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Stocks end mixed after 4 days of losses

NEW YORK – Stocks ended mixed Wednesday as concerns that Ireland will need outside help to repay its debts were coupled with a steep drop in housing construction in the U.S.

Global stock markets have been rattled over the past week out of fear that Ireland will become the latest European country to need a bailout. Greece was rescued in May after it became unable to contain runaway spending and lost the confidence of investors. Ireland is now struggling after a collapse in its housing market forced the country to take over three large banks.

Britain, which is not part of the 16-nation bloc that uses the euro, offered Wednesday to provide additional support to Ireland beyond what it gets from the European Union or the International Monetary Fund. That helped steady markets in Europe. The Euro Stoxx 50, which tracks blue chip companies within the euro zone, rose 0.5 percent.

Construction of new homes fell 11.7 percent in October, the Commerce Department reported. Construction of new apartments fell by more than 40 percent. Homebuilders including DH Horton Inc. and PulteGroup Inc. fell.

Retail stocks were among the few industries that posted gains. Target Corp.'s shares rose 3.9 percent after reporting earnings that beat analysts' forecasts. Competitors Costco Wholesale Corp., Macy's Inc. and J.C. Penny Co. each rose by 2 percent or more.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 15.62, or 0.1 percent, to 11,007.88. The S&P 500 rose 0.25, or less than 0.1 percent, to 1,178.59. The technology-focused Nasdaq composite index rose 6.17, or 0.3 percent, to 2,476.01

Seven out of the 10 industry groups that make up the S&P 500 fell. Companies in the consumer discretionary, energy and healthcare businesses were the only groups to post gains. Financial companies fell the most, with a 0.6 percent drop.

McDonald's Corp gained 1.2 percent to become the top performing stock among the 30 companies that make up the Dow. Home Depot fell 2.8 percent as the index's laggard.

Bond prices traded in a tight range. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to at 2.87 percent from 2.85 percent late Tuesday. Its yield is used as a benchmark for interest rates on mortgages and other consumer and corporate loans.

The dollar fell 0.2 percent against an index of six currencies.

Delaware TV station refutes bias claims in O'Donnell ad flap

GOP Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell called out a public access cable television station in Delaware for not running a 30-minute ad Sunday night or Monday morning, but a station executive told The Daily Caller the Tea Party favorite’s campaign is to blame this time around.

Channel 28 executive producer Tim Qualls, who is now almost certain the ad will run by 3:00 p.m. today, said he thinks he is being unfairly attacked in this situation, as he said he has done everything he can to rectify the problem.

The confusion, Qualls said, started with him not receiving a tape from the O’Donnell campaign until Sunday morning, and that the campaign had to improve the quality of the tape and re-send it to him Monday. Qualls said he originally told the O’Donnell campaign he needed the tape by Friday afternoon at the latest to be able to run the ad Monday.

In an e-mail to TheDC, though, O’Donnell spokesperson Doug Sachtleben said, “It is my understanding that station personnel have confirmed receiving the tape Sunday night, at least two hours before the scheduled air time.”

The ad did not run Sunday at 11:30 p.m., as O’Donnell originally announced it would at a rally that day. She then tweeted that the ad would run today at 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. However, it did not air in the morning. Qualls said he does not know why O’Donnell said the ad would run Sunday night, noting that he originally told her campaign it would run Monday.

Qualls said he is going to try to air the ad again tonight as a way to make up for the mistake, even though he said O’Donnell’s campaign is mostly to blame for the confusion.

Qualls also told TheDC he has yet to receive payment for the ad from O’Donnell’s campaign, which paid a third-party broker for the ad time. The price was set at $2,500 for the 30-minute spot to run four times. Qualls said he would typically bill non-political customers for airtime, but will not usually extend that courtesy to politicians.

“I learned a long time ago that, in politics, you get your money up front,” Qualls said.

Qualls said he is cutting O’Donnell slack because a third-party broker, Nancy Lopez Media, was involved in the payment process. Qualls was only made aware Monday afternoon that the third party had received the money.

O’Donnell’s campaign is on the offensive against Channel 28, calling it a possible example of media bias and making the ad flap a big issue on the final day of her campaign.

“It’s still unclear as to why the local cable channel failed to air the half-hour long special. Our hope is that this is not another case of the liberal media or political dirty tricks trying to silence Christine’s message to the voters of Delaware,” Sachtleben said in an official campaign statement.

Thethat Channel 28 “forgot” to run the advertisement, using anonymous sources. Qualls said that was not true. “We didn’t forget to run the ad,” Qualls said. “We didn’t have the ad.”

He added that the Washington Post reporter told him the newspaper is running a correction soon.

The O’Donnell campaign said Monday afternoon that it had contacted Qualls and indicated that all issues had been resolved.

“The half-hour long special from the O’Donnell campaign was not aired as scheduled on Sunday night and Monday morning. Delaware 28 Executive Producer Tim Qualls explained to the campaign that he was out of the area for the weekend because of a family illness, and was apparently unaware of the campaign’s transaction last Friday between a local third-party buyer and Channel 28 employees,” Sachtleben said in a statement.

“Mr. Qualls is being incredibly cooperative now that he finally understands the situation, and we cannot thank him enough for helping us get Christine’s message out to the voters of Delaware,” he noted. “We are sincerely sorry for any misunderstanding that has transpired and that may have added stress to his family situation.”

The campaign said the ad would be aired at 6:00 p.m. And 6:30 p.m. Tonight and again Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. However, Qualls told TheDC that the ad is scheduled to run at 11:30 p.m. tonight and four times on Tuesday (10:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.).

Regardless of how the issue plays out in public, it has already cost O’Donnell at the polls.

“She lost my vote,” said Qualls, noting that he had voted for O’Donnell in the GOP primary.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:15 p.m.

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Marc Jacobs takes the disco girl to the big dance

NEW YORK – So, a lot of designers have disco danced around a 1970s muse at New York Fashion Week with those billowy shapes, scarf-tied tops, gold lame and long, flared trousers, but Marc Jacobs, probably the most influential fashion force in New York, is the only one who fully asked her to dance.

He had those looks and more, including jumpsuits, hot pants, culottes and those tight striped knits popular when many of the editors, stylists and retailers in the audience at the Lexington Avenue Armory were probably in grade school.

The retro vibe was amplified by frizzed-out hair, metallic sparkle eye shadow, floppy hats and giant, oversized flowers in the hair, around the neck or on thick, cinching belts. Nevermind the piano music coming through the speakers.

"It was very '70s with a little bit of Lady Gaga," observed Joanna Coles, editor in chief of Marie Claire. "Marc was not the first designer to make this reference, but his was a very frenetic, floral, colorful and tropical collection that was also very dark. ... The whole styling of the show was dark and slightly frightening and a little doll-like."

Coles said Jacobs is particularly in tune with pop culture and he could feel the push-pull of optimism with toxicity, saying there was an underlying anxiety to the whole show.

"There was a sort of innocence to the '70s when you were actually in them, but this is darker."

The palette, however, had a tropical feel — it is for spring, after all — with one top covered in palm-tree beading. The colors included purple, orange and hot pink, all of which are showing staying power through this round of style previews. For good, glitzy measure, there were silver and gold sequins, even on some platform sandals.

But not even Jacobs could fully ignore black, a fashion-editor favorite, sending out a black beaded bandeau bikini. And he wore a black button-down shirt and black pants for his own bow.

The designer, once famous for starting his fashion shows hours late, has trained most of his audience to now get there early so they'll be seated when he starts a few minutes before the appointed time. For this show, however, the building wasn't open to most guests until just 15 minutes until the lights dimmed. Some models quite literally started walking while assistants with headsets were still on the runway.

And, by the way, no model can take full credit for being the first or last on Jacobs' catwalk — a coveted spot: The set was built as a round sculpture with a half-dozen models making the circle at any given time.

Karl kills two in Mexico as it weakens to tropical storm

VERACRUZ, Mexico (Reuters) – Hurricane Karl hit Mexico's central Gulf Coast Friday, killing two people in a mudslide, and weakened to a tropical storm as it moved inland.

The storm appeared to have spared Mexican oil operations from major damage after sweeping through the Bay of Campeche, where Mexico produces more than two-thirds of its 2.55 million barrels per day of crude output.

Karl made landfall Friday morning about 10 miles north of the port city of Veracruz, flooding roads and knocking down dozens of trees.

The storm, which weakened from a Category 3 hurricane to a tropical storm as it moved inland, was blowing sustained winds of up to 70 miles per hour, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Part of a rain-soaked mountain collapsed on a house in the inland state of Puebla, killing a woman and a child, state authorities said.

Karl was weakening quickly, but state governments across southern Mexico urged people to remain indoors to avoid flying debris. Authorities said they feared the storm could trigger more mudslides and flooding over the weekend.

More than 1,000 people huddled in shelters along the coast, a Veracruz state civil protection official told W Radio. Operations were suspended at Mexico's only nuclear power plant, which was in Karl's path, officials said.

"What a fright. I have never seen anything like this," said Ester Garza, a mother of three from central Mexico who was vacationing in the city of Veracruz, where people walking against the wind were unable to advance during heavy gusts.

Light poles buckled and power went out in part of the city. Before the center of the storm hit the coast, fishermen rushed to secure their small vessels.

Mexican authorities are experienced at evacuating people caught in the path of hurricanes and death tolls caused by hurricanes hitting Mexico are usually low.

MINOR WELLS SHUT

Mexico's state oil monopoly Pemex said it had closed down 14 minor wells and evacuated platforms in the Gulf, but the storm seemed to inflict no lasting damage to its operations. It did not say if the wells produced oil or natural gas.

The storm poured rain in coastal areas and raised winds strong enough to bend small palm trees in Veracruz.

The U.S. storm center said Karl was expected to dissipate as it breaks up against Mexico's coastal mountains.

As much as 10 inches of rain could soak swaths of southern Mexico, with more falling in interior mountain towns in coffee-producing Veracruz state.

Mexico's oil industry had to scramble Thursday after Karl came across the Yucatan Peninsula into the Bay of Campeche. Two of Mexico's main oil exporting ports closed as Karl passed. They reopened Friday.

IGOR CHURNING IN ATLANTIC

Karl is just one storm that has formed in the Atlantic this hurricane season. Hurricane Igor, a Category 2 storm, swirled with sustained winds of 105 mph on a course that could take it to Bermuda by Sunday.

Hurricane Julia was located far east of Igor and posed no immediate threat to land.

Bermuda residents stocked up on supplies and secured their homes. The rocky island, a tiny British overseas territory that is a hub for the global insurance industry, is one of the world's most isolated yet densely populated islands.

The Bermuda government's emergency agency warned residents to prepare for a similar impact from Igor as the island experienced from the 2003 Hurricane Fabian, which killed four people and caused millions of dollars of damage.

Loading shopping bags onto his moped in downtown Hamilton, Matthew Lewis said he would board up the windows of his hillside home and remove any items from his garden that could become projectiles in hurricane-force wind.

"When you see a storm that large, you do tend to get a bit daunted, to say the least, because we've got nowhere to run to. So yeah, it does get a little bit scary," Lewis said.

(Additional reporting by Julio Martinez in Puebla; Jason Lange, Michael O'Boyle and Luis Mena in Mexico City; and Samantha Strangeways, Jane Ross and Katharine Jackson in Hamilton, Bermuda; Editing by Missy Ryan, Kieran Murray and Mohammad Zargham)

#yn-theweek-banner img { display:block; }Is Alaska poised to elect a Tea Party senator?

New York – Sarah and Todd Palin's friend Joe Miller seems ready to claim the GOP Senate nomination in deep-red AK. Time to notch a Senate seat for the insurgents?

In her still-undecided GOP primary, Sen. Lisa Murkowski trails Sarah Palin-endorsed lawyer Joe Miller by 1,668 votes, with about 25,000 ballots outstanding. If Miller holds onto his lead, establishment candidate Murkowski's best hope for re-election would be finding another slot on the ballot — but Alaska's Libertarian Party seemingly quashed that possibility on Monday when it announced she would . In deep-red Alaska, does the Libertarian decision mean that the Tea Party has effectively locked up a seat in the Senate?

If Miller can get past Murkowski, it's Tea Party time: Assuming he prevails, Miller would be the "heavy favorite" in November, . "A Senator Miller would join a growing cohort" of anti-establishment Republican senators — "tea partiers plus like-minded veterans led by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) — who owe little or nothing to GOP leadership and the party establishment."

No, a Miller win actually opens the door for Dems: Murkowski and Miller would have been neck-and-neck in a three-candidate race, , with Democrat Scott McAdams trailing far behind. But if Murkowski's not on the ballot, Democrat McAdams suddenly has a real shot — many of Murkowski's supporters find Miller's Tea Party views "toxic," and would be likely to side with McAdams.

And expect them to make the most of it: The balance of the Senate could hinge on this race, , so expect the Democrats to do more than just hope little-known McAdams can pull out a head-to-head contest with Miller. "The buzz on the Internet" suggests the the Democrats may pressure McAdams to relinquish the nomination so a higher-profile candidate — say, former Gov. Tony Knowles — can take on Miller. 

Don't count Murkowski out quite yet: "In Alaska, it's not over even when it's over," . The current Libertarian candidate Scott Haase tells me that he would consider handing over his ballot slot to Murkowski, regardless of what his party bosses have decided, if she will agree to "hoist his banner on behalf of nationalizing the Federal Reserve System... and abolishing the individual income tax." Clearly, this remains a fluid situation.

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