Tech stocks, once highfliers, drop; Nasdaq sinks

NEW YORK -- A slump in Internet and other technology stocks pulled the broader market lower Friday, as traders turned on the same companies they flocked to earlier this year. Google, Netflix and other pillars of the Internet economy took a beating.

It was a bad day in an otherwise decent week. The Standard & Poor's 500 index ended the week slightly higher.

Mixed signals in the government's monthly jobs report gave investors little direction Friday. The government said that U.S. employers added more workers to their payrolls last month, but the overall report presented a mixed picture, and the unemployment rate remained at 6.7 percent.

The stock market crept higher to start, began losing steam at lunchtime and then turned lower in the afternoon. The jobs report wasn't the culprit, said Uri Landesman, president of the hedge fund Platinum Management. It was likely the "momentum" traders, he said, people who chased high-flying stocks and are having a change of heart.

Tech stocks had soared over the past year, pushing the Nasdaq composite index up 28 percent, as traders piled into Internet and biotechnology companies. Netflix and Facebook, for instance, doubled in price over that time.

"It's like (traders) took a look at some of these high-flying Internet companies and said, "How can I justify these prices?'" Landesman said.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index plunged 110.01 points, or 2.6 percent, to close at 4,127.73, its biggest one-day drop since February.

The S&P 500 index fell 23.68 points, or 1.3 percent, to 1,865.09. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 159.84 points, or 1 percent, to 16,412.71.

Utilities, which investors buy to play it safe and collect dividend payments, bucked the overall market and edged higher. Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson and other big corporations whose stocks are often less volatile than the broader market also made gains. Coca-Cola climbed 15 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $38.22.

Before the market opened Friday, the Labor Department reported that employers added 192,000 jobs in March. That's less than economists had expected and also below February's total of 197,000. On the bright side, employers added a combined 37,000 more jobs in February and January than the government first estimated. A half-million Americans started looking for work last month, and many of them found jobs.

Earlier in the week, a string of reports on manufacturing and hiring nudged the stock market to its record highs. Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners, said many investors have argued that tough winter weather held the economy back at the start of the year and that things would turn around as temperatures rose. The jobs report, Pavlik said, didn't support their case. "A lot of what people have been saying about payrolls isn't true," he said.

Pavlik said he thinks the economy is likely to keep plodding along. With the market trading near record highs, it's hard for him to see any good reason for stocks to climb much higher.

In the bond market Friday, traders pushed Treasury prices up and yields down. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.73 percent from 2.80 percent late Thursday. The price of crude oil rose 85 cents to settle at $101.14 a barrel. Gold gained $18.90 to close at $1,303.50 an ounce, its biggest gain in three weeks.

Among other companies making big moves:

— GrubHub jumped 31 percent in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The online food delivery company, which runs the Seamless website, raised $192.5 million in its initial public offering late Thursday, selling shares at $26 each. GrubHub's stock jumped $8 to $34.

— CarMax slumped after the seller of used cars said its quarterly income dropped as an accounting correction outweighed higher demand for cars. The company's stock slumped $2, or 4 percent, to $45.56.

— News that a Swedish drug company rebuffed a merger offer from Mylan, the generic drugmaker, sent Mylan's stock higher. Mylan rose 77 cents, or 2 percent, to $50.63. Meda AB, the Swedish company, didn't explain why its board turned down the proposal.

Nationals owner says payroll 'beyond topped out'

WASHINGTON -- Washington Nationals owner Mark Lerner says the club's payroll is "beyond topped out" and that his family is "not going to do something where we're losing tens of millions of dollars a year."

In a rare, wide-ranging session with reporters before Washington's home opener against the Atlanta Braves on Friday, Lerner said the Nationals are still negotiating about their future Florida spring training home with current site Viera and possible new spot Palm Beach.

Even if the team decides to move its Grapefruit League base, Lerner said it's likely the Nationals will spend one or two more years in Viera.

He said sales of full season tickets and equivalents at Nationals Park were "a little bit ahead of last year," and "just short" of 20,000, where the team would cap such plans.

According to figures obtained by The Associated Press from management and player sources, the Nationals' opening day major league payroll was $134.3 million, which put them ninth out of 30 clubs.

That total represents an increase of more than $20 million from 2013, and more than $50 million from 2012, according to AP calculations.

"We're beyond topped out. Our payroll has skyrocketed to like $140 million. ... I don't think we can go much further with the revenue streams that we have," Lerner said.

Asked about what the team's 2015 payroll might look like, Lerner responded: "We take it one at a time. We'll look at it after the season as far as what we can do. We went into this thing — it's a business. We've got to run it smartly. We're not going to do something where we're losing tens of millions of dollars a year. Anybody can understand that."

His father, Ted, the team's managing principal owner, is a real estate magnate who has a net worth of $4.4 billion, according to Forbes.com.

The Lerners took over the Nationals from Major League Baseball in 2006, the year after the club moved from Montreal to Washington.

The team has remained at Space Coast Stadium in Viera for spring training, but the Lerners have been looking into other options. One possibility is to move to Palm Beach, where a new stadium would need to be built.

"It's been a long process, but hopefully sometime in the next few months, we'll cut a deal with somebody," Lerner said.

On other topics, Lerner said the club hasn't "actively been looking in the past few years" for a naming rights sponsor for Nationals Park, and that the owners "really weren't pursuing" having a retractable roof put on the stadium.

GameStop and Halozyme are big market movers

NEW YORK -- Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Friday on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market:

NYSE

Anadarko Petroleum Corp., up $2.03 to $101.05

The energy company reached a $5.15 billion settlement over numerous sites contaminated by Tronox, which it acquired in 2006.

CarMax Inc., down $2 to $45.56

The used car retailer posted a 7 percent decline in fourth-quarter earnings after it was forced to right an accounting correction.

Philip Morris International Inc., up 53 cents to $82.81

Cigarette production in the Netherlands is being halted by the tobacco company as the economy and health concerns drag on sales.

GameStop Corp., down $1.55 to $42.84

BB&T Capital says Wal-Mart's entry into the used game market is stumbling, which doesn't hurt the video game retailer at all.

Nasdaq

Mylan Inc., up 77 cents to $50.63

The Swedish drug company Meda rejected a takeover bid from the generic drug maker Mylan and talks between the two have ended.

Potbelly Corp., up 82 cents to $17.94

A sharp decline in shares combined with better same-store sales make the sandwich maker a good buy, according to William Blair.

Halozyme Therapeutics Inc., down $3.16 to $8.43

The biopharmaceutical has temporarily halted enrollment in the Phase 2 trial of its drug PEGPH20, used to treat pancreatic cancer.

E-TRADE Financial Corporation, down $1.74 to $20.43

The buzz is fading over a new book on high-frequency and Goldman Sachs posts some disconcerting numbers on payment order flows.

Colorado budget near completion after Senate vote

DENVER -- A $23 billion state budget passed the Colorado Senate with increased funding for education, a bigger rainy day fund, and money for an aerial firefighting fleet.

The Senate passed the budget for fiscal year 2014-15, which begins July 1, on a bipartisan vote of 26-8 on Friday. Only Republicans voted no.

The budget adds $100 million to colleges for financial aid and to limit tuition increases. Per-student spending at public schools is also increasing to keep up with inflation and enrollment growth. And the state's budget reserves are increasing to 6.5 percent, from 5 percent.

Lawmakers also are paying $21 million for an aerial firefighting fleet.

The House passed the budget last week with only one Republican in favor.

A committee will now reconcile differences between the two chambers to finalize the budget.

YouTube video accuses acting Beirut governor of harassment

BEIRUT: Allegations of sexual harassment against Beirut’s acting governor surfaced after a covertly filmed video implicating the official was published on YouTube.

In the video released Thursday, former employee Hoda Sankari speaks to a camera, accusing Nassif Qaloush, who is also the governor of North Lebanon, of sexually harassing her. The video then shows a 10-minute conversation with Qaloush that Sankari secretly filmed on her phone. The two discuss why Sankari’s contract as a laboratory technician in the municipality of Mina had not been renewed.

Throughout the video, Qaloush stands behind his office desk with his hand in his pockets while Sankari stands opposite to him.

When asked why her contract was not being renewed, Qaloush appears evasive, answering, “Because I’m not seeing you,” and “I asked to see you, but you didn’t come.”

He later tells Sankari: “When I like a girl I prefer the easy way ... the easier the better.”

At the end of the video, he asks her to “come close” and a kissing sound is heard, before she exits the office.

In a segment of the video, Sankari speaks directly to the camera and claims she once went to see Qaloush at his office to complain about the delayed payment of her salary. After waiting four hours for him, she said, the official arrived.

“He took me aside to another room in his office, flattered me and asked me if I was married, to which I answered that I was nearly engaged. He gave me his personal phone number and asked to see me in his office after working hours. I realized that it was as if he was brokering a deal, so that I would drop the complaint in return for a relationship,” she said.

She added that she was later called into Qaloush’s office a second time. When she asked if there was an update regarding her complaint, he replied, “No, I wanted to see you for another reason. I missed you, and I want to talk to you about my affection for you.”

“At that point, I grabbed my bag and was about to leave his office when he hugged me from behind and kissed me on the neck. I screamed, which surprised and angered him. I had to contain my anger, and I told him that I am not interested in having relations with him and then I left the room,” she said.

“After that, I decided to go and see him again and record what happened. Even if he harassed me again, I wanted to reveal his actions,” Sankari said.

The Daily Star couldn’t reach Qaloush for comment, as his phone was off. The video was first posted on YouTube Thursday by Ghada Eid, editor-in-chief of the investigative website Al-Taharri.

Arsal and Tripoli wounded face violence

ARSAL/TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Using intimidation and force, armed groups in Lebanon are delaying or preventing the movement of wounded patients for sectarian and political motives, medical professionals say, leading to further injuries and, in some cases, death.

Arsal, a small Sunni town in the Bekaa Valley that staunchly supports the Syrian opposition and hosts tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, has only limited medical facilities. This means patients with acute injuries often require transport to hospitals elsewhere in the predominantly Shiite region – but the road can be dangerous.

Two weeks ago, a young Syrian man with a bullet wound in his leg was being transferred by ambulance from Arsal to Rashaya. The young man’s mother, who asked not to be named, told The Daily Star that her son was unconscious when the ambulance was stopped by armed men in neighboring Labweh, a largely Shiite area where Hezbollah enjoys wide support and the Syrian rebels are far from popular.

“They checked the ambulance and tried to wake him up. They thought he was faking being unconscious,” she said. “They beat him on his head with the butt of a rifle several times.”

“They were shouting and cursing at him.”

Her son remained in a coma for several days, his condition markedly worse than when he set out in the ambulance, she said, and although he has since regained consciousness, he suffers from memory loss and is still recovering from the attack.

When asked, she said she did not know who was responsible for attacking her son.

It’s a familiar story to Dr. Kassem al-Zein, a Syrian national who runs a field clinic in Arsal and said several of his patients had been beaten at an informal checkpoint in the Labweh area before reaching the hospital.

While patients with manifest injuries are mostly allowed to pass without much hassle, Zein said, those who appeared only lightly wounded or had internal injuries were often harassed at the checkpoint.

“All the patients who can move can be subject to a severe beating ... at the Labweh checkpoint,” he said.

The informal checkpoint was erected by Hezbollah a few months ago on the sole road leading into Arsal, an isolated border town high up in the Anti-Lebanon Mountain range, and is policed by armed members of the party. The men, who sometimes wear Hezbollah armbands, wave cars to the side of the road, tersely open trunks and question passengers they deem suspicious.

Another doctor in Arsal, who wished to remain anonymous, said his patients often told him similar stories. “Several of the patients said that some of the armed people shouted at them, and others said they were beaten. They [the gunmen] say, ‘Where is the injury? I want to see the injury.’”

The doctor added that while his work was strictly humanitarian, he tried not to leave Arsal often for fear of being stopped at the Labweh checkpoint and harassed – or worse.

Zein said the checkpoint had taken its toll, particularly on patients who required specialist doctors such as optometrists.

“There are several patients who have eye injuries or diseases who have suffered some complications, and in some cases even lost their sight, because we couldn’t transport them to better hospitals,” he said. “One patient who initially needed vein reconstruction surgery was beaten and now needs eye surgery too.”

George Kettaneh, the secretary-general of the Lebanese Red Cross, said he was aware of the reports and admitted that sometimes there were occasional “problems” on the road from Arsal. However, he downplayed the altercations, describing them as “discussions between young people,” and denied that they were caused by politics or sectarian differences.

Arsal has received an enormous influx of Syrians fleeing the war, including a number of combatants. Some – though not all – of the patients being transferred from Arsal were wounded while fighting against the Syrian regime and its ally Hezbollah. Tensions in the area were stoked recently when Labweh was targeted by rocket attacks that residents blame on Sunni extremists in Arsal, as well as the border town’s reported role as a passage for explosive-rigged cars that have been behind a spate of suicide attacks targeting areas associated with Hezbollah.

But the issue of obstructing basic health care for sectarian reasons is not limited to Arsal.

Patients in the overwhelmingly Alawite Tripoli neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen in North Lebanon have suffered a similar fate during recent clashes in Tripoli, with Sunni gunmen sniping at ambulances in an attempt to stall them, according to health professionals in the area.

During clashes in the last few months, it has proven extremely difficult to evacuate critical patients from Jabal Mohsen. When someone from the neighborhood is injured and needs to be evacuated, the Lebanese Red Cross is required to call the operating militia leaders in the area and ask them to stop shooting so they can retrieve the patient.

“You have to make many calls to different militias,” said Roger Bafitos, who works with a Red Cross ambulance crew. “It takes time. ... Sometimes there are complications.”

According to Noureddine Eid, the managing director of a clinic in Jabal Mohsen, some patients died needlessly because medical staff were unable to get them to a hospital in time.

“You have the feeling that you’re standing above a patient who is dying, and there is nothing you can do for him,” Eid said.

“If an Alawite gets killed, it’s easier than getting shot. Because if he dies, it’s over. But if he gets hit in a critical place, he needs treatment and he needs to get out [of Jabal Mohsen].”

As in Arsal, recent deployments by the Lebanese Army have created a fragile calm in Jabal Mohsen, allowing residents to move with somewhat more freedom than before.

Still, Eid said he was concerned that tensions would rise once again.

“The presidential election ... could bring all the fights again,” he sighed.

U.N. raises awareness about unexploded ordnance

NAQOURA, Lebanon: Mines remain a threat to communities in South Lebanon, according to the U.N., which marked International Day of Mine Awareness Friday.

To mark awareness about the issue, the United Nations Mine Action Support Team used a mock minefield to hold free demining demonstrations for students at three United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon bases, in Naqoura, Shemaa and Marjayoun.

Displays and demonstrations by demining personnel from Belgian, Cambodian, Chinese, French, Italian, Spanish and Sri Lankan contingents were also featured on the day.

In each location, about 70 children from local schools were invited to participate.

Also in attendance was a delegation from the Lebanese Army’s south Litani sector and the regional Mine Action Center, the supervising authority for humanitarian demining activities, as well as representatives of the international community and UNIFIL personnel.

“This day is intended to make local communities aware of the remaining threats from explosive remnants of war in the south of Lebanon, and we would also like to draw attention to the victims and survivors of ERW related incidents and accidents,” said UNMAST Program Manager Leon Louw.

“By involving students, attention can be drawn at the grassroots level to remaining threats, as well as promoting UNIFIL’s efforts to clear areas close to the Blue Line to ease the marking process.”

Louw added that the event also had a commemorative function.

“Today we are ... celebrating the survivors, [who are] overcoming their disabilities caused by ERW, and actively joining and contributing in their societies,” he said.

“We want to spread the message throughout UNIFIL’s area of operation and gather a higher number of participants from several communities,” he added.

As of March 1, 2014, UNIFIL peacekeepers completed over 95,000 square meters of mine clearance and over 4.6 million square meters of battle area clearance. During the process, 2,787 anti-personnel mines, 163 anti-tank mines, 92 unexploded bombs, 28,719 cluster bombs and 3,419 other unexploded ordnance objects have been destroyed.

Due to a lack of funding, however, the Lebanese Mine Action Center has fewer than a quarter of the teams it needs to meet its 2020 clearance targets.

UNIFIL has also facilitated the construction of 300 marker barrels along the Blue Line, supporting security in the region in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701.

The annual International Day of Mine Awareness was established on Dec. 8, 2005, by the United Nations General Assembly.