Markets churn higher Wednesday
NEW YORK, April 14 (UPI) -- The Standard & Poor's 500 index topped 1,200 points for the first time in 19 months Wednesday on positive reports from two corporate giants.
Computer chip giant Intel Corp. said it earned 43 cents per share in the first quarter as its revenues soared to $10.3 billion.
Financial giant JPMorgan Chase also published its first-quarter results, reporting a net income of $3.3 billion or 74 cents per share.
By close, the Dow Jones industrial average rose to 11,123.11, adding 103.69 points or 0.94 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index reached 1,210.65 on a gain of 13.35 points or 1.12 percent. The Nasdaq composite index added 1.58 percent, 38.87 points, to 2,504.86.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,356 stocks advanced and 697 declined on a volume of 5.7 billion shares traded.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. treasury note fell 12/32 to yield 3.865 percent.
The euro rose to $1.3652 from Tuesday's $1.3588. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 93.25 yen from Tuesday's 93.17 yen.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index rose 0.39 percent, 43.67, to 11,204.90.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 index added 0.6 percent, 34.59, to 5,796.25.
Fed reports cautious optimism
WASHINGTON, April 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. Federal Reserve's Beige Book said economic activity gained momentum in the past month in each of its 12 districts with the exception of St. Louis.
Across most of the country "economic activity increased," the report said. In the 8th district, St. Louis, economic conditions "softened," the report said.
The Fed noted weak areas of the economy, including labor markets and commercial real estate. "Loan volume and credit quality decreased" in several districts, the report said. But consumer spending "strengthened" in New York and Cleveland and "rebounded" in Richmond and Kansas City, the report said.
Improvements in the retail sector were also noted in San Francisco and Philadelphia. In Atlanta, Kansas City, Dallas and Cleveland "businesses were cautiously optimistic."
Eight districts reported an increase in automobile sales in March. Hotel occupancy rates were up in New York, Chicago, Kansas City and San Francisco.
Perhaps a sign of increased optimism, advertising companies in Boston reported "demand is up substantially from the first quarter of 2009."
The finance industry was defined as "mixed by category in most districts," with credit standards mostly unchanged in the month. In residential real estate "activity increased, albeit from low levels," the report said.
Report: Chinese supplier is teen sweatshop
DONGGUAN CITY, China, April 14 (UPI) -- The typical workweek for teenagers at the KYE factory in China, a Microsoft Corp. supplier, is 90 to 105 hours, a National Labor Committee report said.
The plant recruits "hundreds -- even up to 1,000" workers defined as "work study students," as young as 16 years old, who typically work from 7:45 a.m. to 10:55 p.m. In the past, "dozens" of workers ages 14 and 15 were found working at the plant, the report released Tuesday said.
The report said overtime hours, even if calculated at 80.5 hours a week, exceed the legal limit in China by 388 percent.
After deductions for food, which workers described as "awful," the wage falls to 52 cents an hour.
Living arrangements include workers sleeping 14 to a room on narrow bunk beds and taking sponge baths out of small, plastic pails. Working conditions included severe overcrowding in rooms that "routinely reach 86 degrees" in the summer months.
Workers are not allowed to talk during work hours.
Four KYE factories in Dongguan City, China, produce keyboards, computer mice, digital cameras and other electronic devices for Hewlett Packard, Best Buy, Samsung, Foxconn and other companies. Microsoft, a consistent customer, is responsible for 30 percent of KYE's orders, the report said.
Last U.S. sardine plant to close
GOULDSBORO, Maine, April 14 (UPI) -- The last sardine packing plant in the United States is slated for closure this month, a spokeswoman for Bumble Bee Foods confirmed.
The plant in Gouldsboro, Maine, is scheduled to close Sunday, April 18, spokeswoman Melody Kimmel said.
The Gouldsboro plant, purchased from Stinson Seafood in 2004, has been in operation for more than 100 years, the Bangor (Maine) Daily News reported Wednesday.
Workers found out Wednesday the plant was closing. "It's devastating, for lack of a better term," said town selectman Dana Rice.
Kimmel said the federal quota on Atlantic herring, cut in half since 2004 to 91,000 metric tons, "keeps us from production levels that would ensure the plant's long-term viability."
"It's been a very difficult decision. We're caught between a rock and a hard place," Kimmel said.
