U.S. stocks fall on mixed earnings reports
NEW YORK, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes fell Tuesday after several companies reported earnings below Wall Street estimates.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 41.58 or 0.33 percent to 12,725.99. The broader Standard & Poor's stock index lost 3.91 or 0.27 percent to 1,451.63. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index tumbled 7.57 or 0.3 percent to 2,488.74.
Japan's blue-chip Nikkei 225 stock average closed down 0.97 points or 0.01 pct at 17,939.12, off a low of 17,828.95.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury note lost 4/32, or $1.25 for every $1,000 invested, yielding 4.704 percent. The 30-year bond was off 4/32, yielding 4.799 percent.
The U.S. dollar was at 120.16 yen from 119.35 yen at Friday's New York close. The euro was at $1.3141 from $1.3139 late Friday.
Viacom inks video deal with Joost
NEW YORK, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. media conglomerate Viacom Inc. Tuesday unveiled a licensing deal with Joost, a new Internet service that specializes in commercial video content.
The deal involves licensing hundreds of hours of programming from Viacom cable networks such as MTV, Comedy Central, Black Entertainment Television and Spike, as well as movies made by the company's Paramount studios, the companies said.
The companies declined to disclose financial details. In similar deals in the past, Viacom has received two-thirds of the advertising revenue and other compensation, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Key to the agreement was Joost's promise it would protect Viacom's copyrights, Viacom Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman said. This stumbling block led to the collapse of similar talks with YouTube parent Google Inc. two weeks ago.
Unlike YouTube, which carries mostly short video clips uploaded by users, Joost's strategy is to run full episodes with high-quality resolution, like TV but online, Joost said.
"We built this platform from the ground up, with companies like Viacom in mind," co-founder Janus Friis said.
Joost, originally called the Venice Project, was started last year by Friis and Niklas Zennstroem, who created the Kazaa file-sharing network and Internet phone service Skype, now owned by eBay Inc.
Shire Pharmaceuticals buys New River
LONDON, England, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- British Adderall maker Shire Pharmaceuticals Group PLC said Tuesday it agreed to buy Virginia's New River Pharmaceuticals Inc. for about $2.6 billion.
Shire said the purchase, approved by both companies' boards, will let it control the development and commercialization and capture the full economic value, of attention-deficit-disorder drug Vyvanse.
"This is an important and complementary acquisition that gives us full control of Vyvanse, a novel drug," Chief Executive Officer Matthew Emmens said.
Shire will finance the purchase through debt and the private placement of $800 million in shares to certain institutional shareholders, the company said.
New River of Radford, Va., said it expected the deal to close by June, subject to regulatory approval.
The companies struck a collaborative agreement to develop and co-promote Vyvanse in January 2005.
Strategist: Stocks do well near term's end
PITTSBURGH, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Stocks tend to do well near the end of a U.S. president's term because the political party in power keeps the economy humming, an investment strategist says.
Jeffrey Kleintop of PNC Wealth Management in Pittsburgh says the Standard & Poor's 500 index has posted average gains of 22 percent in year three of the four-year cycle and has "never experienced a loss," USA Today reports.
So do not be unduly concerned by the fact that stocks have not had a 2 percent pullback since July 14, a span of 149 trading sessions, says Ned Davis Research of Venice, Fla.
The last time the Dow Jones industrial average posted a negative return in a pre-presidential election year was 1939, when it fell 2.9 percent amid brewing World War II clouds, the Stock Trader's Almanac says.
"The only severe loss ... occurred in 1931 during the Depression," when the Dow fell 52.7 percent, Almanac Editor Jeffrey Hirsch writes.
