teeming with tourists. Police found the vehicle was rigged with a bomb that failed to explode. Two days later, federal agents in New York arrested Faisal Shahzad, 30, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen who lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut, after he had boarded a flight bound for Dubai in the Persian Gulf. Shahzad confessed to the attempted car bombing and said he had trained at a Pakistani terror training camp. Shahzad was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 2010.

ANWAR AL-AWLAKI

Al-Awlaki was born in 1971 in New Mexico, where his father was studying agriculture as a Fulbright scholar. The son was educated in the United States but left in 2002, eventually returning to Yemen where he became a key figure in the local al-Qaida branch, which U.S. authorities believed was the most dangerous of the al-Qaida franchises. Al-Awlaki's fluent English and articulate speaking style won him a huge following among disaffected young Muslims in the West. He and another American, Samir Khan, who edited al-Qaida's Internet magazine, were killed in a U.S. drone attack in Yemen on Sept. 30, 2011.

MAJ. NIDAL MALIK HASAN

Born in Arlington, Virginia, to Palestinian parents, Hasan joined the U.S. Army in college and became a military psychiatrist. Colleagues said that during an assignment at Walter Reed Medical Center, he was deeply affected by dealing with young soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. FBI investigators alleged that he corresponded by email with al-Awlaki. Hasan was wounded and captured by police on Nov. 5, 2009, after he allegedly opened fire on soldiers in Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13 and wounding more than two dozen. Hasan, who was paralyzed from the waist down in the shooting, was charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. A trial date has not been set, and he could face the death penalty if convicted.

ADAM GADAHN

Born Adam Pearlman in Oregon, Gadahn converted to Islam in 1995 and moved to Pakistan, where he joined al-Qaida as a propagandist. Using the name "Azzam the American," he appeared in numerous al-Qaida videos, denouncing U.S. moves in Afghanistan and elsewhere and threatening attacks on Western interests abroad. U.S. authorities filed treason charges against him in 2006 and have offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction. Despite rumors he had been killed or captured, Gadahn appeared in a video last September marking the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

GLASGOW AIRPORT ATTACK

On June 30, 2007, a jeep loaded with propane canisters slammed into the terminal of the Glasgow International Airport in Scotland, setting the building on fire. Five bystanders were injured. Both occupants of the vehicle were arrested. Police identified them as Bilal Abdulla, a British-born, Muslim doctor of Iraqi descent and Kafeel Ahmed, the driver. Anti-terrorism officials said Abdulla became radicalized due to the Iraq war. Ahmed, an Indian engineering student, died of his burns. Abdulla was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to 32 years in prison.

AHMAD OMAR SAEED SHEIKH

Following his education in Britain, the British-born Sheikh traveled to South Asia, where he joined Islamic militant groups. He was sent to prison for kidnapping Western tourists in India in 1994, but was released to Pakistan five years later in an exchange of prisoners following the hijacking of an Indian airliner to Afghanistan. In 2002 he was convicted of kidnapping and murder in the death of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and sentenced to death. His appeal is still pending in a Pakistani court.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/terrorists-western-connections-growing-threat-151007533.html

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Service sector grows in January, job index at seven-year high: ISM

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. services sector expanded in January although the pace slowed slightly from the previous month, with robust jobs growth offsetting slowness in new orders, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The survey was consistent with a moderately growing economy, economists said, and helped allay fears that the 0.1 percent contraction in U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter might turn into something more lasting.

"The headline index is still consistent with a rebound in annualized GDP growth from the 0.1 percent fall in the fourth quarter to around a 2.5 percent rise in the first," Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics in Toronto, said in a note.

The jump in the employment index, which hit its highest in seven years, pointed to a labor market that should continue to strengthen in the months ahead.

"The most striking development was the rise in the employment index," Dales said. "This supports the evidence from January's payrolls report that the lingering fiscal uncertainty doesn't appear to be damaging hiring too much."

The Institute for Supply Management said its services sector index eased slightly to 55.2 last month from 55.7 in December. The reading was in line with economists' forecasts, according to a Reuters survey.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector, while one below 50 indicates contraction. The index was last below 50 in December 2009 as the U.S. economy was beginning to recover from the financial crisis and recession.

The employment sub-index was at its highest since February 2006, rising to 57.5 in January from 55.3 in December.

U.S. stocks were higher after the news but much of the rise was a rebound from their worst daily loss since November in the prior session. The S&P 500 index <.spx> rose 0.9 percent.

The growing services sector chimed with a separate report that showed U.S. home prices rose for a 10th consecutive month on a year-over-year basis in December, posting their biggest gain in more than six years. The report was released by data analysis firm CoreLogic.

However, there were some signs of weakness in the ISM survey's other underlying components. The new orders index, seen as a forward-looking measure, was at its lowest since April 2012, falling to 54.4 in January from 58.3 the month before.

The business activity index also fell, dipping to 56.4 from 60.8 the month before and hitting its lowest since August 2012.

"Respondents think inventories are a bit high," Anthony Nieves, chair of ISM non-manufacturing business survey committee, said in a conference call on Tuesday. "But the majority are feeling a little more confident about the outlook."

(Additional Reporting By Ellen Freilich; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sector-grows-january-ism-survey-150335221--business.html

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