Wall Street sags as demand worries hit Apple

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street fell on Monday as shares of Apple were hit by demand concerns, while investors faced a busy week for earnings in what is expected to be a lackluster quarter.

Apple slid more than 3 percent after a report that the tech company has cut orders for LCD screens and other parts for the iPhone 5 this quarter due to weak demand. The stock was down 3.5 percent at $502.30. [ID:nL2N0AJ14E] It was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite indexes.

"They've had great growth, but the growth is going to slow because we have some formidable competitors we didn't have when the iPhone first came out," said Alan Lancz, president at Alan B. Lancz & Associates Inc in Toledo, Ohio

Apple suppliers Cirrus Logic tumbled 4.8 percent to $30.04 and Qualcomm lost 1.4 percent to $64. The S&P tech sector gave up 0.9 percent.

Earnings season picks up the pace this week with reports expected from companies including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Intel and General Electric.

Overall earnings are expected to grow by just 1.9 percent in this reporting period, according to Thomson Reuters data. Thirty-eight S&P 500 companies are due to report results this week.

"Expectations have been lowered from where they were a few weeks ago. Whether they're low enough is going to be the key question," said Lancz.

Analysts say the focus will be on what kind of guidance companies offer now that a deal has been reached on the "fiscal cliff."

Investors will be watching a news conference from President Barack Obama, scheduled for 11:15 a.m. (1615 GMT). Obama is expected to focus on looming budget and borrowing due dates, White House officials said.

Separately, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be speaking on monetary policy, recovery from the global financial crisis and long-term challenges facing the American economy at 4 p.m. (2100 GMT).

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 23.01 points, or 0.17 percent, to 13,465.42. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 4.80 points, or 0.33 percent, to 1,467.25. The Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 15.57 points, or 0.50 percent, at 3,110.06.

Appliance and electronics retailer Hhgregg Inc cut its same-store sales forecast for the full year, sending its shares down 11 percent at $7.02.

Transocean Ltd has disclosed that billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has acquired a 1.56 percent stake in the offshore rig contractor and is looking to increase that holding. Its shares rose 3.4 percent to $55.92.

The Dow fared better than the other two indexes as Hewlett-Packard rose 1.6 percent to $16.42 after JPMorgan raised its price target to $21 from $15.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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Thousands of Russians Rally Against Adoption Ban

MOSCOW – Thousands of Russians marched on Sunday in condemnation of the Russian Parliament’s move to ban adoption of Russian children by American families, an event dubbed a “March Against Scoundrels,” where participants chanted, “Take your hands off children,” and carried posters showing the faces of lawmakers stamped with the word “Shame.”

Marchers flooded tree-lined boulevards for many blocks on a bitterly cold day. The police estimated the turnout for the march, which was sanctioned by city authorities, at 9,500; a group of activists who made a count told Interfax that there were about 24,000 participants.

The sight gags and clever slogans of last year’s anti-government rallies were gone Sunday, and many participants had emotional answers for why they came to march. Many questioned the moral principles of a ban on adoptions by Americans in a country with so many children in foster care or orphanages.

“Even I can’t afford to adopt, and I’m supposedly middle class,” Yekaterina Komissarova, 31, said, adding that perhaps the issue angered her so deeply because she was the mother of two children.

Another marcher, Tamara Nikolayeva, 62, raised her voice to a near-shout as she accused Russian leaders of using orphans as pawns.

“They have decided to settle a score by using children, and it’s shameful,” Ms. Nikolayeva said, as her friends gathered around, nodding their encouragement. “O.K., maybe at some point, it will be better not to give our children away; we should take care of them ourselves. But first you have to make life better for them here. Give them a chance to study. Give them a chance to get medical treatment.”

The adoption ban has underlined a growing division in Russian society, as the government has embraced conservative rhetoric tailored to voters in the heartland, and turned away from prosperous city-dwellers who have mobilized over the Internet. State-controlled television has regaled Russians with reports of American parents who abuse or neglect Russian children, and a top official derided the marchers as “child-sellers.”

“I am especially surprised to see people gather at such a large action in support of American business — because for them, our children, Russian children, are factually, let’s put it this way, an object of trade,” said Yekaterina Lakhova, the United Russia lawmaker who sponsored the ban, in an interview with Kommersant FM radio station shortly after Sunday’s march began.

“Economically developed countries – and we do not consider ourselves a third-world country, we are in the top 20 – do not give up their children to foreign adoption as much as we do,” she said. “Excuse me, but in the past years, we have given the United States a small city with a population of up to 100,000, that is how many children we have given up to foreign adoptions.”

President Vladimir V. Putin approved the adoption ban in late December, as part of a broader law retaliating against the United States for the so-called Magnitsky Act, an effort to punish Russian officials accused of human rights violations.

Russian leaders have complained bitterly for years about light sentences handed down in cases where American adoptive parents abused or neglected children adopted from Russia, and named the ban after Dmitri Yakovlev, a toddler who died of heatstroke in Virginia in 2008 after his adoptive father left him in a parked car for nine hours.

But the decision has proven divisive in Russia, even within government circles. More than 650,000 children live in foster care or orphanages in Russia, of whom about 120,000 are eligible for adoption. Many children in orphanages are sick or disabled, and most have little hope of finding permanent homes.

“We hope that these people, who came out to express their opinion, are aware of the plans of our nation’s leaders to bring order to the adoption process, and the implementation of a range of measures aimed to improve the lives of orphans,” Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin press secretary, said.

The protesters on Sunday, however, were not likely to be convinced. One woman carried a sign that read, “Stop the repressions, you’re making revolutionaries out of us.” Many said they support the Magnitsky Act, which was passed by the American Congress late last year, as a way to hold Russian officials accountable for crimes that would otherwise never be punished.

“I truly think they have lost touch with society, and they use these laws to divert society’s anger toward ‘our enemies,’ the Americans,” said Boris Komberg, a physicist who was distributing a poem he had written about the adoption issue.

Yelena Rostova, 61, said anger over the ban had crystallized in the two weeks that followed its passage and caught the authorities by surprised.

“They expected that, as usual, we would swallow it, keep quiet,” Ms. Rostova said. “We have had two weeks to think about this law, and not everyone understood right away, but as time passed, people realized what it means to leave invalids, sick children, in Russia, where there is no help. Everyone knows what kind of medicine we have here.”

Because of the long winter holidays, there is little fresh public opinion data, but a survey released in December by the Public Opinion Foundation showed that 56 percent of Russians approved of banning adoptions by Americans.

Leonid Perlov, 58, a geography professor, cast an appraising eye back at the long line of marchers that filled the boulevard behind him. He then turned back, and said it would be foolish to expect political change any time soon.

“This is not the country,” he said. “This is Moscow. Believe me, there is a very big difference.”

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Why This Outdated Dating Manual Did Not Need a Social-Media Update

The Rules, a dating instruction manual of yore by two ladies named Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider (they know what they’re talking about ’cause they’re married!), should, by now, have gone the way of the cave drawing or the horse and buggy, as a relic of times past. It was initially published in 1995, nearly 20 years ago, and we don’t even want to calculate what that means in dog years. But alas, it’s still hanging around, lurking in the bookshelves of various bricks and mortar stores where such things are sold; lingering on Amazon.com and giving us coquettish looks; promising such things as actual, official answers in the ongoing struggle to win a man and make him put a ring on it (I’m paraphrasing, of course).

RELATED: Actual Wall Streeters Respond to Matchmaker’s Tips for Dating Them

Far from aging gracefully and going away, it’s been updated to bring it up to speed with the newfangled ways in which we do things, you know, on the Facebook and World Wide Web and whatnot. Of course, business-wise, this makes sense. It’s a best-seller! In fact, there’s a whole franchise of Rules books, described by Elle as “one of the best self-help books of all time.” So why wouldn’t Fein and Schneider and their publisher hope to make some more money with a new installment of the book that promises answers to pressing social media-dating questions like these: “How long should I wait to respond to his text message? Can I friend him on Facebook? Why did he ask for my number but never call me?” 

RELATED: Andrea Peyser Does Not Approve of This ‘Online Dating’

Well, they would. Grand Central Publishing released the book, Not Your Mother’s Rules, on January 8, and it’s ranked number 4 in dating books on Amazon. One would presume from the title and the pitch that the ladies behind it hope that the younger generations will lap this stuff up, just like their moms did. 

RELATED: Commuting to the Suburbs of Love

Of course, it’s a self-help book, so I am predisposed to dislike it. Self-help books, especially those about dating, often fall into a category that could be better described as, well, undermining. The problems with such books for me are multifold. One, they posit that human relationships can be commoditized; that there is one path that works for all in terms of getting what you want. (They also presume, in a stereotypical manner, that what we all want is the same, and, I think, infer there’s some ongoing battle between men, who want one thing, and women, who want the opposite.) I don’t think those messages are true, and I don’t think they’re particularly healthy or helpful, either.

RELATED: The Trials of Being a Married Olympian

Further, self-help books are published to make money. Those that say they’ll teach a reader how to get married or get the relationship they want do so by preying on the bewilderment, confusion, insecurity, and desires of women (and sometimes men, too). Sure, dating is hard. Sure, it’s difficult to find “the right person.” But the process should also to be fun, experiential, silly, weird, unique, and something we learn from. Figuring out what you want for yourself by doing it, that’s a great thing. Making dating about adhering to some code that a couple of people came up with and want to sell you so they can make money, well, that’s not so great. Women and men may read this stuff because they think it can’t hurt. Sometimes it feels good to believe that there are rules that can be followed to get what we want; it means we need only have the dedication and commitment to follow those rules, which is way easier than, for instance, thinking for ourselves deeply and making our own decisions, and having courage and believing in ourselves. 

RELATED: Old People Are Getting Better at Dating

Some of the advice in this book may not be categorically awful. Simplified to “don’t act like an obsessive”; “pause before you rush to do something you regret”; and “take care of yourself!” some instructions could actually be quite handy as a common-sense reminder. But categorizing it as stuff women need to follow to snag a man makes it highly problematic, even if the occasional tip is not so bad. And stuff like this, “New chapters include rules for text flirting: women under 30 wait 30 minutes to respond to a man’s text; older women should wait 4 hours,” as Pat Kiernan wrote today on his blog, is particularly disheartening, and inherently sort of woman-hating. Control your texting, The Rules ladies say. “Women shouldn’t take the first step to initiate any relationship — and that includes online dating,” they told the New York Daily News. Once you have a guy, ignore him, “at least for a little while.” And don’t sext until you’re married. That might save us from a few political scandals. But is this the kind of advice women need, in this day and age? 

If there was to be an excellent dating self-help book for the year 2013, I’d hope it would tell people to trust themselves. To behave as they see fit, according to the situation they’re in, regardless of age, because they are smart, lovely people who deserve the good things they put out into the world, and even if they make mistakes, they’ll find their way and do the right thing. That self-help book would tell women to stop reading dating self-help books, and instead to behave as though they knew they were wise enough to decide for themselves what they should do, to interpret the signs and make the right moves, or make the wrong ones and deal with that, too, instead of adhering to some rules that aren’t really the way we are at all. It would most of all tell everyone to be themselves, and stop pretending to be something else. Because The Rules, and those who follow them, create some weird perceptions among men and women. Suddenly anyone who does text someone right back is perceived somehow as needy or “too easy to get.” That’s especially odd given that a four-hour delay in a response, when you could respond quite easily, is actually rather rude. Would that we could rid the world of such descriptions as “hard to get” altogether, because more important than playing games or appearing a certain way (difficult to get?) is finding someone you care about and behaving a way that shows that you do. Why do we persist, instead, in making everything so convoluted and difficult?

We can only hope, I suppose, that as time progresses these tips will become as ancient and quaint-sounding as, for example, the instructions in Miss Leslie’s Behavior Book, published in the 1800s. Until then, a word of advice. Follow your instincts; if it feels right, it probably is; don’t believe everything you read in dating books, and maybe, do yourself a favor: Don’t read dating advice books at all. But DO read Miss Leslie’s, for snippets such as this: 

Now, that’s helpful advice. 

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Flu more widespread in US; eases off in some areas

NEW YORK (AP) — Flu is now widespread in all but three states as the nation grapples with an earlier-than-normal season. But there was one bit of good news Friday: The number of hard-hit areas declined.

The flu season in the U.S. got under way a month early, in December, driven by a strain that tends to make people sicker. That led to worries that it might be a bad season, following one of the mildest flu seasons in recent memory.

The latest numbers do show that the flu surpassed an "epidemic" threshold last week. That is based on deaths from pneumonia and influenza in 122 U.S. cities. However, it's not unusual — the epidemic level varies at different times of the year, and it was breached earlier this flu season, in October and November.

And there's a hint that the flu season may already have peaked in some spots, like in the South. Still, officials there and elsewhere are bracing for more sickness

In Ohio, administrators at Miami University are anxious that a bug that hit employees will spread to students when they return to the Oxford campus next week.

"Everybody's been sick. It's miserable," said Ritter Hoy, a spokeswoman for the 17,000-student school.

Despite the early start, health officials say it's not too late to get a flu shot. The vaccine is considered a good — though not perfect — protection against getting really sick from the flu.

Flu was widespread in 47 states last week, up from 41 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. The only states without widespread flu were California, Mississippi and Hawaii.

The number of hard-hit states fell to 24 from 29, where larger numbers of people were treated for flu-like illness. Now off that list: Florida, Arkansas and South Carolina in the South, the first region hit this flu season.

Recent flu reports included holiday weeks when some doctor's offices were closed, so it will probably take a couple more weeks to get a better picture, CDC officials said Friday. Experts say so far say the season looks moderate.

"Only time will tell how moderate or severe this flu season will be," CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said Friday in a teleconference with reporters.

The government doesn't keep a running tally of adult deaths from the flu, but estimates that it kills about 24,000 people in an average year. Nationally, 20 children have died from the flu this season.

Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older. Since the swine flu epidemic in 2009, vaccination rates have increased in the U.S., but more than half of Americans haven't gotten this year's vaccine.

Nearly 130 million doses of flu vaccine were distributed this year, and at least 112 million have been used. Vaccine is still available, but supplies may have run low in some locations, officials said.

To find a shot, "you may have to call a couple places," said Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, who tracks the flu in Iowa.

In midtown Manhattan, Hyrmete Sciuto got a flu shot Friday at a drugstore. She skipped it in recent years, but news reports about the flu this week worried her.

During her commute from Edgewater, N.J., by ferry and bus, "I have people coughing in my face," she said. "I didn't want to risk it this year."

The vaccine is no guarantee, though, that you won't get sick. On Friday, CDC officials said a recent study of more than 1,100 people has concluded the current flu vaccine is 62 percent effective. That means the average vaccinated person is 62 percent less likely to get a case of flu that sends them to the doctor, compared to people who don't get the vaccine. That's in line with other years.

The vaccine is reformulated annually, and this year's is a good match to the viruses going around.

The flu's early arrival coincided with spikes in flu-like illnesses caused by other bugs, including a new norovirus that causes vomiting and diarrhea, or what is commonly known as "stomach flu." Those illnesses likely are part of the heavy traffic in hospital and clinic waiting rooms, CDC officials said.

Europeans also are suffering an early flu season, though a milder strain predominates there. China, Japan, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Algeria and the Republic of Congo have also reported increasing flu.

Flu usually peaks in midwinter. Symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches and fatigue. Some people also suffer vomiting and diarrhea, and some develop pneumonia or other severe complications.

Most people with flu have a mild illness. But people with severe symptoms should see a doctor. They may be given antiviral drugs or other medications to ease symptoms.

Some shortages have been reported for children's liquid Tamiflu, a prescription medicine used to treat flu. But health officials say adult Tamiflu pills are available, and pharmacists can convert those to doses for children.

___

Associated Press writers Dan Sewell in Cincinnati, Catherine Lucey in Des Moines, and Malcolm Ritter in New York contributed to this report.

___

Online:

CDC flu: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm

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Wall Street Week Ahead: Attention turns to financial earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After over a month of watching Capitol Hill and Pennsylvania Avenue, Wall Street can get back to what it knows best: Wall Street.

The first full week of earnings season is dominated by the financial sector - big investment banks and commercial banks - just as retail investors, free from the "fiscal cliff" worries, have started to get back into the markets.

Equities have risen in the new year, rallying after the initial resolution of the fiscal cliff in Washington on January 2. The S&P 500 on Friday closed its second straight week of gains, leaving it just fractionally off a five-year closing high hit on Thursday.

An array of financial companies - including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase - will report on Wednesday. Bank of America and Citigroup will join on Thursday.

"The banks have a read on the economy, on the health of consumers, on the health of demand," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.

"What we're looking for is demand. Demand from small business owners, from consumers."

EARNINGS AND ECONOMIC EXPECTATIONS

Investors were greeted with a slightly better-than-anticipated first week of earnings, but expectations were low and just a few companies reported results.

Fourth quarter earnings and revenues for S&P 500 companies are both expected to have grown by 1.9 percent in the past quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Few large corporations have reported, with Wells Fargo the first bank out of the gate on Friday, posting a record profit. The bank, however, made fewer mortgage loans than in the third quarter and its shares were down 0.8 percent for the day.

The KBW bank index <.bkx>, a gauge of U.S. bank stocks, is up about 30 percent from a low hit in June, rising in six of the last eight months, including January.

Investors will continue to watch earnings on Friday, as General Electric will round out the week after Intel's report on Thursday.

HOUSING, INDUSTRIAL DATA ON TAP

Next week will also feature the release of a wide range of economic data.

Tuesday will see the release of retail sales numbers and the Empire State manufacturing index, followed by CPI data on Wednesday.

Investors and analysts will also focus on the housing starts numbers and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve factory activity index on Thursday. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment numbers are due on Friday.

Jim Paulsen, chief investment officer at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis, said he expected to see housing numbers continue to climb.

"They won't be that surprising if they're good, they'll be rather eye-catching if they're not good," he said. "The underlying drive of the markets, I think, is economic data. That's been the catalyst."

POLITICAL ANXIETY

Worries about the protracted fiscal cliff negotiations drove the markets in the weeks before the ultimate January 2 resolution, but fear of the debt ceiling fight has yet to command investors' attention to the same extent.

The agreement was likely part of the reason for a rebound in flows to stocks. U.S.-based stock mutual funds gained $7.53 billion after the cliff resolution in the week ending January 9, the most in a week since May 2001, according to Thomson Reuters' Lipper.

Markets are unlikely to move on debt ceiling news unless prominent lawmakers signal that they are taking a surprising position in the debate.

The deal in Washington to avert the cliff set up another debt battle, which will play out in coming months alongside spending debates. But this alarm has been sounded before.

"The market will turn the corner on it when the debate heats up," Prudential Financial's Krosby said.

The CBOE Volatility index <.vix> a gauge of traders' anxiety, is off more than 25 percent so far this month and it recently hit its lowest since June 2007, before the recession began.

"The market doesn't react to the same news twice. It will have to be more brutal than the fiscal cliff," Krosby said. "The market has been conditioned that, at the end, they come up with an agreement."

(Reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti; editing by Rodrigo Campos)

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IHT Rendezvous: Hostages Caught Up in France's African Intervention

LONDON — The widespread satisfaction expressed in France at the government’s decision to intervene militarily against Islamic militants in Mali was tempered on Saturday by news of a failed overnight French hostage rescue mission on the other side of Africa.

After reports emerged from Somalia of a helicopter-borne commando raid in the south of the country, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French defense minister announced that a hostage was believed to have been killed by his captors in an operation in which a French soldier died and another was missing.

The hostage, identified as Denis Allex, was a French secret service agent who had been held by Somalia’s Islamist Al Shabab militia since 2009. His captors, who may have seized the missing French soldier during the raid, claimed Mr. Allex was still alive and they planned to put him on trial.

Mr. Le Drian said there was no connection between the military operations in Mali and Somalia. The hostage rescue mission would have happened earlier, he told a news conference, if the conditions had been right.

However, news of the Somali raid prompted speculation that the action might have been prompted by France’s concern that its Mali intervention would spur retaliation against its citizens held captive in Africa.

These include eight hostages seized in Mali and neighboring states by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, one of the groups involved in last year’s Islamist takeover of northern Mali.

The decision of President François Hollande to send French forces into action in Mali to counter an offensive by Islamist militias that control the north of the country has been greeted with broad cross-party support at home.

Libération newspaper said it could represent a positive turning point in the presidency of Mr. Hollande, “who did not hesitate in the face of the very real risk of seeing the establishment of a terrorist state in the heart of the dark continent.”

Families of the hostages, however, expressed fears for the fate of their loved ones, with some demanding why military action to free them had not been taken earlier.

Jean-Pierre Verdon, the father of one captive, Philippe Verdon, told France’s RTL broadcaster: “Making war on terrorists is a matter for the state, but our obsession is the hostages.”

A leader of the regional Al Qaeda group last month accused France of blocking negotiations on a deal that would have led to freeing the captives.

Mathieu Guidère, a French academic expert on the region, speculated at the time that the government wanted to send a message to the militants that the capture of French citizens would not affect its foreign policy.

The government was trapped in an “infernal logic,”, according to Mr. Guidère, a professor at the University of Toulouse.

“The more the government declares it will intervene in Mali to support African forces, the more French citizens will be kidnapped,” he told Le Figaro in December. “If you want to fight terrorism, you don’t go about announcing it in advance.”

Before news came through of the abortive overnight raid in Somalia, the intervention in Mali had attracted support across the political spectrum in France.

Jean-François Copé, head of the center-right opposition U.M.P., said: “It was high time to act to prevent the establishment of a narco-terrorist state.”

François Fillon, a former U.M.P. prime minister said: “The fight against terrorism demands national unity beyond partisan differences.”

With Mr. Hollande now facing a second crisis in Africa, it is a political honeymoon that may not last.

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Lenovo IdeaTab A2107 comes to AT&T for $200 with no contract

AT&T (T) on Friday announced the addition of the Lenovo (LNVGY) IdeaTab A2107 to its line of tablet PCs. The 7-inch slate is equipped with a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 3G connectivity and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The IdeaTab A2107 also includes a 3-megapixel rear camera, a microSD slot, a front-facing camera and a 3550 mAh battery. The tablet’s display isn’t nearly as good as the competition, however, sporting a mere 1024 x 600 resolution with a pixel density of 170 pixels per inch, falling short of Google’s (GOOG) similarly priced Nexus 7.

[More from BGR: Samsung cancels Windows RT plans in U.S.]

“The Lenovo IdeaTab is a great option for those in the market for a compact, multifunctional tablet at an affordable price,” said Chris Penrose, senior vice president of emerging devices at AT&T. “Connecting it to the AT&T network keeps customers connected while on the go to what matters most.”

[More from BGR: ‘Apple is done’ and Surface tablet is cool, according to teens]

The IdeaTab A2107 is available now for $ 200 without a two-year agreement or $ 100 on contract.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

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Demi Moore Is Dating Harry Morton

01/12/2013 at 10:50 AM EST

Demi Moore and Harry Morton

Craig Barritt/WireImage; John Shearer/WireImage

Demi Moore has a new love interest.

The actress and restaurant owner Harry Morton have been on several dates in recent weeks, including one to the South Beverly Grill in Beverly Hills, according to a source.

"Demi was very giddy during her date with Harry," says the source. "She was really into him and seemed to very much enjoy his company."

Moore, 50, and Morton, 31, have also hung out together at Moore's Beverly Hills home, the source adds.

In November of 2012, Moore and ex Ashton Kutcher announced the end of their marriage. He filed for divorce in December and has been dating his That '70s Show costar Mila Kunis.

Harry Morton, who founded Pink Taco restaurant chain, dated Lindsay Lohan in 2006 and was linked to Jennifer Aniston in 2010.

A source told E! Online, who first reported the news, "They are just getting to know one another ... [Moore is] in a really good place at the moment and is hopeful about the future."

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Flu season puts businesses and employees in a bind

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly half the 70 employees at a Ford dealership in Clarksville, Ind., have been out sick at some point in the past month. It didn't have to be that way, the boss says.

"If people had stayed home in the first place, a lot of times that spread wouldn't have happened," says Marty Book, a vice president at Carriage Ford. "But people really want to get out and do their jobs, and sometimes that's a detriment."

The flu season that has struck early and hard across the U.S. is putting businesses and employees alike in a bind. In this shaky economy, many Americans are reluctant to call in sick, something that can backfire for their employers.

Flu was widespread in 47 states last week, up from 41 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. The only states without widespread flu were California, Mississippi and Hawaii. And the main strain of the virus circulating tends to make people sicker than usual.

Blake Fleetwood, president of Cook Travel in New York, says his agency is operating with less than 40 percent of its staff of 35 because of the flu and other ailments.

"The people here are working longer hours and it puts a lot of strain on everyone," Fleetwood says. "You don't know whether to ask people with the flu to come in or not." He says the flu is also taking its toll on business as customers cancel their travel plans: "People are getting the flu and they're reduced to a shriveling little mess and don't feel like going anywhere."

Many workers go to the office even when they're sick because they are worried about losing their jobs, says John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an employer consulting firm. Other employees report for work out of financial necessity, since roughly 40 percent of U.S. workers don't get paid if they are out sick. Some simply have a strong work ethic and feel obligated to show up.

Flu season typically costs employers $10.4 billion for hospitalization and doctor's office visits, according to the CDC. That does not include the costs of lost productivity from absences.

At Carriage Ford, Book says the company plans to make flu shots mandatory for all employees.

Linda Doyle, CEO of the Northcrest Community retirement home in Ames, Iowa, says the company took that step this year for its 120 employees, providing the shots at no cost. It is also supplying face masks for all staff.

And no one is expected to come into work if sick, she says.

So far, the company hasn't seen an outbreak of flu cases.

"You keep your fingers crossed and hope it continues this way," Doyle says. "You see the news and it's frightening. We just want to make sure that we're doing everything possible to keep everyone healthy. Cleanliness is really the key to it. Washing your hands. Wash, wash, wash."

Among other steps employers can take to reduce the spread of the flu on the job: holding meetings via conference calls, staggering shifts so that fewer people are on the job at the same time, and avoiding handshaking.

Newspaper editor Rob Blackwell says he had taken only two sick days in the last two years before coming down with the flu and then pneumonia in the past two weeks. He missed several days the first week of January and has been working from home the past week.

"I kept trying to push myself to get back to work because, generally speaking, when I'm sick I just push through it," says Blackwell, the Washington bureau chief for the daily trade paper American Banker.

Connecticut is the only state that requires some businesses to pay employees when they are out sick. Cities such as San Francisco and Washington have similar laws.

Challenger and others say attitudes are changing, and many companies are rethinking their sick policies to avoid officewide outbreaks of the flu and other infectious diseases.

"I think companies are waking up to the fact right now that you might get a little bit of gain from a person coming into work sick, but especially when you have an epidemic, if 10 or 20 people then get sick, in fact you've lost productivity," Challenger says.

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Associated Press writers Mike Stobbe in Atlanta, Eileen A.J. Connelly in New York, Paul Wiseman in Washington, Barbara Rodriguez in Des Moines, Iowa, and Jim Salter in St. Louis contributed to this report.

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