Currencies: Dollar edges lower as private jobs miss estimates

By Saumya Vaishampayan and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The dollar edged lower against rivals on Wednesday as the U.S. added fewer private-sector jobs in May than expected.

The ICE dollar index /quotes/zigman/1652083 DXY -0.23% , a gauge that measures the greenback?s performance against six other currencies, fell to 82.762 from 82.803 on Tuesday. The ICE dollar index fell as low as 82.49 in the wake of the data but has since risen back to pre-data levels.

The WSJ Dollar Index /quotes/zigman/9625991 XX:BUXX -0.17% , a rival measure that tracks the buck against a larger basket of currencies, exchanged hands at 74.51 compared to 74.54 on Tuesday.

The private sector added 135,000 jobs last month, according to Automatic Data Processing Inc., less than a gain of 170,000 expected by economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

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The ADP jobs number is used by some as an indicator for the monthly nonfarm payrolls report due Friday. Investors will closely watch nonfarm payrolls for guidance on when the Federal Reserve will begin to slow its monthly asset purchases, which weigh on the dollar.

?As far as the tapering debate goes, the report does nothing to bolster expectations that the Fed will ease its foot off the pedal over the summer,? said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co., in a note. Read more on the tapering debate here.

The Japanese yen was volatile Wednesday against the U.S. dollar as Japan?s prime minister outlined economic-growth proposals, while Australia?s currency fell following Australian economic growth figures that missed analyst expectations.

U.S. dollar /quotes/zigman/4868099/sampled USDJPY -0.8015% ?recently traded at ?99.67 after the ADP data, compared to ?100.15 on Tuesday.

The U.S. dollar /quotes/zigman/4868099/sampled USDJPY -0.8015% ?slid to ?99.35 as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveiled plans ranging from reforms in the energy market to tax breaks to stimulate activity in the lackluster economy. Japanese stocks also turned lower on Wednesday.

Abe?s push for growth through new economic policies ? dubbed ?Abenomics? ? has been the force behind the central bank?s massive, recently launched monetary stimulus program that?s resulted in the U.S. dollar reaching four-and-a half year highs against the yen above the ?103 level.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar /quotes/zigman/4867876/sampled AUDUSD -1.2655% ?bought 95.62 U.S. cents, falling after first-quarter gross domestic product in Australia expanded by 0.6%, missing a Dow Jones Newswires consensus forecast of 0.7%.

Various global currency notes

The Aussie traded at 96.33 U.S. cents ahead of the release, around the same level seen late Tuesday in North America.

Australia?s currency last month fell below parity against the U.S. dollar on concerns about domestic economic weakness, with mining investment in Australia expected to peak this year.

Also of concern have been indications of a slowdown in China, Australia?s top export market, with the most recent signal coming from an HSBC gauge showing contraction in the manufacturing sector.

Reserve Bank of Australia Gov. Glenn Stevens said Tuesday that Australia?s economic growth remained ?below trend? and would likely stay that way for the near term. The central bank on Tuesday kept its key policy cash rate at 2.75%, but with inflation currently subdued, it also said there?s some scope for further easing in monetary policy.

Gold traders: Don't ignore the odds

Gold traders should never forget that fundamentals are of import primarily for the long-term investor ? and nearly irrelevant for the short-term trader. Mark Hulbert offers analysis.

The suggestion by policy-makers that they?re keeping the door open to interest-rate cuts pushed the Aussie lower on Tuesday. A cut in the benchmark interest rate could further hurt the Australian dollar, as rate reductions tend to depress debt yields in the currency.

The euro /quotes/zigman/4867933/sampled EURUSD +0.0263% ?rose against the greenback, changing hands at $1.3073 versus $1.3077. The European Central Bank?s June meeting is slated for Thursday in Frankfurt. The ECB cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-percentage-point to 0.5% at its May meeting.

The British pound /quotes/zigman/4867886/sampled GBPUSD +0.4649% rose against the U.S. dollar to $1.5344 from $1.5305.

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Saumya Vaishampayan is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York. You can find her on Twitter @saumvaish. Carla Mozee is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in Los Angeles. Follow her on Twitter @MWMozee.

Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B2C69E35C-CD7D-11E2-A536-002128040CF6%7D&siteid=rss

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Appointment for Lautenberg's seat could come today

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie scheduled a 1:30 p.m. press conference on Thursday amid speculation he could name a temporary appointee for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Frank Lautenberg, who died on Monday.

A spokesman for Christie did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The GOP governor, however, has said he wants to have a replacement for Lautenberg in Washington by next week, when the Senate is expected to begin debating immigration reform.

The announcement comes two days after Christie scheduled an Oct. 16 special election to fill the seat?a decision widely criticized by both Democrats and Republicans who have accused the governor of acting in his own political interest.

The election date, which comes after an Aug. 13 primary, is less than three weeks before New Jersey?s regularly scheduled general election date of Nov. 5, when Christie will be on the ballot seeking re-election. Critics have accused Christie of setting the date early to avoid having a popular Democrat on the ballot, which could drive up voter turnout and hurt his re-election bid.

On Tuesday, Christie denied he was influenced by politics and insisted he simply wanted to give New Jersey voters ?a choice and a vote? for the new senator as soon as possible.

The state Democratic Party has said it's considering filing suit to move the date of the special election to Nov. 5 to save the cost of having two statewide elections in close proximity.

Christie?s press conference comes as the special election has already attracted interest from both Republicans and Democrats.

On Thursday, Rep. Rush Holt, a Democrat, announced he would enter the race, telling supporters in an email that he is the ?best candidate to continue the passionate advocacy for progressive values that Sen. Lautenberg exemplified.?

Other Democrats are also said to be considering the race, including Rep. Frank Pallone and Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker?who was already exploring a 2014 run for the seat.

On the Republican side, state Assemblyman Jon Bramnick and Joe Plumeri, a Trenton businessman and minor-league baseball team owner, have reportedly expressed interest. But state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., who had been mentioned as one of Christie?s possible appointees, said he?s not interested in the race. And several GOP sources told National Review?s Robert Costa that state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, who was the party?s nominee in 2012, won?t run either.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/christie-schedules-news-conference-amid-speculation-lautenberg-seat-154216673.html

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Soldier due to plead guilty in Afghan massacre

SEATTLE (AP) ? The American soldier charged with killing 16 Afghan civilians during nighttime raids on two slumbering villages last year is expected to recount the horrific slaughter in a military courtroom Wednesday when he pleads guilty to avoid the death penalty.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales faces premeditated murder and other charges in the March 2012 attacks near the remote base in southern Afghanistan where he was posted.

Most of the victims were women and children, and some of the bodies were burned; relatives have told The Associated Press they are irate at the notion Bales will escape execution for one of the worst atrocities of the Afghanistan war.

Under the terms of his agreement with Army prosecutors, Bales will plead guilty Wednesday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle, and a sentencing-phase trial will be held this summer to determine whether he receives life in prison with the possibility of parole, or without it.

Bales' attorney, John Henry Browne, said Tuesday he expects the judge, Col. Jeffery Nance, to question the soldier closely about what happened before deciding whether to accept the plea. It's unclear whether Nance will make a decision Wednesday.

"Tomorrow is going to be about what happened, then in August is going to be a jury trial about why it happened," Browne said. "Obviously, avoiding the death penalty is our No. 1 goal. We've accomplished that, assuming the judge accepts the plea, and we believe he will."

Bales, a 39-year-old father of two from Lake Tapps, has signed a detailed stipulation of facts admitting his actions, Browne said. However, the document remains under seal, and the lawyer declined to provide details about it.

Browne said last week that Bales was "crazed" and "broken" but not legally insane at the time of the killings.

Although Wednesday's proceedings will provide Bales' account for the first time, survivors who testified by video link from Afghanistan during a hearing last fall vividly recalled the carnage.

A young girl in a bright headscarf described hiding behind her father as he was shot to death. Boys told of hiding behind curtains as others scrambled and begged the soldier to spare them, yelling: "We are children! We are children!" A thick-bearded man told of being shot in the neck by a gunman "as close as this bottle," gesturing to a water bottle on a table in front of him.

Prosecutors say that before dawn on March 11, 2012, Bales slipped away from Camp Belambay in Kandahar Province, armed with a 9 mm pistol and M-4 rifle outfitted with a grenade launcher.

He first attacked one village of mud-walled compounds, Alkozai, then returned to the base, woke up a fellow soldier and told him about it. The soldier didn't believe him and went back to sleep. Bales then left to attack a second village, Najiban.

The massacre prompted such angry protests that the U.S. temporarily halted combat operations in Afghanistan, and it was three weeks before Army investigators could reach the crime scene.

Bales was serving his fourth combat deployment and had an otherwise good if undistinguished military record in a decade-long career. The Ohio native suffered from PTSD and a traumatic brain injury, his lawyers say, and he had been drinking contraband alcohol and snorting Valium ? both provided by other soldiers ? the night of the killings.

The case raised questions about the toll multiple deployments were taking on American troops. For that reason, many legal experts believed it was unlikely he would receive the death penalty, as Army prosecutors were seeking. The military justice system hasn't executed anyone since 1961, but five men currently face death sentences.

"Any time you can strike a deal that saves your client's life, I would call that a win," said Dan Conway, a civilian military defense lawyer who is not involved in the case. "This is the right result for both parties."

___

Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/soldier-due-plead-guilty-afghan-massacre-070242198.html

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Los Angeles air 'loses its sting'

4 June 2013 Last updated at 14:04 ET

Los Angeles air pollution - and its infamous eye sting - have declined due to California's strict vehicle emission controls, scientists have said.

Despite a three-fold rise in the number of vehicles on southern California roads since 1960, air pollution there has decreased, a study found.

That includes peroxyacetyl nitrate, known to irritate the eyes, the US government study found.

The study "confirms" vehicle regulations worked, its author said.

"LA's air has lost a lot of its 'sting,'" said lead author Ilana Pollack of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's research centre at the University of Colorado Boulder.

She said the study "confirms that California's policies to control emissions have worked as intended".

'Better' air

In addition, ozone pollution has improved, although Los Angeles remains the worst city in America for ozone pollution, according to the American Lung Association.

The researchers compared atmospheric data collected since 1960 with new findings from a research aircraft mission in 2010 to devise a long-term model of change in the region's atmosphere.

Using this data, they tracked the decline in "precursor" ingredients that form air pollution - volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides.

California's laws regulate the amount of emissions that cars sold and driven in the state can produce.

While pollution has decreased since 1960, scientists say vehicles are still the "dominant" source of emissions in Los Angeles.

"To most people the big deal is that things have got a lot better," Ms Pollack said. "But as scientists we want to know how they have got better."

They will publish their findings in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22772933#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Wi-Fi signals enable gesture recognition throughout entire home

June 4, 2013 ? Forget to turn off the lights before leaving the apartment? No problem. Just raise your hand, finger-swipe the air, and your lights will power down. Want to change the song playing on your music system in the other room? Move your hand to the right and flip through the songs.

University of Washington computer scientists have developed gesture-recognition technology that brings this a step closer to reality. Researchers have shown it's possible to leverage Wi-Fi signals around us to detect specific movements without needing sensors on the human body or cameras.

By using an adapted Wi-Fi router and a few wireless devices in the living room, users could control their electronics and household appliances from any room in the home with a simple gesture.

"This is repurposing wireless signals that already exist in new ways," said lead researcher Shyam Gollakota, a UW assistant professor of computer science and engineering. "You can actually use wireless for gesture recognition without needing to deploy more sensors."

The UW research team that includes Shwetak Patel, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering and of electrical engineering and his lab, published their findings online this week. This technology, which they call "WiSee," has been submitted to The 19th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking.

The concept is similar to Xbox Kinect -- a commercial product that uses cameras to recognize gestures -- but the UW technology is simpler, cheaper and doesn't require users to be in the same room as the device they want to control. That's because Wi-Fi signals can travel through walls and aren't bound by line-of-sight or sound restrictions.

The UW researchers built a "smart" receiver device that essentially listens to all of the wireless transmissions coming from devices throughout a home, including smartphones, laptops and tablets. A standard Wi-Fi router could be adapted to function as a receiver.

When a person moves, there is a slight change in the frequency of the wireless signal. Moving a hand or foot causes the receiver to detect a pattern of changes known as the Doppler frequency shift.

These frequency changes are very small -- only several hertz -- when compared with Wi-Fi signals that have a 20 megahertz bandwidth and operate at 5 gigahertz. Researchers developed an algorithm to detect these slight shifts. The technology also accounts for gaps in wireless signals when devices aren't transmitting.

The technology can identify nine different whole-body gestures, ranging from pushing, pulling and punching to full-body bowling. The researchers tested these gestures with five users in a two-bedroom apartment and an office environment. Out of the 900 gestures performed, WiSee accurately classified 94 percent of them.

"This is the first whole-home gesture recognition system that works without either requiring instrumentation of the user with sensors or deploying cameras in every room," said Qifan Pu, a collaborator and visiting student at the UW.

The system requires one receiver with multiple antennas. Intuitively, each antenna tunes into a specific user's movements, so as many as five people can move simultaneously in the same residence without confusing the receiver.

If a person wants to use the WiSee, she would perform a specific repetition gesture sequence to get access to the receiver. This password concept would also keep the system secure and prevent a neighbor -- or hacker -- from controlling a device in your home.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VZ7Nz942yAY

Once the wireless receiver locks onto the user, she can perform normal gestures to interact with the devices and appliances in her home. The receiver would be programmed to understand that a specific gesture corresponds to a specific device.

Collaborators Patel and Sidhant Gupta, a doctoral student in computer science and engineering, have worked with Microsoft Research on two similar technologies -- SoundWave, which uses sound, and Humantenna, which uses radiation from electrical wires -- that both sense whole-body gestures. But WiSee stands apart because it doesn't require the user to be in the same room as the receiver or the device.

In this way, a smart home could become a reality, allowing you to turn off the oven timer with a simple wave of the hand, or turn on the coffeemaker from your bed.

The researchers plan to look next at the ability to control multiple devices at once. The initial work was funded by the UW department of computer science and engineering.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/uN0WGmtX5VI/130604134257.htm

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Does 'After Earth' end reign of Mr. Box Office?

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? It used to be that if a summer flick starred Will Smith, it was a guaranteed moneymaker: First place at the box office, maybe a franchise in the making.

But the 44-year-old actor's latest film opened with a thud.

"After Earth," a futuristic action-adventure co-starring Smith's 14-year-old son, Jaden, debuted in third place, collecting a disappointing $27.5 million over the weekend.

"It's tough because we're very proud of the film," said Sony's president of worldwide distribution, Rory Bruer.

Box-office analysts had predicted the sci-fi tale that cost an estimated $130 million to make would open just behind the international street-racing romp "Fast & Furious 6," which held onto the top spot with $35.2 million after its huge debut last week. Instead, second place went to Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment's "Now You See Me," which exceeded expectations with $29.25 million. The magic-heist thriller's ensemble cast includes Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Woody Harrelson and Mark Ruffalo.

"When you're a Tom Cruise or Will Smith, there are huge expectations placed on a movie that are not placed on an ensemble," said Paul Dergarabedian of box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "It just shows you how competitive the summer marketplace is and star power isn't necessarily what gets you there."

Based on a story by Smith, "After Earth" follows a father and son stranded on an abandoned Earth after a crash landing. Dad is injured, so the son must overcome his fear and brave the planet's dangerous creatures and conditions to get help.

The film was deemed "rotten" by review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com, with only 12 percent of critics offering praise.

"Quite simply, this is one of the worst films of 2013," Richard Roeper wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times.

The poor reception by critics and fans also hurts director M. Night Shyamalan, whose profile has been dinged by the failure of 2006's "Lady in the Water" and poor reviews for his two most recent films. Sony spokesman Jeff Blake called the director "a world-class filmmaker" in a recent statement, but Shyamalan was notably absent from "After Earth" marketing and promotions.

"Shyamalan is clearly a director-for-hire here," Scott Foundas wrote in Variety, "his disinterest palpable from first frame to last."

Sony's president of distribution said the studio still has high hopes for the film internationally as it expands to 60 more countries Friday. Said Bruer: "We're still feeling confident that as the film plays out throughout the world, we're going to be absolutely fine."

Meanwhile, "Fast & Furious 6" continues to speed past its competitors. With settings around the globe and an international cast led by Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson, along with the international language of fast cars, the film has broad appeal for viewers young and old.

"It's playing like what we call a four-quadrant movie, even though on paper it looks like a PG-13, testosterone-driven racing movie," Dergarabedian said. "It's just a wild and fun ride at the movie theater, and that's what people want when they go to the movies in the summer."

"Fast" could enjoy a third week on top as the newest action offering among Friday's openers "The Internship" and "The Purge."

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com, are:

1. "Fast & Furious 6," Universal, $35,164,440, 3,686 locations, $9,540 average, $171,003,965, two weeks.

2. "Now You See Me," Lionsgate/Summit Entertainment, $29,254,674, 2,925 locations, $10,002 average, $29,254,674, one week.

3. "After Earth," Sony/Columbia, $27,520,040, 3,401 locations, $8,092 average, $27,520,040, one week.

4. "Star Trek: Into Darkness," Paramount, $16,780,895, 3,585 locations, $4,681 average, $181,537,381, three weeks.

5. "Epic," Fox, $16,616,310, 3,894 locations, $4,267 average, $65,377,491, two weeks.

6. "The Hangover Part III," Warner Bros., $16,385,254, 3,565 locations, $4,596 average, $88,540,908, two weeks.

7. "Iron Man 3," Disney, $8,442,451, 2,895 locations, $2,916 average, $385,187,736, five weeks.

8. "The Great Gatsby," Warner Bros., $6,517,317, 2,635 locations, $2,473 average, $128,508,209, four weeks.

9. "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani," Eros Int'l, $1,568,677, 161 locations, $9,743 average, $1,568,677, one week.

10. "Mud," Roadside Attractions, $1,209,355, 581 locations, $2,082 average, $16,849,451, six weeks.

11. "The Croods," Fox, $665,624, 506 locations, $1,315 average, $180,588,685, 11 weeks.

12. "Frances Ha," IFC, $530,493, 132 locations, $4,019 average, $1,556,325, three weeks.

13. "42," Warner Bros., $512,231, 501 locations, $1,022 average, $92,331,685, eight weeks.

14. "Oz the Great and Powerful," Disney, $419,116, 330 locations, $1,270 average, $233,032,311, 13 weeks.

15. "Before Midnight," Sony Pictures Classics, $404,311, 31 locations, $13,042 average, $774,083, two weeks.

16. "Oblivion," Universal, $394,705, 357 locations, $1,106 average, $88,067,670, seven weeks.

17. "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," Paramount, $276,841, 286 locations, $968 average, $121,588,603, 10 weeks.

18. "Escape From Planet Earth," Weinstein Co., $195,323, 268 locations, $729 average, $56,322,427, 16 weeks.

19. "What Maisie Knew," Millennium Entertainment, $191,169, 101 locations, $1,893 average, $528,635, five weeks.

20. "Love Is All You Need," Sony Pictures Classics, $167,820, 71 locations, $2,364 average, $706,332, five weeks.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy .

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/does-earth-end-reign-mr-box-office-214045325.html

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Inhabitat's Week in Green: biospheres, X-wings and energy-creating shoes

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

News that Amazon will add three large biospheres to its downtown Seattle headquarters had the tech world buzzing this week. The domed structures will feature a mix of workspaces and gardens, and they'll be flanked by a public park. Amazon's big announcement wasn't the week's only surprise, though. A multinational consortium announced plans to develop a Dubai-style artificial island with a space hotel and a zero-gravity spa off the coast of Barcelona. And new research finds that "pinkhouses" -- vertical farms that use only pink light -- are much more efficient than those that use the full light spectrum.

Filed under: Misc, Science

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/26/inhabitats-week-in-green-biospheres-x-wings-and-energy-cr/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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