Stocks close mixed Thursday
NEW YORK, April 5 (UPI) -- U.S. stocks closed mixed Thursday, as jitters over the debt crisis in Europe refuse to go away.
Yields in 10-year, benchmark Spanish bonds rose to 5.81 percent, before settling slightly, as a government auction generated only modest demand. In France, an auction raised $11.09 billion. On Tradeweb, French 10-year bonds were listed as yielding 2.99 percent.
Markets were mostly lower in Asia and Europe. In London, the Bank of England elected to keep its overnight lending rate at 0.5 percent. In Washington, the Labor Department reported an additional drop of 6,000 in first-time unemployment benefit claims, which stood at 357,000 in the week ending Saturday.
By close of trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.11 percent, losing 14.61 points to 13,060.14. The tech-dominated Nasdaq composite index added 12.41 points to 3,080.50, up 0.4 percent. The Standard and Poor's 500 index shed 0.88 points to 1,398.08, off 0.06 percent.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,299 stocks advanced and 1,701 declined on a volume of 3.2 billion shares traded.
The 10-year treasury note rose 12/32 to yield 2.181 percent.
The euro fell to $1.3064 from Wednesday's $1.3142. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 82.31 from Wednesday's 82.46 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index shed 0.53 percent, 52.38, to 9,767.61.
In London, the FTSE 100 index rose 0.35 percent, 19.90, to 5,723.67.
Spitzer among JOBS Act detractors
NEW YORK, April 5 (UPI) -- Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer said the JOBS Act includes provisions that allow fraudsters to set up camp on Wall Street.
The JOBS Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law Thursday, was opposed by financial regulators, including Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Schapiro, who said, "We should not walk backwards here," referring to a provision that allows financial analysts to publicly discuss relatively small companies they are researching for banks handling the public debuts.
Spitzer, quoted by The New York Times Thursday, said: "It is a bad sequel to a bad movie. It shouldn't be called the JOBS Act. It should be called the Bring Fraud Back To Wall Street Act."
Spitzer, also the state's former attorney general, helped negotiate the 2003 settlement that barred analysts from going public with their research, which is deemed a conflict of interest, given the analysts are hired by banks that would benefit by having shares in an initial public offering sell for a high price.
The JOBS Act is meant to make it easier for companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue to seek capital by going public.
The longer name for the law, which is the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, reveals its intention.
In lobbying against the bill in March, Schapiro said, "Collusive behavior between analysts and bankers cost investors huge sums, shattered confidence in the integrity of research, and damaged the markets themselves."
But not everyone views JOBS as an invitation to disaster. Banks have teams of lawyers studying the bill, and many are waiting to see how regulators react.
"The key is to make sure the banker-analyst relationship is properly disclosed and that the SEC carefully monitors the effects of the change," said Robert Glauber, former head of the National Association of Securities Dealers.
"A sweeping prohibition of certain behavior never made sense," Glauber said.
McDonald's applauds lawsuit dismissal
SAN FRANCISCO, April 5 (UPI) -- McDonald's Corp. hailed a court decision in California that allows the fast-food giant to continue providing toys with its "Happy Meals."
"We stand on our 30-year track record of providing a fun experience for kids and families at McDonald's," said company spokeswoman Danya Proud after a judge in San Francisco dismissed a class-action lawsuit that charged the company with using toys to lure children to food considered to be unhealthy.
The Los Angeles Times Thursday said the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the California mother who filed the suit would discuss a possible appeal of the ruling.
"McDonald's must stop exploiting children at some point," said the watchdog group's executive director Michael Jacobson.
Jacobson said using toys to lure children to unhealthy meals was "a predatory practice."
In time, the practice "will seem as inappropriate and anachronistic as lead pain, child labor and asbestos," he said.
Court extends Viacom's YouTube suit
NEW YORK, April 5 (UPI) -- A U.S. appeals court said Viacom Inc.'s lawsuit filed in 2007 against YouTube for copyright infringement may have some merit after all.
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals kept the lawsuit going by sending it back to a federal district court to resolve the question of whether or not YouTube, owned by Google, knew that participants were posting clips of its copyrighted programs, The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
Both Viacom and YouTube called the ruling a victory.
"The court delivered a definitive, common sense message -- intentionally ignoring theft is not protected by the law," Viacom said in a statement.
YouTube said the lawsuit, which started out seeking $1 billion in damages, had been whittled down to address just the clippings it was aware were copyright infringements.
"All that is left of the Viacom lawsuit that began as a wholesale attack on YouTube is a dispute over a tiny percentage of videos long ago removed from YouTube," the company said in a statement.
"Nothing in this decision impacts the way YouTube is operating. YouTube will continue to be a vibrant forum for free expression around the world." the company said.
