Retailers lead Wall Street lower, "cliff" still a concern

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Wednesday, dragged lower by retail stocks after a report showed consumers were less enthusiastic about the holiday shopping season than last year.

Many investors said concerns about the "fiscal cliff" kept shoppers away from stores, suggesting markets may struggle to make any ground until next year.

Holiday-related sales rose 0.7 percent from October 28 through December 24, compared with a 2 percent increase last year, according to data from MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. The Morgan Stanley retail index <.mvr> skidded 1.8 percent while the SPDR S&P Retail Trust slipped 1.5 percent to 61.24.

"With the 'fiscal cliff' hanging over our heads, it was hard to convince people to shop, and now it's hard to convince investors that there's any reason to buy going into year-end," said Rick Fier, director of trading at Conifer Securities in New York.

President Barack Obama is due back in Washington early Thursday for a final effort to negotiate a deal with Congress to bridge a series of tax increases and government spending cuts set to begin next week, the so-called "fiscal cliff" many economists worry could push the economy into recession if it takes effect.

Coach Inc fell 6 percent to $54.08 as the biggest decliner on the S&P 500, followed by Ralph Lauren Corp , off 4 percent to $144.99. Online retailer Amazon.com fell 3.1 percent to $250.52. Gamestop Corp , Urban Outfitters and Abercrombie & Fitch were also among the S&P's biggest decliners.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 34.16 points, or 0.26 percent, at 13,104.92. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 6.57 points, or 0.46 percent, at 1,420.09. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 18.82 points, or 0.62 percent, at 2,993.78.

Volume was light, with only 2.17 billion shares having traded at midday on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT. Many senior traders were still on vacation during this holiday-shortened week and major European markets were closed for the day.

Still, Wednesday marked the third day of losses for the S&P 500 in its worst three-day decline since mid-November.

A Republican plan that failed to gain traction last week triggered the S&P 500's recent drop, highlighting the market's sensitivity to headlines centered on the budget talks.

During the last five trading days of the year and the first two of next year, it's possible for a "Santa rally" to occur. Since 1928, the S&P 500 has averaged a gain of 1.8 percent during that period and risen 79 percent of the time, according to data from PrinceRidge.

"While it's unlikely there could be a budget deal at any time, no one wants to get in front of that trade," said Conifer's Fier, who helps oversee about $12 billion in assets. "Investors can easily make up for any gains when there's more action in 2013."

The benchmark S&P 500 Index is up 12.8 percent for the year, and has recouped nearly all of the losses after the U.S. election, when the "fiscal cliff" concerns moved to the forefront. This is the best yearly gain for the S&P 500 since 2010.

Data showed U.S. single-family home prices rose in October, reinforcing the view that the domestic real estate market is improving, as the S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.7 percent in October on a seasonally adjusted basis.

In the energy sector, China's Sinopec Group and ConocoPhillips will research potentially vast reserves of shale gas in southwestern China over the next two years, state news agency Xinhua reported. Conoco's stock fell 0.8 percent to $57.99.

An outage at one of Amazon.com Inc's web service centers hit users of Netflix Inc's streaming video service on Christmas Eve and was not fully resolved until Christmas Day, a spokesman for the movie rental company said on Tuesday. Netflix rose 0.8 percent to $90.97.

(Editing by Dan Grebler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-futures-edge-ahead-cliff-talk-resumption-122640296--sector.html

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Woman sleeping on Los Angeles bus bench set on fire

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A homeless woman was in critical condition in a Los Angeles hospital after a man doused her with liquid accelerant and set her on fire as she slept on a bus bench, police said on Thursday.

Officers arrested Dennis Petillo, 24, in connection with the early morning attack, and he has been booked in jail on suspicion of attempted murder, police said.

The woman, whose name has not been released, was being treated at a local hospital with burns all over her body, said Los Angeles police Lieutenant Damian Gutierrez.

Erickson Ipina, a witness to the attack, told local station ABC 7 that he often saw the homeless woman sleeping on the bus bench. Ipina said he chased after the attacker, and called for help on his cell phone.

"I called 911 and he just turned back on me and pulled out a knife, and he told me, 'Stop following me or I will cut you,'" Ipina told ABC 7.

The television station showed images of the bus bench set on fire, which had black burn marks along it.

(Reporting By Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Claudia Parsons)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/woman-sleeping-los-angeles-bus-bench-set-fire-193227683.html

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Video: Hawaii Lt. Gov. Schatz to succeed ?Inouye

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Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50303022/

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Asian markets rise amid optimism over Japan

BEIJING (AP) ? Japanese stocks surged to their highest level this year as Asian markets rose Thursday on optimism a new Japanese government will stimulate its sluggish economy.

Oil gained in Asian trading to stay above $90 a barrel as markets in Hong Kong and Australia reopened after a two-day Christmas break.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 1.3 percent to 10,368.5. That added to Wednesday's 1.5 percent gain and took the Nikkei to a 22 percent increase for the year. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.6 percent to 22,677.7, while Shanghai climbed 0.2 percent to 2,223.95.

Incoming Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called for more public works spending to reinvigorate the economy. He wants the Bank of Japan to raise its inflation target from 1 to 2 percent to drag the country out of two decades of deflation, or steadily declining prices that have deadened economic activity.

To help exporters, Abe also has urged the central bank to take steps to dampen Japan's yen. A strong currency has hurt big exporters such as Toyota by making Japanese products more expensive overseas.

"The message from Japan is clear at the moment, the incoming government will do everything in its power to weaken the yen and stimulate the economy," Australia's IG Markets said in a report.

Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan's Taiex gained 0.2 percent to 7,648.92 and Sydney's S&P ASX 200 added 0.2 percent to 4,645.3.

Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines also rose. South Korea's Kospi was the only major decliner, shedding 0.1 percent to 1,979.39.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks fell for a third session as trading resumed after the Christmas break. Disappointing holiday sales weighed heavy on retail companies and investors worried about the impending "fiscal cliff" ? automatic tax and spending cuts due to take effect if the White House and Congress fail to agree on a budget deal. Economists worry that could push the economy into recession.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 24.49 points to 13,114.59. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 6.83 to 1,419.83 and the Nasdaq composite lost 22.44 to 2,990.16.

Benchmark oil for February delivery rose 9 cents to $90.89 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract closed down 5 cents to $88.61 a barrel on the Nymex on Monday.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3230. The dollar gained to 85.68 yen.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-markets-rise-amid-optimism-over-japan-032147722--finance.html

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Newtown trying to give kids a sense of normalcy

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) ? The children at the Sandy Hook Elementary school won't be returning to classes for another week, but officials from the town, school district and local agencies are doing their best in the meantime to keep them occupied following a massacre at their school two weeks ago.

The students have not attended school since a gunman killed 20 of their schoolmates and six adults on Dec. 14. They are slated to return to a different school next Thursday.

In the meantime, they've been treated to field trips, toy giveaways and some organized play time.

"A couple of the teachers have done pizza parties," said Janet Robinson, Newtown's school superintendent. "Another met her kids at the library so they could have a little reading time together. The most important thing has been connecting the students back to their teacher and their classmates."

The Newtown Youth Academy, a nonprofit sports center, opened its doors to all kids in town at no cost shortly after the shooting. But from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. last week, the building's turf field, basketball and tennis courts, and giant inflatable obstacle course were reserved just for Sandy Hook Elementary students.

There have been arts and crafts for the smaller kids, as well as face-paintings. Some celebrities, including two members of the Harlem Globetrotters and former University of Connecticut basketball star Tina Charles, also have stopped by to play with the children. UConn's men's basketball team was making a trip Thursday.

"The idea was to get them away from the house, the television and all the coverage of this tragedy and get them to a place where kids can just be kids," said owner Peter D'Amico, a longtime youth coach in town.

On Thursday afternoon, school buses were loading up at the Youth Academy for a trip to Stamford and a larger complex, Chelsea Piers, which also has ice rinks and an indoor swimming pool, he said. Sports celebrities, such as Brooklyn Nets forward Kris Humphries, planned to meet them there. No media were allowed.

University of Connecticut psychologist Julian Ford, who spent time counseling in Newtown in the first days after the shooting, said it's important for the grieving process to include an outlet that lets children know that while things will never be the same, it's OK to enjoy life.

"They are all going to be thinking about what happened," he said. "That, unfortunately, is inescapable. But this gives them a chance to say, 'Life is carrying on.' Nothing will be the same, but it's also continuing in ways that it should be."

Some students and their parents on Thursday toured the Chalk Hill school in Monroe, a former middle school being reopened next week for the Sandy Hook students. An open house is planned for Wednesday.

"Getting back into the school is like getting back on the horse," Robinson said. "Some of the scariness is gone once they cross that threshold. They are just so happy to see their teachers."

State police said they plan to keep their contact with the children to a minimum as they continue investigating the shooting.

"We certainly don't want to traumatize them any more than they've already been traumatized," said Lt. J. Paul Vance, the department's spokesman. "If (an interview is) not necessary it won't be done. Our investigators will make all those determinations."

In the meantime, Ford has encouraged parents to keep the kids involved in a normal holiday routine and deal with the tragedy as it comes up, rather than making it a focal point of their lives.

David Connors, who has 8-year-old triplets who attend Sandy Hook, said he and his wife have made play dates with their friends, brought the kids to see family for the holidays and participated in the class get-togethers and recreation events.

"That's been, I think, helpful at least in the short term just to kind of keep them doing things, keep them seeing their friends and being nearby and talking to family," Connors said.

Todd Wood of Newtown has five children, the youngest age 4 and the oldest in college. His children's piano teacher lost a child in the shooting, and the family knows other victims as well.

He said he's found that each child has reacted differently to the tragedy. He said he is not making the shooting the center of his family's life but is not pretending it didn't happen, either.

"We did Christmas, we had our lights here, we've tried to make things as normal as possible," he said. "But we also went down to see the memorials. I don't want to shield them from it. I want to let them grieve in their own way."

Ford said that is healthy. He said children will remember their friends as they go about doing normal kid things.

Chris Wolcott, the sport's academy's operations manager, said the best part of having the kids at the center is that the tragedy is pushed aside, at least for a little while.

"A couple times someone would drop a weight (in the facility's health center) and you would hear a bang and there would be a kid who would freeze for a second," he said. "But that would last a split-second. Most of the time, everyone just had a great time."

___

Associated Press writer John Christoffersen in New Haven, Conn., contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/newtown-trying-kids-sense-normalcy-193206806.html

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6 More Content Marketing Strategies From the Hobbit Movie ...

Father Christmas and the Little-Known Story That Prepared Tolkien to Write the Hobbit

The new movie ?The Hobbit? opened this last weekend and not only crushed the competition, but also set a new December record.

If you read my post over at ContentMarketing Institute.com, then you know some of the origins of J.R.R. Tolkien?s original story.

What I want to share with you today is a little more of the backstory of how The Hobbit got its beginning.

Not only was Tolkien an amazing writer, but he was also a devoted father.

In 1920, when his son was three years old, Tolkien began each Christmas to write a letter from Father Christmas.

Each letter contained details of Father Christmas? adventures and was delivered in an envelope, which included North Pole stamps and postage marks as designed by Tolkien.

What I love about this is that each year he would add more characters.

He?d created characters such as the Snow Man (who was his gardener), the North Polar Bear (who was Father Christmas?s accident-prone helper), an elf named Ilbereth (who was his secretary), and other miscellaneous characters.

The major characters would be a part of certain letters and they would reveal tales to the children of Father Christmas. Tales like:

• His battles against goblins
• How the reindeer got loose and ended up scattering presents all over the place
• How the Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and accidentally fell through the roof of Father Christmas?s house

What I want you to realize is that many now believe that it was elements of the stories in these letters that inspired parts of The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings.

The success of The Hobbit movie is definitely due to J.R.R. Tolkien?s amazing ability to create elaborate and engaging stories.

But the success also has much to do the with the complex and powerful marketing campaign that New Line Cinemas has implemented over this last year.

I revealed the first 6 content marketing strategies learned from The Hobbit in my post at ContentMarketingInstitute.com.

Today I will share with you six more content marketing lessons we can learn from the launch of the new movie The Hobbit.

Four More Content Marketing Strategies And Six More Lessons

In my ContentMarketingInstitute.com post, I revealed to you the long term content marketing strategy that movie studios use to promote films like The Hobbit.

Below you?ll learn the final six lessons contained in these four strategies that the movie studios use in the final weeks before a film?s release.

Weeks before your release, flood your niche with ads and content

Many content marketers have come to believe that it?s best to simply remove advertising from their arsenal and focus only on content marketing.

The movie studios know better than this.

They don?t eliminate ads. They coordinate them into their overall push to make a movie memorable and desirable.

In the weeks before a movie launches, movie studios flood the public with many images and promos for the movie.

They do this on such a level that there is no way for the public to be unaware of the film.

In fact, the studios do everything they can to try to make their film become a ?can?t miss? event.

The types of ads that movie studios use are:

• Bus advertisements
• Billboards advertisements
• TV advertisements that feature more teaser trailers
• Magazine and Newspaper ads in the major newspapers and magazines

Here is just one of the many billboard ads that they have used for The Hobbit

Photo from dailybillboard.blogspot.com (Go there to see more great pics of Hobbit billboards examples)

We must realize that ads, when used with powerful content marketing, are still very useful.

If you think about it, most of the ads that movie studios use are content marketing in the form of images.

We need to think of ways we can flood our niche with ads that work together with the content we are posting, so we can make our products and services more memorable - so they?ll become a ?must try? event.

Here are some ways you apply these ideas:

• Banner ads on popular websites in your niche
• Google ads focused on keywords
• Youtube trailers served via Youtube ads
• Photos posted to Flickr and/or Instagram

Let?s look at the next lesson we can learn from the studios.

As a part of this flood of promotion, the studios have the stars from the movie appear on major talk shows

This brings us back to that point I made on ContentMarketingInstitute.com, that the studios do everything they can to encourage content to be created by other media outlets.

In the final weeks, they encourage content creation by others by scheduling interviews with the stars of the film.

Here are some of the ways that New Line Cinemas has done that with The Hobbit:

• Elijah Wood, who returns as Frodo in the movie, was on ?Live with Kelly and Michael.?
• Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf, was also on ?Live with Kelly and Michael?
• He was also on ?The Colbert Report?
• Martin Freeman, who plays Bilbo Baggins, went on ?Late Show with David Letterman?

Again, as I mentioned in my other post, I am not implying that you can, or should, expect to get on major network shows to be interviewed.

But there are a TON of smaller online equivalent shows that need content and would love to interview you, your staff, or your product or service ?stars? (your product creation team or sales people).

You could apply this by getting interviews on:

• Podcasts
• Blogs
• And Google Hangouts or Youtube shows

Make sure that whoever does the interviews knows how to give fun, helpful, content for the listening/viewing audience. (Apply the same basic content marketing rules you?d use in any context.)

Also provide ?suggested questions? for the host and ask to be sent any questions they will be asking you prior to the interview.

Let?s look at the next lesson we can learn from the studios.

Use the internet to further promote your product or service

The studios are finding that the internet is proving to be one of their most effective tools for their publicity blitzes.

One of the ways they do this is through interactive ads on web sites that their target audience regularly visit.

Not only that, but the studios are releasing additional content through internet channels especially ones such as YouTube and/or Vimeo.

The types of content they?re releasing are things like:

• Blooper clips
• Behind-the-scenes clips
• Let the fans create their own trailers.
• And any/all other types of viral videos.

For a sample of how this has been done with The Hobbit, here is one of director/producer Peter Jackson?s YouTube channel: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Production Diaries?

You can see more of this type of content on the official Hobbit blog here.

Unlike many of the other lessons, these ones can be directly applied by most business.

Figure out ways to create additional content to promote your products such as:

• Interactive ads on popular blogs in your niche
• Behind-the-scenes clips of your product/service being created
• Behind-the-scenes clips of your product/service team(s)
• Encourage ?fans? of your product or service to create videos or take pictures while using your products or services
• Create a humorous video using your product/service (be careful it?s not cheesy)

Now for the last lesson to learn from the content marketing strategies of the movie studios.

The studios use highly visible product tie-ins and corporate partnerships

In the past these tie-ins mainly focused on products and TV exposure, but nowadays they are broadening their attention to a much larger arena.

The types of movie tie-ins you can expect to see these days are through:

• TV specials
• Music soundtracks
• Books/novelizations of the movie
• Restaurant & Fast Food
• Merchandising (particularly toys when applicable)
• Video game tie-ins.

Again, what this ends up doing is flooding the market and our minds with reminders about the movie everywhere.

Here are four unique ways that The Hobbit has used tie-ins:

1. Denny?s is offering a ?Hobbit Inspired Menu?

2. Lego Hobbit-inspired Toys ? (Lego ?The Hobbit? 79004 The Barrel Escape)

3. Guardians of Middle-earth video game for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, etc.

4. The Hobbit Game App for iPhone and iPad

Screenshot of iphone/ipad hobbit game app

Click here to learn more about The Hobbit iPhone/iPad game apps.

As I mentioned with the other lessons, even though you might not be able to do the same thing on the same scale, you can still apply the basic idea.

Here are some ways you could apply it:

• Find a webinar or conference that reaches your same audience and do some cross-over promotions.
• Partner with another business that offers complimentary products or services and co-create an app for your niche.
• See if a podcast or YouTube show in your niche would like to do a special show focusing on a problem your product/service solves. You could provide content such as stats, case studies, interviews with customers, etc.
• Interview 7 top experts in your industry for your own webinar. Make your product/service the webinar ?sponsor.? Focus the topic of the webinar on a common desire or goal that people or businesses have in your niche. Get the experts to give their tips and advice about how to accomplish those goals. Get the webinar transcribed and use it to create an ebook. Give the 7 top experts permission to give away or sell the ebook and webinar recording.

The point is to get creative. Don?t look at the list of tie-ins that the studios use and think, ?We can?t do that!?

Instead, look at the list and ask yourself, ?How can we do that? or something similar in our industry??

Keep asking the question and thinking about it and see what you come up with.

The final lessons to remember

As you can see from the examples in my other post and the ones I?ve given here, the movie studios aren?t just haphazardly promoting their movies.

They?ve developed a really powerful and strategic process for promoting their products (movies).

In the same way a movie must actually be GOOD in order for this process to be effective, so must your product or service be good in order for you to be able to borrow from these methods and see results.

These are the six final lessons for you to glean from these four strategies:

• We need to use ads in coordination with our content marketing.
• We need to flood our markets with a variety of content marketing and ads in the weeks before our products/services come out.
• We must harness the power of content created by others by implementing interviews into our content marketing strategy.
• We need to use publicity blitzes and harness the viral power of the internet by creating additional content to promote our products or services.
• We need to begin to use the power of ?product tie-ins? and dream up ways to co-create content or co-promote our products or services with other businesses in our niche.
• And most importantly we must make sure we have a good product or service (with a great story) if we expect to see any worthwhile results.

Once you try implementing these content marketing strategies from The Hobbit, you?ll never want to go back to your old ways again.

In the words of Bilbo Baggins you?ll realize, ?Go back? No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!?

P.S. TheStateOfSearch.com has a great post I just found with the results this type of marketing from New Line Cinemas has had on search results for The Hobbit here.

Sources: StateOfSearch.com, Wikipedia, and HowStuffWorks.com

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Source: http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/6-more-content-marketing-strategies-from-the-hobbit-movie-0360356

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