U.S. Cholesterol Levels Dip To Ideal Range Experts Attribute The Drop To Increased Use Of Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs Comment On This Post ATLANTA, Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (CBS) Related Interactive Diet And Nutrition Are you eating right? See the government's guidelines, calculate your body mass index and quiz yourself on healthy food choices. Stories Fasting Mormons Offer Heart Disease Clues Party Hearty And Healthy For Holidays (AP) Americans may be too fat, but at least their cholesterol is low. For the first time in nearly 50 years, the average cholesterol level for U.S. adults is in the ideal range, the government reported Wednesday. Results from a national survey, which includes blood tests, found the total cholesterol level dropped to 199. Doctors like patients to have total cholesterol readings of 200 or lower. The growing use of cholesterol-lowering pills in people 60 and older is believed to be a main reason for the improvement, experts said. "These age groups are the ones most likely to be treated with medication," said Susan Schober of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the lead author of the report. The survey collects data in two-year intervals. The new results are based on a national sample of about 4,500 people age 20 and older from 2005-06. The new 199 level compares with 204 in 1999-2000. When the survey began in 1960, the average cholesterol was at 222. Researchers also found that the percentage of adults with high cholesterol - at least 240 - dropped to 16 percent, down from 20 percent in the early 1990s. Elective C-Section: 38th Week Too Soon? C-Section Before 39th Week Ups Baby Breathing Problems, Researchers Find Comment On This Post Dec. 11, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (CBS/The Early Show) Related Interactive HealthWatch Explore health issues including AIDS, cancer and antibiotics. Quiz Health Myths Quiz What do you REALLY know about about flu shots, arthritic pain, nightcaps, antiperspirants, and healing cuts? Stories New Research On Pregnancy Weight Gain Obesity Linked To Infertility In Women (WebMD) Babies born by elective C-section before the 39th week of pregnancy have a three- to fourfold higher risk of breathing trouble than babies whose mothers have a normal vaginal delivery. Elective C-section babies also have a fivefold higher risk of needing mechanical breathing assistance for serious respiratory trouble, find Anne Kirkeby Hansen, MD, and colleagues at Denmark's Aarhus University Hospital. "Mothers who choose elective cesarean section should be aware that the risk of respiratory problems is four times raised at 37 weeks' gestation vs. full-term, intended vaginal delivery," Kirkeby Hansen tells WebMD. "The rate of respiratory problems is 10 percent for elective C-section at 37 weeks, but it is 2.8 percent for intended vaginal deliveries. That is why we say you should never do elective cesarean section at 37 weeks." Kirkeby Hansen and colleagues gathered data on the 34,458 babies born in Aarhus, Denmark, from 1998 through 2006. Nearly 2,700 of these infants were delivered via elective C-section -- that is, the mother or her obstetrician opted for C-section without having a medical need to so. The researchers compared these infants to infants from women who tried to have a vaginal delivery, including women who ended up having a C section. After adjusting for factors that might affect the infant's breathing, Kirkeby Hansen and colleagues found that children delivered by elective C-section at 37 weeks' gestation had a 3.7-fold higher risk -- and at 38 weeks, a 3.0-f old higher risk -- of transitory tachypnea of the newborn (a condition sometimes called wet lung), respiratory distress syndrome, or persistent pulmonary hypertension (dangerously high blood pressure in the lungs). All of these conditions mean that a baby is placed in an incubator in the neonatal intensive care unit for two days or so, Kirkeby Hansen says. Most children fully recover from these breathing problems, notes Emory University pediatrician Lucky Jain, MD. But the long-terms effects aren't clear. "Sometimes these babies get into bigger trouble in the neonatal ICU," Jain tells WebMD. "And what we don't yet understand well is the impact of two or three or four days of separation from the mother, of not initiating breastfeeding, and of exposure to bacteria that are not normally found in our bodies." Although it happened much less often, the Danish researchers found that children delivered via elective C-section at 37 weeks' gestation have a fivefold higher risk of serious breathing problems requiring oxygen therapy, a continuous positive air pressure device, or mechanical ventilation. For elective C-sections at 38 weeks' gestation, this risk is 4.2 times higher than for intended full-term vaginal delivery. Labor Good for Fetus What does a C-section have to do with a newborn's ability to breathe? As it leaves the liquid environment of the womb, a newborn faces the enormous challenge of making the transition to breathing air. Its fluid filled lungs must clear quickly, Jain notes. "There are many reasons why a baby born after elective C-section is more prone to delayed transition to air breathing," Jain says. "The first is reduced gestational age. And in the last trimester of pregnancy, every week counts. A 37-weeker is much more prone to respiratory issues than a 39-weeker." Kirkeby Hansen and Jain note that during labor, a woman secretes powerful stress hormones. This triggers stress-hormone secretion in her fetus. The hormones have two effects on the fetal lungs. They speed the absorption of liquid. And they increase secretion of surfactants, natural substances that help clear liquid from the lungs. "Once a woman is in labor, all this gets started," Kirkeby Hansen says. "In women who do not have labor, this process is not believed to start." Jain says labor is the most reliable sign that a baby is ready to be born. "When mother nature alls on spontaneous labor to start, it mostly is accurate in terms of the biologic clock and a good likelihood the baby is mature," he says. "But when we do it by elective C-section, we trust mothers' last-period dates or ultrasounds performed early in pregnancy, and those calculations are not always accurate." Nearly a third of U.S. pregnancies now end in C-sections, Jain says. Over the last decade, as the C-section rate has climbed, the average gestational age at birth for U.S. babies has dropped from 40 weeks to 39 weeks. On the one hand, Jain notes, research shows that delivering infants at 39 weeks' gestation or less cuts the risk of stillbirths. On the other hand, early delivery clearly has its own risks -- to the infant as well as to the mother. "The obstetric community has to get its arms around the fact that C-section has never been proven to be safer for the mother," Jain says. "A study that appeared last year showed that when you look at mothers with no identified risk who have had a C-section -- with no medical indication either from the mother or from the fetus -- there was higher mortality in the mother and in the baby." Kirkeby Hansen advises women seeking elective C-section to wait until the 39th week of their pregnancy. Smoking Linked To Type 2 Diabetes Smokers May Be More Likely Than Nonsmokers To Develop Type 2 Diabetes Dec .11, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (AP / CBS) Related Special Report Diabetes Symptoms, treatments, and how to prevent it. Stories Depression Care Helps Diabetic Elders Diabetes Patients Facing A Shoe Snafu? Diabetes Drug May Up Elderly Deaths -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Diabetes Drugs Bad for Bones -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sleep Habits Linked to Diabetes, Death -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wine Compound Spurs Diabetes Research -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diabetes Hospitalizes More Young Adults -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (WebMD) Smokers may be more likely than nonsmokers to develop type 2 diabetes , according to a new research review. The review included 25 studies of smoking and diabetes among a million people ages 16 and older in the U.S., U.K., Europe, Japan, and Israel. None of those people had type 2 diabetes when the studies started. But more than 45,000 participants developed type 2 diabetes during the studies, which lasted for five to 30 years. The reviewers analyzed all the data and concluded that the chance of developing type 2 diabetes was 44% higher for smokers than for nonsmokers. Heavy smokers -- people who smoke at least 20 cigarettes per day -- were more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than people who smoke fewer cigarettes or ex-smokers. The pattern varied somewhat in its intensity but held for all but one of the reviewed studies. Still, the studies don't prove that smoking causes type 2 diabetes. Remedies Sought For Surgical Leftovers Report: Items Aren't Removed From 1,500 Patients A Year In U.S. Comments 3 NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Jeffrey Port and Julie Chen on The Early Show Wednesday (CBS/The Early Show) (CBS) A new report says surgeons leave something in a patient about 1,500 times a year in the United States, with possible serious medical consequences. One system being tested to try to limit the problem uses technology similar to that in EZ Pass-type tollbooths. Another uses bar codes like the ones in stores. The report says two-thirds of the items left behind are sponges, which "can lead to pain, infection, bowel obstructions, problems in healing, longer hospital stays, additional surgeries and in rare cases, death." Surgical instruments are also frequently what's left behind. Chest surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Port is part of a team working to cut down on surgical mistakes. He co-founded RF Surgical Systems (http://www.rfsurg.com), whose system uses RFID chips, like the ones in EZ-Pass-type units, to try to make sure everything that's supposed to come out of the patient after an operation makes it out. The system is being used at several hospitals and tested at others. He explained on The Early Show Wednesday that the chips are embedded in the items used in the surgery. When the procedure ends, doctors can scan the patient as a toll booth would scan an EZ Pass card. If something is detected inside, physicians know they need to retrieve it. The estimated added cost for an operation is $40. The other system under evaluation uses printed bar codes attached to instruments and sponges. The items are scanned on their way in, and scanned again on their way out. Port suggests that the bar code system may not be as reliable as the RFID chip approach, because bar codes need to be directly scanned, as they are at the supermarket, while RFID chips will turn up on a scan even if they're obscured. Port notes that, whichever system becomes the standard, whether it's his company's, the barcode one, or a future invention, the problem is indeed being addressed. Port explained that, in a surgical procedure, it's the nurses' responsibility to keep track of items such as sponges and clamps. They count them at the start, and count again at the end. But, some surgeries go beyond changes in nurses' shifts, and human error might produce an incorrect count. Also, many procedures involve just one nurse, and the counting tends to need to be done at the most critical moments during the procedure, when the nurse has many other important tasks to perform. Also, counting these things isn't as easy as it sounds. Items can be passed from one member of the surgical team to another with regularity, and tens or even hundreds of items are often involved. A procedure might use 200-300 gauze products alone. And, as a practical matter, the way sponges are used during surgery frequently leaves them stuck together in blood-soaked heaps, making them very hard to separate and count, and easy to miss. They also might fall on the floor or get stuck in the clothing of a member of the surgical team. If a count is made, and there is a discrepancy, the surgery needs to continue until everyone is satisfied that everything has been removed. That could mean more time for the patient on a ventilator, or under anesthesia, etc. Relatives who were expecting a certain surgery length are suddenly made to worry because the surgery is running beyond schedule. Or, in the worst-case scenarios, a delicate incision may need to be reopened, ruining the work that was just performed. The instances in which items are most likely to remain in the patient after surgery are the ones when the count at the end matches the count at the start, but the count at the end isn't actually correct. Eighty percent of items left in patients are gauze products --towels or sponges, Port says. The other 20% are clamps/retractors. Gauze can be a major threat to health if left behind. It can clump and cause blockages. It can mimic tumors. It can cause perforations in the intestinal wall/ bowel. It can cause infection and internal bleeding. Solid instruments like clamps and retractors can cause internal puncture wounds. Airports Serving Up Healthier Fare Survey: Dallas, Chicago and Detroit Head Healthy Foods List; Washington National, Atlanta, Miami On Other End Comment On This Post WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Getty Images) Related Section Travel All the latest news, tips and trends to go. Here's your vacation planning resource. (CBS) Traveling by air doesn't have to mean eating foods that are bad for you. A new survey finds there's a good chance you can find healthy entrees at many of America's busiest airports. An annual report just released by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine finds that 82 percent of the eateries checked offer at least one low-fat, cholesterol-free vegetarian entrée. It's the second straight year to get such high scores. The survey, now in its seventh year, examined food served at 15 of the busiest airports in the country. Study: Why Pregnant Women Don't Topple Scientists Study Why Pregnant Women Don't Topple And Find Center Of Gravity Adjusts WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (AP) Scientists think they have figured out why pregnant women don't lose their balance and topple over despite ever-growing weight up front. Evolution provided them with slight differences from men in their lower backs and hip joints, allowing them to adjust their center of gravity, new research shows. This elegant engineering is seen only in female humans and our immediate ancestors who walked on two feet, but not in chimps and apes, according to a study published in Thursday's journal Nature. "That's a big load that's pulling you forward," said Liza Shapiro, an anthropology professor at the University of Texas and the only one of the study's three authors who has actually been pregnant. "You experience discomfort. Maybe it would be a lot worse if (the design changes) were not there." Harvard anthropology researcher Katherine Whitcomb found two physical differences in male and female backs that until now had gone unnoticed: One lower lumbar vertebra is wedged-shaped in women and more square in men; and a key hip joint is 14 percent larger in women than men when body size is taken into account. The researchers did engineering tests that show how those slight changes allow women to carry the additional and growing load without toppling over _ and typically without disabling back pain. "When you think about it, women make it look so very damn easy," Whitcomb said. "They are experiencing a pretty impressive challenge. Evolution has tinkered ... to the point where they can deal with the challenge. "It's absolutely beautiful," she said. "A little bit of tinkering can have a profound effect." Walking on two feet separates humans from most other animals. And while anthropologists still debate the evolutionary benefit of walking on two feet, there are notable costs, such as pain for pregnant females. Animals on all fours can better handle the extra belly weight. Stem Cells May Ease Muscular Dystrophy Modified Stem Cells From Muscular Dystrophy Patients Ease Symptoms In Mice, Study Finds NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (AP) Modified stem cells from muscular dystrophy patients eased symptoms of the disease in mice, says a small study that raises hopes for treating patients with tissue from their own bodies. The mice showed stronger muscles and ran longer on a treadmill than diseased mice that weren't treated. Other experimental treatments for muscular dystrophy have also produced encouraging results in lab animals, but experts said the new study shows promise for yet another approach. The paper focused on Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a muscle-wasting genetic disorder appearing in boys that occurs in about 1 in every 3,500 male births. It's the most severe and most common childhood form of muscular dystrophy. Boys with Duchenne dystrophy have trouble walking as early as preschool, and nearly all of them lose their ability to walk between ages 7 and 12. Typically, they die in their 20s because of weakness in their heart and lung muscles. There is no known cure. The idea of treating people with their own cells is attractive because their bodies would not be expected to reject the cells as foreign. So they wouldn't have to take drugs to prevent rejection. The new study used stem cells taken from the muscle of Duchenne patients. These "adult" cells differ from embryonic stem cells, which are controversial because scientists must destroy embryos to harvest them. The work is published in the December issue of Cell Stem Cell by scientists from the University of Milan in Italy, and elsewhere. It used mice that had a version of Duchenne and whose immune systems don't reject foreign tissue. Duchenne is caused by a mutated gene that prevents cells from producing a crucial protein. So just putting stem cells from patients with the faulty gene into the mice wouldn't have done any good. Instead, researchers inserted DNA into the cells to make them ignore the mutation. As a result, they produced a shortened but functioning version of the protein. W.Va. Program Pushes Pedometer Use W.Va. Program Gives Out Pedometers To Get More Residents Up And Moving LOGAN, W.Va., Dec. 11, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 (AP) (AP) Howard Wooten and Leonard Hovis are old pals who share a history of heart problems. Now they share a daily walk, logging some 1,400 miles a year. Along with six other friends _ all with similar health problems _ Wooten and Hovis started walking on doctors' orders, and along the way became the poster boys for a push to get people exercising in the least healthy part of the state. In August, the West Virginia chapter of America On The Move distributed 902 pedometers and step-counting charts to residents of five southern counties who signed up for the program. Participants were asked to use the pedometers for six weeks, keep track of their steps and send in the results. The goal was to see if pedometers encourage people to walk more. Of all five counties involved, Logan took to the pedometers with the most enthusiasm _ more than a third of the participants were from there, including about 200 volunteers from Logan Regional Medical Center. "Many of them thought they did a lot of walking, and they didn't," said Carol Cole, the hospital's marketing director. "It was very eye-opening." According to the state Department of Health and Human Resources, Logan is the most obese county in West Virginia. "If people here are going to improve their health, we're going to need to do a lot more in terms of prevention," said Shannon Meade, who helped coordinate the program on behalf of the Logan County Family Resource Network. Meade approached businesses, churches, even Girl Scout troops to drum up interest. As the groups involved plan a second phase of the program, they're focusing on Logan as an example of how to get rural residents with severe health problems up and moving. West Virginia On The Move Executive Director Sophia Werning argues that many people aren't aware that something as simple as walking can bring real benefits. Werning leads the state chapter of America On The Move, a Boston-based nonprofit that encourages people to take simple steps to improve their diet and exercise. "A lot of people have the idea that you need to get a personal trainer or you need to devote hours and hours a day to fitness, and they think, 'That's not for me,'" she said. Researchers looking at about 20 studies concluded that pedometers help people walk an additional mile each day, but only if they log their steps, according to the November issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "For a lot of people I've worked with, especially the sedentary and lower activity people, just having it on their hip is encouragement to do more," said Karen Croteau, a professor of exercise, health, and sport sciences at the University of Southern Maine, Gorham, whose research was included in the new report. Two years ago, when Wooten started walking with friends at Chief Logan State Park, his cholesterol level was over 280. Today, it's down to 120 and the 72-year-old insurance agent has lost 20 pounds. "My doctor says walking every day has been like a miracle pill for me," said Hovis, 67, a former Logan County clerk. The friends got pedometers through the program, and learned their daily walk added up to roughly four miles a day. Fed Takes Steps On Global Credit Crunch Will Set Up Temporary Auction Facility For Funds And Lines Of Credit Comment On This Post WASHINGTON, Dec., 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The quarter-point rate cut by the Federal Reserve Tuesday disappointed Wall Street, which pushed the Dow Jones industrial average down by 294 points. Investors had hoped for a bolder response to the growing housing and mortgage crisis in the United States. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Related Timeline Credit Crunch Feeling the squeeze? Here's a look at actions and statements from key players in Washington. Interactive Inside The Fed A history of the Federal Reserve, glossary of terms and a look at changing interest rates. Stories Stocks Plunge After Fed Cuts Rates Recession Fears Put World Markets At Risk • Interactive: U.S. Markets • Layoffs and Labor • The Federal Reserve (CBS/AP) The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday it is coordinating with other central banks to deal with the global credit crunch. The central bank said it had reached an agreement with the European Central Bank as well as the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank to address what it termed "elevated pressures" in credit markets. The Fed said that it was creating a temporary auction facility to make funds available to banks and was also setting up lines of credit with the European Central Bank and the Swiss Central Bank that could be used for additional resources. "This is going to allow cash-strapped banks more freedom to lend money to both businesses and consumers, thereby easing or at least bringing some relief to the credit markets," CBS News MoneyWatch correspondent Alexis Cristoforous told CBSNews.com. The Fed said that commercial banks would be able to bid at auction for funds that would be drawn from the Temporary Auction Facility. The money would be intended to help cash-strapped banks raise money needed to keep making loans to businesses and consumers. The action represented another step by the Fed to deal with a serious credit crunch stemming from the tightening of bank lending standards in the wake of multibillion dollar losses from a rising tide of defaults on mortgage loans. "What you have here is a backstop," Art Hogan, chief market analyst of Jefferies and Company, told CBS News' Mara Rubin. "You have an additional $40 billion in the credit system as available liquidity that doesn't necessarily have to be used, but at least you know it's there and psychologically, sometimes that is all you need to get the credit system working again. "This, on top of yesterday's move, which cut both the federal funds rate and the discount rate by a quarter point each, should buy the major banks some much needed time to get their financial house in order," says Cristoforous. That quarter-point rate cut disappointed Wall Street, which pushed the Dow Jones industrial average down by 294 points. Investors had hoped for a bolder response to the growing housing and mortgage crisis in the United States. What you have here is a backstop. analyst Art HoganThe Fed said all banks judged to be in generally sound financial condition by their Fed regional bank would be eligible to participate in the auctions for funds. The first auction of $20 billion was scheduled for next Monday, followed by another auction of $20 billion on Dec. 20. The third and fourth auctions will be on Jan. 14 and 28. The Fed said that the new auction process should "help promote the efficient dissemination of liquidity" when other lines of credit were "under stress." The experience gained from the four scheduled auctions would be "helpful in assessing the potential usefulness" of this new process to provide funds to U.S. banks, the central bank said. Trade Deal Opens Door To Chinese Tourists Agreement Means More Chinese Citizens Could Be Visiting, Helping American Business Comment On This Post NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson listens to Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi's speech during the Third China-U.S. Strategic Economic Dialogue at Grand Epoch City in Xianghe, central China's Hubei province, southeast of Beijing, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) Related Fast Facts China Learn about the people, economy and history. Stories Is China Banning U.S. Movies? China To Eliminate Trade Penalties (AP) Chinese citizens flush with cash from their booming economy will find it easier to vacation in the United States following a long-awaited agreement that the American travel industry hopes will bring in billions of dollars. The deal, signed Tuesday by U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez in Beijing, will allow Chinese travel agencies to market packaged leisure tours to American destinations, and it will permit U.S. destinations to advertise directly to the Chinese public. With the number of Chinese who travel outside their homeland expected to nearly triple to 100 million people by 2020, an infusion of tourists to the U.S. could help American businesses. "Potentially in the next 10 years, they could blow out all our other markets," said Bruce Bommarito, vice president of international market development for the Travel Industry Association, a U.S. business group. Chinese travelers on average spend upward of $6,000 per visit to the U.S. - more than residents of any other nation - according to the Commerce Department's most recent calculations. Bommarito and other industry players have lobbied heavily for Tuesday's accord, which they believe could open the floodgates for Chinese travelers, who often prefer to book the kind of group tours the agreement will facilitate. While only 1 percent of Chinese who left the mainland last year headed to the U.S., a new study shows that many consider the U.S. their top vacation dream destination. In an October survey of 7,000 urban Chinese who were asked what country outside of Hong Kong and Macau they would choose to visit if they were unhampered by any practical considerations, the U.S. was the No. 1 choice, followed by France and Australia. Participants in the survey, paid for in part by the American travel industry and by the Commerce Department, were contacted by random telephone dial and were not told that the survey was American-sponsored. While any Chinese person able to obtain a U.S.-issued visa has for years been permitted to travel to America, perceived difficulties at U.S. consulates and misperceptions about visa rules have dissuaded many potential tourists, Bommarito said. Without the "approved destination status" that Tuesday's agreement confers, U.S. tourist hot spots were unable to open tourism offices in China or advertise directly to the Chinese public. A few cities and states, including Nevada and New York City, negotiated individually with the Chinese government for permission to sidestep some of those restrictions. Of course, Chinese residents will still need to obtain visas from the U.S. before they can visit, a process that many have found daunting. Consulates have dealt with concerns that some Chinese might not return home from their vacations. But according to the State Department, the process has already been getting somewhat easier for prospective visitors. One in 5 mainland applicants for a business or tourist visa were denied their request in fiscal year 2007, down from 1 in 4 the previous year. "China is so huge, and there are so many people traveling in such large numbers, and they like to travel in groups," said Deborah Harrison, senior vice president at Marriott International Inc. "They are also earning more money and they're able to spend it, and I think that destinations such as L.A. and New York and Washington and Las Vegas will really benefit." Marriott International Inc. has already launched a Chinese-language Web site and has opened 30 hotels in China, partly in an effort to increase brand awareness among the Chinese. Automakers' Suit On Gas Emissions Tossed Judge Says California Can Regulate Greenhouse Gases From Cars, Rejects Automaker's Suit (AP) A federal judge Wednesday rejected an automakers' lawsuit against California, saying the state has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. Stocks Rebound On Fed Liquidity Plan Stocks Rise After Fed Unveils Plan To Work With Other Central Banks To Ease Credit Problems NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (AP) Stocks rose but came well off their highs Wednesday after a burst of enthusiasm dissipated over a Federal Reserve plan to work with other central banks to alleviate a global credit crisis. The Dow Jones industrials, which at one point had been up more than 270 points, rose about 60. The Fed said early Wednesday it had agreed with the European Central Bank and the central banks of England, Canada and Switzerland to confront what it called elevated pressures in the credit markets. The Fed said it will create a temporary auction facility to make funds available to banks and set up lines of credit with the European and Swiss central banks for additional resources. This move is the biggest concerted liquidity injection since the 2001 terrorist attacks and helped boost investor sentiment a day after the Fed disappointed Wall Street with a quarter-point cut in interest rates. Many investors had hoped for a half-point reduction to help the economy weather the credit and mortgage crisis. But the Fed's latest salvo didn't appear to assauge all of Wall Street's concerns about the spike in bad debt that has caused the credit markets to tighten in recent months, nor did it sew up all of investors' concerns about the nation's economic health. "There's still no certainty that we're out of the woods as far as the economy, and there's still a risk for recession," said Steven Goldman, chief market strategist at Weeden & Co. "We did get very positive news from the Fed and other banks chipping in to add liquidity into the system. But, the environment hasn't fundamentally changed that the worst is over for the financial system." He pointed out that the biggest beneficiary during a period of rate cuts are bank and brokerage stocks. However, the sector was under pressure Wednesday as investors worry they'll take further writedowns despite steps taken by the Fed. In early afternoon trading, the Dow, which plunged 294 points Tuesday, rose 63.81, or 0.48 percent, to 13,496.58. The blue chip index had risen as much as 271.75, or 2 percent, in early trading. Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 9.79, or 0.66 percent, to 1,487.44. The Nasdaq composite index added 22.18, or 0.84 percent, to 2,674.53. On Tuesday, stocks fell sharply after the Fed lowered the target fed funds rate by a quarter point to 4.25 percent, disappointing investors who hoped for a more aggressive move to boost the economy during the seize-up in credit and rise in home foreclosures. Investors were also unnerved that the central bank did not implement a larger cut in the discount rate _ the rate the Fed charges to lend directly to banks _ and did not offer a more definite pledge to cut rates further. "We've thought for some time the market was going to be volatile and trendless until the end of the year," said Brian Gendreau, investment strategist for ING Investment Management. "The Fed rate cut didn't do it to help us get through this weak patch in the economy. These new liquidity vehicles, and coordination with foreign central banks, is what investors were looking for." The Fed will make up to $24 billion available to the ECB and Swiss National Bank to boost the supply of dollars in Europe. Meanwhile, policymakers also announced plans for four auctions _ including two this month _ to increase cash in the U.S. "I think it's certainly a strong measure to ease this credit crunch and I think it will encourage banks to use the discounted borrowing. If banks won't lend to each other, then at least the central banks will lend to them," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. The plan sent Treasury prices plunging dramatically because the prospect of more available credit lessened investors' need for the safe haven that government securities provide. The 10-year Treasury note's yield, which moves opposite the price, rose to 4.15 percet from 3.97 percent late Tuesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose. Investors also digested economic data. The Commerce Department reported that the U.S. trade deficit rose to the loftiest level in three months, driven by record-high oil prices and an influx of Chinese imports. Import prices surged. In corporate news, SLM Corp., the student loan company known as Sallie Mae, slashed its 2008 earnings due to the costs of replacing an interim funding facility. The company also disclosed it failed to renegotiate a buyout with an investor group that balked several months ago at its original $25 billion cash offer. SLM shares fell $2.77, or 8.7 percent, to $29.17. Energy prices rose after the Energy Information Administration reported surprising declines in U.S. stockpiles of crude oil and distillate fuels, such as heating oil. Light, sweet crude for January delivery jumped $2.28 to $92.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Russell 2000 index rose 4.75, or 0.62 percent, to 771.02. Advancing issues led decliners by a 3 to 2 basis on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 801.6 million shares. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 0.70 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down 2.41 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.35 percent, Germany's DAX index added 0.83 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.32 percent. Stock Prices Surge On New Fed Plan Wall Street Rises Sharply After Federal Reserve Unveils Plan To Work With Other Central Banks NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (AP) Wall Street shot higher Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced a plan to work with other central banks to alleviate a global credit crisis. The Dow Jones industrials surged more than 100 points. The Fed said it had agreed with the European Central Bank and the central banks of England, Canada and Switzerland to confront what it called elevated pressures in the credit markets. The Fed said it will create a temporary auction facility to make funds available to banks and set up lines of credit with the European and Swiss central banks for additional resources. This is the biggest concerted liquidity injection since the 2001 terrorist attacks. The move also boosted investor sentiment a day after the Fed disappointed Wall Street with a quarter-point cut, instead of the half point that some had hoped for, to help the economy weather the ongoing credit and mortgage crisis. "I think it's certainly a strong measure to ease this credit crunch and I think it will encourage banks to use the discounted borrowing. If banks won't lend to each other, then at least the central banks will lend to them," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. In midday trading, the Dow, which plunged 294 points Tuesday, rose 106.73, or 0.79 percent, to 13,539.50. The blue chip index had risen as much as 271.75, or 2 percent, in early trading. Broader stock indicators also soared. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 16.80, or 1.14 percent, to 1,494.45. The Nasdaq composite index added 38.56, or 1.45 percent, to 2,690.91. On Tuesday, stocks plummeted after the Fed lowered the target fed funds rate by a quarter point to 4.25 percent, disappointing investors who hoped for a more aggressive move to boost the economy during the seize-up in credit and rise in home foreclosures. Investors were also unnerved that the central bank did not implement a larger cut in the discount rate _ the rate the Fed charges banks _ and did not offer a more definite pledge to cut rates further. "We've thought for some time the market was going to be volatile and trendless until the end of the year," said Brian Gendreau, investment strategist for ING Investment Management. "The Fed rate cut didn't do it to help us get through this weak patch in the economy. These new liquidity vehicles, and coordination with foreign central banks, is what investors were looking for." The Fed will make up to $24 billion available to the ECB and Swiss National Bank to boost the supply of dollars in Europe. Meanwhile, policymakers also announced plans for four auctions _ including two this month _ to increase cash in the U.S. The plan sent Treasury prices plunging dramatically because the prospect of more available credit lessened investors' need for the safe haven that government securities provide. The 10-year Treasury note's yield, which moves opposite the price, rose to 4.15 percent from 3.97 percent late Tuesday. The dollar fell against the euro and pound but rose versus the yen. Gold prices rose. Investors also digested new economic data. The Commerce Department reported that the U.S. trade deficit rose to the loftiest level in three months, driven by record-high oil prices and an influx of Chinese imports. Import prices surged. In corporate news, SLM Corp., the student loan company known as Sallie Mae, slashed its 2008 earnings due to the costs of replacing an interim funding facility. The company also disclosed it failed to renegotiate a buyout with an investor group that balked several months ago at its original $25 billion cash offer. Shares plunged $2.91, or 9 percent, to $29.08. Energy prices rose after the Energy Information Administration reported surprising declines in U.S. stockpiles of crude oil and distillate fuels, such as heating oil. Light, sweet crude for January delivery jumped $2.28 to $92.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. br>The Russell 2000 index rose 10.43, or 1.36 percent, to 777.70. Advancing issues led decliners by a 4 to 1 basis on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 626.5 million shares. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 0.70 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down 2.41 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.35 percent, Germany's DAX index added 0.83 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.32 percent. Sallie Slashes 2008 Profit Forecast Sallie Mae Lowers 2008 Profit Forecast, Says Investor Group Doesn't Want To Negotiate New Deal WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (AP) Student lender Sallie Mae on Wednesday slashed its profit forecast for the fourth quarter and all of 2008, as it hoards cash to offset bad loans and faces reduced federal subsidies. The company also said it failed to renegotiate a buyout with an investor group that balked several months ago at its original $25 billion cash offer for Sallie, the nation's largest student lender. The investor group, led by private-equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co., "does not wish to pursue these opportunities," Sallie, formally known as SLM Corp., said in a press release. After the announcement, Sallie's shares sank $3.94, or more than 12 percent, to $28 a share. That is more than 50 percent below the original $60-per-share offer from the investor group, which also includes Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. The investor group had no immediate comment. The developments come at a stressful time for Sallie, which lost $344 million in the third quarter, and for the student loan industry in general. Defaults are rising on student loans, and credit-market tremors similar to those linked to the mortgage crisis have begun to show up in the $85 billion student-loan market. Last Friday, First Marblehead Corp., which packages student loans for sale to investors, said it would suspend that activity during the fourth quarter. The move by the company, which cited "challenging times" in the capital markets, means less money will be pumped into the market for higher-rate private student loans, those not backed by the government. Reston, Va.-based Sallie and the Flowers group have been feuding for months over terms of what would be one of the world's largest private-equity takeover deals, and the dispute has landed in court. The group maintains that a "material adverse effect" has occurred, and therefore it should not have to pay a $900 million breakup fee. The investors argue that student-loan legislation that has reduced federal subsidies since Oct. 1, and weaker economic conditions, have had a significant negative impact on Sallie, justifying the cancellation of the deal agreed upon in April. Company officials said in October that they had received expressions of interest from other potential suitors, but no deal has emerged. On Wednesday, Sallie reduced its forecast for 2008 "core" earnings from $3.25 a share to a per-share range of $2.60 to $2.80. In the fourth quarter, it expects per-share core earnings, which excludes nonrecurring items, to come in at 52 cents to 57 cents. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial recently lowered their estimate of Sallie earnings for the fourth quarter to 71 cents a share, on average, down from 74 cents a share a month ago. Sallie said Wednesday that it "will pursue all available recourse, including its lawsuit against the investor group." The company said it "offered to consider an alternative transaction with the Flowers group, and to give them the opportunity to update their due diligence and submit a new proposal to acquire the company with no preconditions." In the third quarter, Sallie wrote off $142.6 million for borrowers missing payments on student loans, more than doubling the $67.2 million writedown of a year earlier. Oil Rises After Inventories Fall Oil Futures Higher After Energy Department Reports Crude, Heating Oil Supplies Fell Last Week NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (AP) Energy futures rose sharply Wednesday after the government reported unexpected declines in supplies of crude and heating oil last week. Crude supplies fell by 700,000 barrels during the week ended Dec. 7, according to a weekly inventory report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration. That countered analyst expectations that oil supplies would rise by 100,000 barrels. And supplies of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, fell by 800,000 barrels when analysts had expected inventories to rise by 300,000 barrels. "Traders are concerned about that drop in distillate supplies," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp., in Chicago. Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose $2.23 to $92.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and January heating oil futures jumped 8.25 cents to $2.6055 a gallon. Oil inventories had fallen for several straight weeks, which is normal for this time of year, but remain high by historical standards, the EIA said. Analysts said the report also contained elements that could undercut prices, including a 1.4 million barrel increase in oil supplies at the closely-watched Nymex delivery terminal in Cushing, Okla. But the market appeared to be more focused on the overall crude and heating oil numbers. Some analysts were perplexed by the focus on heating oil, noting that supplies often fall this time of year. "We still look to be pretty well covered," said Brad Samples, commodities analyst at Summit Energy Services Inc. in Louisville, Ky., of heating oil supply levels. Oil prices were already higher when the EIA issued its report, rising after the Federal Reserve said it is working with other central banks to try to prevent the credit crisis from escalating into a wider economic slowdown. That announcement alleviated some of investors' disappointment after the Fed cut interest rates by only a quarter of a percentage point on Tuesday. Many investors had hoped for a larger half-point cut. "Anything the Fed is doing to help out is going to support oil prices," Samples said. At the pump, meanwhile, gas prices retreated further below $3 a gallon overnight, falling 0.5 cent to a national average of $2.99 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Other Nymex futures rose Wednesday. January gasoline jumped 7.01 cents to $2.3615 a gallon. The EIA said gasoline supplies rose last week by 1.6 million barrels. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, on average, had expected a 1.2 million-barrel increase. January natural gas rose 17.6 cents to $7.261 per 1,000 cubic feet on the Nymex. ECB To Offer Up To $20B In Dollars European Central Bank To Provide As Much As $20B To Banks To Fill Demand For Dollars FRANKFURT, Germany, Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (AP) The European Central Bank said Wednesday it would make as much as $20 billion available to European banks, in part to fill their demand for scarce dollars, as part of coordinated action with the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks. The Fed said its agreement with the ECB, the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank was aimed at addressing "elevated pressures" in credit markets. A decline in interbank lending has produced higher Libor interest rates. Libor is shorthand for the London Interbank Offered Rate and is widely used as a reference rate for such things as variable rate mortgages. In a statement, the ECB said it would conduct two tenders in conjunction with the Fed, with bids due on Dec. 17 and Dec. 20 that would mature on Jan. 17 and Jan. 31. The Fed will provide up to $20 billion in dollars to the ECB "by means of a temporary reciprocal currency arrangement," the ECB said. The move will help the European central banks make more dollar loans to banks in their respective areas and could put downward pressure on interbank dollar rates. Markets have long worried that since foreign central banks can use only their own currency to inject funds to money markets, that has led to a sort of squeeze on bank funding. "It probably means that it will give easier access to dollar funds for European banks," said Commerzbank economist Christoph Balz, who added that a similar move was made just after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 to provide access to dollars because "at that time there was also a problem for accessing dollar funds for European banks." Balz said the decision, while not unprecedented, was "a very rare thing." Since the global credit crunch hit in August, many central banks have injected massive amounts of money into the banking system in an effort to keep credit flowing. Those efforts have only been partially successful, as banks have become more fearful about extending credit in the wake of a surge in bad loans stemming from the U.S. housing crisis. The U.S. central bank said that it was creating a temporary auction facility to make funds available to banks and was also setting up lines of credit with the ECB and the Swiss Central Bank that could be used for additional resources. The Bank of England said it would increase the amount of reserves offered at a 3-month maturity and widen the range of collateral accepted in tenders already scheduled for Dec. 18 and Jan. 15. The reserves offered will be raised from 2.85 billion pounds ($5.83 billion) to 11.35 billion pounds ($23.22 billion), of which 10 billion pounds ($20.46 billion) will be offered at a 3-month maturity, the bank said. The bank said it would not make any further changes to those two auctions, but added that it would consider changes to operations scheduled after January "in light of market conditions at the time." The Swiss National Bank said that in addition to its Swiss franc operations, it would offer a dollar tender auction on Dec. 17 worth up to $4 billion. It said it may conduct additional U.S. dollar auctions, "subject to evolving market conditions." Ashraf Laidi, chief foreign currency analyst at CMC Markets in New York, said he was not aware of a specific dollar shortage, but there was a general problem with liquidity in all major currencies ahead of the end of the year. "The central banks are resorting to the same sort of swap agreements that were used right after 9-11," Laidi said. "This is a short-term solution that does not alleviate the problems of subprime loans or the housing problems. It is unusual that four banks are coordinating it and resorting to swapping instruments among themselves." Commercial banks in general try to "dress up" the balance sheets at the end of a year. The crisis in the credit markets puts extra pressure on commercial banks this year. Banks See Bigger Loan Losses Wachovia, PNC Raise 4Q Loan Loss Estimates, BofA Chief Sees More Market Turbulence CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (AP) Wachovia Corp. doubled its estimate of loan loss provisions to about $1 billion for the fourth quarter on Wednesday, while the chief executive of rival Bank of America Corp. said he expects current credit market turbulence to extend into 2008. A third major bank, PNC Financial Services Group Inc., said its adjusted credit loss provision for the last three months of the year will be more than twice as large as in the third quarter. The disclosures come as a number of the nations' banks have forecast increasing credit losses in the wake of last summer's subprime mortgage crisis. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, Charlotte-based Wachovia had said it expected to record a loan loss provision in the fourth quarter between $500 million and $600 million. In a discussion with financial analysts in New York, Wachovia's chief executive Ken Thompson said the updated figures "will position us better as we enter 2008." He added that he is "comfortable" that his bank will "grow earnings" in next year, but gave no specific forecast. Wachovia shares fell $1.19, or 2.8 percent, to $40.76 in late morning trading Wednesday, while Bank of America shares lost 98 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $43.67 and PNC shares dropped $1.48, or 2.1 percent, to $69.28. All three were making presentations at an investment conference in New York hosted by Goldman Sachs. In a client note to investors, Morgan Keegan & Co. analyst Robert S. Patten said "We remain cautious in our near-term outlook, as there is no good news that we expect from the banks as they work their way through these credit and liquidity issues." In a separate presentation, Bank of America's chief executive Ken Lewis said, "the economy is definitely slowing." "We expect weak fourth and first quarters, but at this point we are not forecasting a recession," Lewis said. "I think you certainly can assume results will again be quite disappointing." In November, Bank of America said it would take a $3.3 billion debt-related write-down in the fourth quarter and warned its losses could grow, adding to fears the nation's housing and mortgage-lending slump might exact a greater toll than in the wretched third quarter _ when industrywide write-downs topped $46 billion. The bank said it will also spend about $600 million to support a group of its money market funds because of "uncertainty around the value" of the funds' investments. Of specific concern are the funds' holdings in structured investment vehicles, which use borrowed money to make risky but potentially high-yielding investments. On Monday, Bank of America said it would liquidate a privately placed, enhanced institutional cash fund, closing it off to new investors, due to withering losses on complex asset-backed securities. "Based on conditions today, we expect those writedowns will be larger than have already been reported - although obviously we won't know our final numbers until we close the fourth quarter," Lewis said. "We will discuss those numbers on the January earnings call." Also on Wednesday, PNC Financial Services said in a regulatory filing that it expects to report fourth-quarter earnings in the range of 60 cents to 75 cents a share, and adjusted earnings will be between $1 and $1.15 a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, on average, forecast a profit of $1.39 a share for the Pittsburgh-based company. Those estimates typically exclude one-time items. Treasurys Drop On New Liquidity Facility Treasurys Decline As Central Banks Unveil New Global Facility To Keep Capital Markets Liquid NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (AP) Treasury prices plunged dramatically Wednesday after the Federal Reserve and other central banks announced an ambitious, coordinated that program investors hope will avert a year-end liquidity crisis. The announcement soothed mounting investor anxieties a dearth of funding in late month that could further slow the economy, sparking sharp gains for stocks and sending Treasury prices reeling and yields sharply higher. The prospect of more available credit lessened investors' need for the safe haven that government securities provide. The Fed announced a deal with the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank to create a temporary auction facility to keep banks funded. The central banks' action was designed to address "elevated pressures" in credit markets, according to the Fed. The pact also will include setting up lines of credit with the European Central Bank and the Swiss Central Bank that could be used for additional resources. Although the international problems caused by the global spread of bad U.S. mortgage debt are serious and unwieldy, analysts said the concerted effort should, at minimum, produce temporary benefits. "This is a massive, historical liquidity injection," said T.J. Marta, fixed-income analyst at RBC Capital Markets. "There is no silver bullet because the problems are so massive, but this is a very significant step." The likelihood that the program will at least diminish short-term market stress also should reduce the unusually heavy demand for Treasurys seen in recent weeks. "The facility should reduce funding pressure and, in as much as it does improve liquidity, there will be less fear of a huge system failure at year end," said Kim Rupert, managing director for fixed-income at Action Economics. "And that reduced demand for Treasurys." The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 1 17/32 to 100 28/32 with a yield of 4.14 percent, up sharply from 3.97 percent late Tuesday. The 30-year long bond plunged 1 14/32 to 106 23/32 with a yield of 4.58 percent, up from 4.47 percent late Tuesday. The 2-year note gave up 16/32 to 99 28/32 with a yield of 3.19 percent, up from 2.92 percent late Tuesday. Unusually heavy selling Wednesday caused Treasury prices to give back all the gains registered just one day before when the Federal Reserve put in place a rate decision that was not as generous as many investors hoped for. The Fed on Tuesday ordered 0.25 percentage point reductions in both the overnight federal funds target and the discount rate, the interest at which it makes loans to commercial banks. The action was viewed by many investors as too paltry, given the unusual pressures that problems in the subprime mortgage sector have put on global financial markets this year. Severely shaken investors Tuesday staged a heavy stocks sell-off while funneling large amounts of money into Treasurys. Stocks Surge On New Fed Plan Stocks Climb Sharply After Federal Reserve Unveils Plan To Work With Other Central Banks NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (AP) Wall Street shot higher in early trading Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced a plan to work with other central banks to alleviate a global credit crisis. The Dow Jones industrials surged more than 200 points. Investors upset by the Fed's quarter-point rate cut Tuesday were relieved by the central banks' commitment to help the economy weather the ongoing credit and mortgage crisis. The Fed said it had agreed with the European Central Bank and the central banks of England, Canada and Switzerland to confront what it called elevated pressures in the credit markets. The Fed said it will create a temporary auction facility to make funds available to banks and set up lines of credit with the European and Swiss central banks for additional resources. "I would view it as a very big positive because they had always just kind of talked to each other but now they're actually working together. It's a much more concerted effort," said Thomas Nyheim, portfolio manager at Christiana Bank & Trust Company. In the first minutes of trading, the Dow, which plunged 294 points Tuesday, rose 203.06, or 1.51 percent, to 13,635.83. Broader stock indicators also soared. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 25.63, or 1.73 percent, to 1,503.28. The Nasdaq composite index added 46.05, or 1.74 percent, to 2,698.40. Bond prices fell as investors returned to the stock market. The 10-year Treasury note's yield, which moves opposite the price, rose to 4.13 percent from 3.97 percent late Tuesday. On Tuesday, stocks plummeted after the Fed lowered the target fed funds rate by a quarter point to 4.25 percent, disappointing investors who hoped for a more aggressive move to boost the economy during the seize-up in credit and rise in home foreclosures. Investors were also unnerved that the central bank did not implement a larger cut in the discount rate _ the rate the Fed charges banks _ and did not offer a more definite pledge to cut rates further. "We've thought for some time the market was going to be volatile and trendless until the end of the year," said Brian Gendreau, investment strategist for ING Investment Management. "The Fed rate cut didn't do it to help us get through this weak patch in the economy. These new liquidity vehicles, and coordination with foreign central banks, is what investors were looking for." The dollar fell against the euro and pound but rose versus the yen. Gold prices rose. In economic data, the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. trade deficit rose to the loftiest level in three months, driven by record-high oil prices and an influx of Chinese imports. Import prices surged. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 0.70 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down 2.41 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.49 percent, Germany's DAX index added 1.00 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.54 percent. Oil Prices Rise Ahead Of US Supply Data Oil Prices Extend Rise Above $90 A Barrel As Market Awaits US Oil Inventory Report , Dec. 12, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (AP) Oil prices rose Wednesday, ahead of a weekly report on U.S. inventories that is expected to show that crude oil and petroleum product stockpiles rose. An oil spill in the North Sea also may have rattled some nerves. Light, sweet crude for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 80 cents to $90.82 a barrel in electronic trading by afternoon in Europe. In London, January Brent crude rose 73 cents to $90.72 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. "The market will be looking for confirmation that the crude oil stocks draws of last week were only due to fog delays and is pricing a rebound in crude stocks in the DOE report," said Olivier Jakob of Switzerland's Petromatrix. The average forecast of analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires was for the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration report to show that crude supplies grew by 100,000 barrels. Gasoline inventories were estimated to increase 1.2 million barrels. Distillate stocks, which include diesel and heating oil, were tipped to rise 300,000 barrels, the survey showed. Heating oil futures rose 2.2 cents to $2.45 a gallon on the Nymex, while gasoline prices increased 1.48 cents to $2.3062 a gallon. Natural gas futures added 10.2 cents to $7.187 per 1,000 cubic feet. A spill of as much 25,000 barrels of oil in the North Sea on Wednesday, some 125 miles from the coast of Norway also may have contributed to higher prices. The mishap occurred while loading crude from the Statfjord Alpha drilling platform to an oil tanker, field operator StatoilHydro ASA said. The cause of the spill was not immediately known but the loading had immediately been stopped, said StatoilHydro spokesman Vegar Stokset. He said production from the field was not affected because tanker loading is a separate operation. Prices had dropped earlier Wednesday on reports that pipelines shut by an ice storm in the U.S. Midwest had been restarted. An ice storm that caused outages of key U.S. oil pipelines helped drive oil prices up by more than $2 a barrel in the previous session. But Dow Jones Newswires reported that at least one of the pipelines _ some of which serve the closely watched New York Mercantile Exchange delivery terminal at Cushing, Oklahoma _ had been quickly restarted and that three others soon would be. "Yesterday's $2 increase was primarily driven by the rather severe ice storm that knocked out power around Cushing," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "But that's just a short-term weather thing, no real disruption there, so that's why the oil price is edging down some," he said. While traders saw the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision Tuesday to cut its federal funds rate by one-quarter of a percentage point to 4.25 percent as a move that will help the U.S. economy _ the world's top oil consumer _ and bolster demand for crude, many were hoping for a larger, half-point cut. The larger cut would have been more of a boost to U.S. economic growth and would have weakened the dollar further, both factors that support oil prices. After the Fed settled for the smaller move, oil prices fell from Tuesday's highs and kept falling in after-hours trading. "There is concern that the quarter-percentage-point cut in interest rates by the U.S. central bank may not be sufficient to improve the economic status in the country," said Vienna's PVM Oil Associates. The Fed's foreign exchange swap lines with the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank under the new program should allow the central banks to help stabilize the entire London interbank loan, or LIBOR, system, according to RBC Capital Markets' Marta. LIBOR rates in many currencies have moved sharply higher as credit market problems accelerated and commercial banks grew wary of lending to each other. Banks are thought to be hoarding cash to build a cushion against possible future writedowns on bad mortgage assets and to square their books at year-end. The unwillingness of banks to loan to each other has compounded both the liquidity and the confidence crises in the markets. These problems have restricted currency trade, too. "If the Fed were only able to flood the system with dollars, the impact would be limited," Marta said. "But the cross currency swaps will help out all the currencies. The company said its adjusted provision for credit losses is expected to be about $110 million in the fourth quarter, up $45 million from the previous quarterAP Business Writers Jane Wardell in Lodon and Leslie Wines in New York and Associated Press writer Alexander G. Higgins in Geneva contributed to this report. In London, January Brent crude added $2.45 to $92.44 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. The EIA also reported that refinery activity fell by 0.6 percentage point last week to 88.8 percent of capacity. Analysts had expected an increase of 0.1 percentage point to 89.5 percent of capacity. Crude imports rose last week by an average of 689,000 barrels a day to 10.1 barrels a day. But gasoline imports fell last week by 184,000 barrels a day to an average of 985,000 barrels a day. Gasoline demand rose by 82,000 barrels last week, and was up by 0.4 percent over the past four weeks compared to the same period last year, the EIA said. ___ On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Ishii clears one of the hurdles in California's effort to regulate tailpipe emissions from cars, trucks and sports utility vehicles. Automakers sued the state over the tailpipe standards it approved in 2004, which would force automakers to build cars and light trucks that produce about 30 percent less greenhouse gases by 2016. However, the state still needs a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin implementing the program. The EPA has not yet issued a decision The Commerce Department says it's too early to predict the economic impact of the agreement. In part, the results will depend on how quickly the private sector acts to take advantage of the agreement and on whether the U.S. is able to smoothly handle an increase in visa requests. Even without the new agreement, the Commerce Department had already predicted that the 320,000 Chinese who came to the U.S. last year would grow to 579,000 by 2011 - but travel industry observers say the number could rise far beyond that. Still, there is plenty of work remaining. "The tourism industry here is going to have to also get prepared for handling Chinese visitors, because they do not for the most part speak English," said Noel Irwin Hentschel, CEO of tour operator AmericanTours International. It said that the temporary swap arrangements being set up would provide up to $20 billion in reserves for the European Central Bank and up to $4 billion for the Swiss National Bank. The reserves would be available for a period of up to six months. Since the global credit crunch hit with force in August, other central banks as well as the Federal Reserve have been injecting massive amounts of money into the banking system in an effort to keep credit flowing. However, those efforts have only been partially successful. Many businesses and consumers report rising trouble in obtaining loans as banks become more fearful about extending credit in the wake of a surge in bad loans stemming from the U.S. housing crisis. The Fed's move comes "at a time when there is a concern things are getting worse not better," said Hogan. But good health is just one of the benefits, the men say. What they really enjoy is the camaraderie, walking through the state park in bad weather as well as good, talking and joking about everything from presidential politics to college football. And there are other motivations to make the daily 8:15 a.m. trip to the park. "He comes because he knows we'll talk about him if he's not there," Hovis laughs, pointing at Wooten. "That's true," Wooten says. "But we talk about each other anyway." ___ On the Net: http://www.americaonthemove.org This approach, called exon-skipping, is now being studied in early human experiments that seek to deliver the treatment within a Duchenne patient's body. In the mouse study, the cells were treated outside the body. Scientists injected the treated cells into the bloodstreams of six mice. The cells settled near muscle damaged by the disease, and researchers later found the human protein in some mouse muscle fibers. Lab tests showed that leg muscles removed from the treated mice were stronger than those from untreated mice, although they remained weaker than normal. A treadmill study of four mice found that the treatment prolonged running time before exhaustion, but again not to the level of healthy mice. The work is "a nice demonstration of a lot of cutting-edge techniques used together and effectively," said Sharon Hesterlee, vice president for translational research at the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which was not involved with the study. The back changes appear to have evolved to overcome the cost of walking on two feet, said Harvard anthropology professor Daniel Lieberman. When the researchers looked back at fossil records of human ancestors, including the oldest spines that go back 2 million years to our predecessor, Australopithecus, they found a male without the lower-back changes and a female with them. But what about men with stomachs the size of babies or bigger? What keeps them from toppling over? Their back muscles are used to compensate, but that probably means more back pain, theorized Shapiro, who added: "It would be a fun study to do to look at men with beer bellies to see if they shift their loads." The group says, "Some airports are much better than others. If you’re laying over in Dallas, Chicago, or Detroit, you’ll have no trouble finding a healthful meal. If you’re traveling through Washington (National), (Atlanta) or Miami, you’ll have to look harder. The PCRM added, "More than 90 percent of the restaurants at Dallas, Detroit, and O'Hare airports offer a healthful option. The figure in Miami is 67 percent, and at Washington National is a dismal 42 percent." Atlanta's score was 72 percent. Las Vegas, ay 75 percent, was most-improved. Susan Levin, a PCRM registered dietician and staff nutritionist, told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith Wednesday that O'Hare, for instance, once had big posters bragging of its high standing on the group's list, and has consistently done well since -- so the survey is noticed. Some surgical procedures present more of a risk than others. They include surgery on obese patients, procedures lasting more than five-to-six hours, surgeries performed late at night, surgeries that include shift changes involving nurses, etc., emergency trauma surgery (meaning there's no time to count beforehand, and not as firm a roadmap as with a pre-planned operation), procedures involving multiple surgical teams (for instance, both a vascular surgical team and a plastic surgical team), and surgeries involving large amounts of blood. The reviewers considered some diabetes risk factors, including the fact that type 2 diabetes becomes more common with age. But the review doesn't show whether exercise, social class, or education affected the results. The reviewers -- who included Carole WIlli, MD, of Switzerland's University of Lausanne -- report their findings in tomorrow's edition of The Journal of the American Medical Association. The review may be a "conservative underestimate of the true association between smoking and type 2 diabetes," states an editorial published with the study. Eric Ding, ScD, and Frank Hu, MD, PhD, wrote the editorial. They work at Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, and Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital. "A woman should make sure she is not having her C-section too early. She should put her foot down and not have it at 37 or 38 weeks just because this fits into the hospital's plan," she says. "I personally would not have one before 39 weeks." "Thirty-nine weeks' gestation is a minimum. It may be ideal," Jain says. "But 38 weeks is not term gestation in my mind, and women need to be very careful with that. When a vaginal birth occurs at 38 weeks it is very different from an elective C-section at 38 weeks. And the decision to undergo C-section, especially at a mother's or an obstetrician's choice, with no medical indications, needs to be carefully thought through, and parents need to ask their obstetrician about the evidence for and against it." Kirkeby Hansen and colleagues report their findings in the Dec. 12 online edition of BMJ. They also reported that 65 percent of men and 75 percent of women had been screened for high cholesterol in the previous five years. High cholesterol is commonly linked to obesity: Eating an abundance of meats, dairy products and other foods rich in saturated fats contributes to both problems, as does lack of exercise. But U.S. cholesterol levels and obesity rates have been going in opposite directions. Using data from the same survey that produced the new cholesterol results, the CDC reported last month that the adult obesity rate - which grew over the last 25 years - is now at a far-from-ideal 34 percent. Experts say the difference appears to be cholesterol-lowering drugs, including widely used medicines as Lipitor, made by Pfizer Inc.; Zocor, by Merck & Co.; and Pravachol, from Bristol-Meyers Squibb. The drugs dramatically reduce levels of LDL cholesterol, which can clog arteries and lead to heart attacks.