Bernanke: Upbeat economic reports not enough to heal unemployment woes

A day after euphoria over the Dow crossing the 13,000 mark, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke tossed cold water on Wall Street’s celebration.

Bernanke, in testimony before Congress yesterday, said a string of upbeat economic reports isn’t enough to heal the nation’s underlying unemployment woes.

“The job market remains far from normal,” Bernanke said in his semiannual report to lawmakers. “The unemployment rate remains elevated, long-term unemployment is still near record levels, and the number of persons working part time for economic reasons is very high.”

AFP/Getty Images

Ben Bernanke

Despite good news on the job front with the unemployment rate falling, Bernanke warned that “continued improvement in the job market is likely to require stronger growth in final demand and production.”

Bernanke also said he’s concerned that high unemployment could become a new normal instead of a cyclical quirk as in past years.

Bernanke also failed to impress investors when he offered little hope of additional stimulus in the government’s bond-buying sprees, a practice known as “quantitative easing.”

“If the markets were expecting some assurance of additional accommodation from Bernanke, they were disappointed,” said economist Dana Saporta of Credit Suisse.

The Fed has kept interest rates near zero since December 2008, and also expanded its balance sheet by buying more than $2.3 trillion in bonds and other securities.

The economy did grow at a faster rate at the end of 2011. The nation’s gross domestic product economy grew at 3 percent rate in the fourth quarter, up from a previous estimate of 2.8 percent.

tharp@nypost.com

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, unemployment rate, unemployment, Bernanke, Dana Saporta

Nypost.com

Yelp IPO still expected despite signs of weakness in market

SAN FRANCISCO -- Yelp Inc. is still expected to price its initial public offering Thursday evening, despite some signs of weakness that have crept into the IPO market.

Two debuts that were scheduled to trade Thursday -- GCT Semiconductor and Provident Mortgage Capital -- were postponed by the underwriters. Both had seen signs of weakening demand leading up to their expected pricings.

Provident filed papers Wednesday cutting the size of its offering to five million shares from the previously expected 8.33 million shares.

Scott Sweet of IPO Boutique said Thursday morning underwriters are still expecting to price Yelp's IPO Thursday afternoon, with the stock expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday morning under the ticker symbol "YELP."

The company plans to sell 7.1 million shares at a price range of $12 to $14 per share -- which could raise about $100 million at the high end of the range.

However, even Yelp seems to be facing some headwinds. In an email to clients early Thursday, Sweet lowered his rating on the IPO to three from four, citing channel checks revealing "serious concern regarding current and future competition," even though he says the deal remains "multiple times oversubscribed."

He later moved that rating back up to four, citing feedback that the price range of the IPO "will be in all likelihood at the high end or higher" of the expected range.

Yelp is the latest in a round of IPOs from the internet/social media space, following the likes of LinkedIn, Zynga and Groupon last year. It is also expected to be the last of these deals until social networking giant Facebook pulls the trigger on its own IPO.

Yelp saw revenue jump 75 percent in 2011 to $83.3 million, but the company remains in the red, reporting a net loss of $16.7 million for the period. It claims about 66 million current monthly unique visitors.

To read more, go to MarketWatch

Provident Mortgage Capital, GCT Semiconductor, New York Stock Exchange, Yelp, price range, initial public offering Thursday evening online

Nypost.com

Monticello Results

WEATHER Clear TRACK Fast

FIRST-mile; pace; $4000; cond

OFF: 12:29 TIME: 1:59.0

2

L M XKR (M Forte)

4.60

2.60

2.10

1

BehndEnemyLnes(JDevux)

3.90

2.50

4

Wantasmile (K DI Benedetto)

2.10

Scr: Sandri Hanover.

* Perfecta (2-1) $11.80 * Trifecta (2-1-4) $36.20 * Superfecta (2-1-4-3) $159.00

Winner picked by Little (Best Bet)

SECOND-mile; pace; $4000; cl($2000)

OFF: 12:47 TIME: 2:00.0

2

BssoHnover(JTggrtJr)

3.00

2.40

2.40

3

PhrmRevew(KDIBenedetto)

5.20

43.50

5

Bull Rush (M Forte)

4.30

Scr: Yacht King.

* Perfecta (2-3) $19.60 * Trifecta (2-3-5) $95.50 * Daily double (2-2) $8.30

THIRD-mile; pace; $2700; cond

OFF: 1:06 TIME: 1:58.2

3

DougsBoy(ASchwrtz)

4.80

2.60

2.60

2

High Calibre N (KSwitzerJr)

2.50

2.40

1

Shady Idea (J Taggart Jr)

4.30

* Perfecta (3-2) $12.40 * Trifecta (3-2-1) $43.20 * Pick 3 (2-2-3) $24.00 * Superfecta (3-2-1-4) $247.00 Perfecta picked by Little

FOURTH-mile; pace; $10000; cl($4000)

OFF: 1:30 TIME: 1:56.4

2

DuncnsWstrn(MFort)

6.00

3.00

2.50

4

Rare Display (J Taggart Jr)

3.10

2.50

5

Hes Great (S Bouchard)

3.30

* Perfecta (2-4) $15.80 * Trifecta (2-4-5) $59.50 * Pick 3 (2-3-2) $34.60 * Superfecta (2-4-5-1) $312.00

FIFTH-mile; pace; $2000; cond

OFF: 1:44 TIME: 2:01.3

3

CmHmHny(KSwtzrJr)

3.10

2.50

2.10

4

Terrific Seven (J Marohn Jr)

11.60

4.60

5

Best of Times (M Forte)

2.80

* Perfecta (3-4) $33.40 * Trifecta (3-4-5) $95.50 * Pick 3 (3-2-3) $41.20 * Superfecta (3-4-5-7) $358.50

SIXTH-mile; pace; $2700; cond

OFF: 2:04 TIME: 1:58.2

3

MsftWrror(KSwtzrJr)

5.00

3.30

2.60

8

Incredible Al (M Forte)

12.40

6.60

5

Flak Jacket N (J Marohn Jr)

2.50

* Perfecta (3-8) $81.00 * Trifecta (3-8-5) $291.00 * Daily double (3-3) $7.10 * Pick 3 (2-3-3) $62.50 * Superfecta (3-8-5-7) $769.00

SEVENTH-mile; pace; $10000; cl($4000)

OFF: 2:22 TIME: 1:57.3

1

Bobs Alibi (T Gale)

41.60

12.80

5.40

6

MllonDollarBay(JMarohnJr)

12.60

4.60

2

Out To Kill A (K DI Benedetto)

2.10

Scr: First Landing.

* Perfecta (1-6) $374.50 * Trifecta (1-6-2) $1,187.00 * Pick 3 (3-3-1) $197.50

EIGHTH-mile; pace; $3400; cond

OFF: 2:38 TIME: 1:58.0

4

SouthwndIrvn(JDvux)

5.20

3.30

2.60

6

My Edward (T Gale)

22.20

9.20

7

Alias Smitty (G Merton)

7.30

* Perfecta (4-6) $85.50 * Trifecta (4-6-7) $546.00 * Pick 3 (3-1-4) $296.00 * Superfecta (4-6-7-1) $1,101.00

NINTH-mile; pace; $4000; cl($2000)

OFF: 2:56 TIME: 2:01.0

5

BouncyThr(JMrohnJr)

10.80

4.80

3.20

7

KeystoneSwngr(ASchwrtz)

4.00

3.20

1

Kamwood Jasper N (R Harp)

3.10

* Perfecta (5-7) $57.50 * Trifecta (5-7-1) $235.50 * Daily double (4-5) $19.60 * Pick 3 (1-4-5) $2,336.00 * Superfecta (5-7-1-8) $1,216.00

TENTH-mile; pace; $5400; cond

OFF: 3:14 TIME: 1:58.1

1

Game Jocko (M Forte)

4.90

2.60

3.00

2

Another Mike (G Merton)

3.40

2.80

7

Happyending (M Merton)

7.30

* Perfecta (1-2) $13.40 * Trifecta (1-2-7) $103.50 * Pick 3 (4-5-1) $80.50 * Superfecta (1-2-7-4) $761.00

ELEVENTH-mile; pace; $4000; cl($2300)

OFF: 3:31 TIME: 1:58.0

2

AreYouNuts(GMrton)

4.70

3.20

2.80

4

UnversalDremN(MMerton)

3.10

3.60

5

Mor Winning Ways (G Decker Jr)

8.60

* Perfecta (2-4) $17.60 * Trifecta (2-4-5) $211.00 * Pick 3 (5-1-2) $164.00 * Superfecta (2-4-5-7) $2,162.00

TWELFTH-mile; pace; $2700; cond

OFF: 3:50 TIME: 1:58.4

3

Imposter A (M Forte)

3.90

2.60

2.30

6

Coastal Highway (JDevaux)

6.50

4.10

2

Byrd (W Mann)

3.10

* Perfecta (3-6) $18.40 * Trifecta (3-6-2) $85.50 * Pick 3 (1-2-3) $32.20 * Superfecta (3-6-2-4) $566.00

THIRTEENTH-mile; pace; $3400; cond

OFF: 4:09 TIME: 1:57.2

1

FrStrTmmy(JTggrtJr)

6.00

2.50

2.10

4

D M Sundance (KSwitzerJr)

2.10

2.10

7

Triple The Money (M Forte)

2.30

Scr: Ehi Guaglione; S F Exposed.

* Perfecta (1-4) $8.40 * Trifecta (1-4-7) $30.00 * Pick 3 (2-3-1) $26.60

Trifecta, M Forte, M Forte, pace, J Taggart Jr

Nypost.com

Serbia Moves Closer to EU

BRUSSELS—Serbia took a major step toward winning European Union backing to open accession talks Friday after it reached a deal with Kosovo on regional cooperation and joint border management.

EU member states are set to decide Tuesday whether to give Serbia so-called candidacy status, meaning accession talks can begin. That could still leave actual Serbian accession to the EU many years away.

"These agreements are a major step forward," Catherine Ashton, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, and Stefan Fuele, EU Commissioner for enlargement, said in a joint statement. "They are important not just for Serbia and Kosovo but for the stability of the region."

The commission also proposed to launch a feasibility study for a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Kosovo. The agreement is the first formal step in the often-lengthy process for winning EU membership.

The EU's member states said in December that they supported granting Serbia candidate status in principle, but set a number of conditions to giving the green light. Those conditions included completing a regional cooperation accord with Kosovo, a deal on integrated border management, and active cooperation with the EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX, and the North Atlantic Trade Organization-run KFOR peacekeeping force.

During talks in Brussels on Thursday, seven of the EU's 27 member states hadn't signed off on approving Serbia's candidate status—including Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K.—according to one EU diplomat. But there were signs that this resistance was softening, especially after Friday's deal. For Serbia to win candidacy status, all member states must approve.

In a statement Friday afternoon, U.K. Foreign Minister William Hague welcomed the Serbia-Kosovo deal, and said it was "crucial for ensuring that both Kosovo and Serbia continue their progress toward future membership of the European Union."

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement Friday that the Kosovo-Serbian deal was "an important step for setting the course" for Tuesday's debate on Serbia's candidate status.

Meanwhile, in a letter Wednesday, the Italian, French and Austrian foreign ministers said the EU should "honor our promises made in December…and grant Serbia candidate status."

Friday's deal between Serbia and its one-time province of Kosovo focuses on two main issues: allowing Kosovo to represent itself in international conferences and detailing how the two will manage their joint border and crossings.

"This is important as it makes Kosovo a full participant in its own right in regional meetings and events, and will allow for further progress to contractual relations with the EU," the announcement said.

Distrust between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo runs deep. NATO bombed Serbia in 1999 to stop attacks by the Serbian military on ethnic Albanians. In 2004, rioting across Kosovo destroyed Serb property and forced many Serbs to leave their homes. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but Serbia, along with several EU member states, doesn't recognize it.

Tensions have mounted in northern Kosovo since last summer, as Serbs there fought to prevent the country's ethnic-Albanian-dominated central government from asserting control over the area. Serbs have built roadblocks and clashed repeatedly with international peacekeepers. That violence stalled Belgrade's bid for official membership candidate status in December. Serbia had first applied to join the EU in 2003.

If the EU opens the door to accession talks Tuesday, it will be the latest step in efforts to incorporate the Western Balkans within the regional bloc. Last year, the EU completed accession talks with Croatia, set to the become the EU's 28th member in 2013. The EU also gave Montenegro candidate status in December.

—Alessandro Torello and Gordon Fairclough contributed to this article.

Write to Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@dowjones.com

Kosovo, Serbia, regional cooperation, member states, member states, candidate status, candidate status, Albanians in Kosovo, European Union

Online.wsj.com

Cory Hahn is still part of a team

Cory Hahn" border="0" width="580" height="414" />

Cory Hahn, who was paralyzed from the chest down while sliding into second base during an early season game last year, watches Arizona State prepare for a game against UC Riverside. Hahn continues his studies while keeping a close tab on the baseball team. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

From Tempe, Ariz. -- The coach once helped carry his son from tee ball to the top of the high school baseball world, never missing a game, cheering every moment, from midnight batting practice to driveway bullpen sessions to championship glory.

Today, the coach gently places his son over his shoulder and carries him from his wheelchair to the front seat of his dusty truck.

Bill Plaschke

Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

Also

Photos: Cory Hahn on campus

Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III: Two sides of a golden NFL coin

Clippers are an afterthought no more

UCLA upset bid falls short at Arizona

"We were never much for hugging," Dale Hahn says. "But now I get to hug my son all the time."

The coach once pushed the son to become California's Mr. Baseball, working on his swing, inspiring his hustle and watching him become a powerful outfielder with speed, smarts, a full scholarship to Arizona State and a major league future.

Now, the coach pushes the son's wheelchair across busy streets and over large bumps to a college economics class.

"There were times I would wonder, what's better, being dead or being like this?" Cory Hahn says. "But then I look up and see my dad and think, if he can do it, I can do it."

It has been a year since this former Santa Ana Mater Dei High baseball star broke his neck diving into second base in his third collegiate game, shattering the life of the Southland's brightest baseball star into tiny dark pieces.

Yet while everything has changed, nothing has changed.

Cory Hahn is a C5 quadriplegic, paralyzed from the chest down. He has limited use of his hands and arms. The kid who once led his team to a CIF championship by pitching five perfect innings, making an over-the-shoulder catch and hitting a long home run now battles to eat hamburgers, wash his hair and wheel to class.

"My goals don't take days anymore, they take weeks, they take months," he says.

But, as always, Cory is able to stretch toward those goals from the broad shoulders of the balding guy he calls Pops. The man who always urged him to give full effort by "Spilling your bucket" has met this challenge by overturning his life.

After spending years as his son's baseball coach, Dale Hahn has quit his job as a sales rep to become his son's life coach.

When Cory moved back to the Arizona State campus in January to continue his studies, Dale went with him. While Cory moved into a rental home with three teammates, Dale moved into an extended-stay hotel down the street.

Cory awakens every morning to the sound of his father's key in his bedroom door. Dale shows up at 7 a.m., flicks on the lights, turns on the television, maybe turns on the space heater, and then pulls his son out of bed to begin their day.

Together they dress and shower and prepare Cory, with each day painstakingly bringing a tad more separation for the fiercely independent son. Just the other day, they celebrated that Cory was using his once-lifeless hands to wash his own hair.

"We live for the little victories," Cory says. "We're a team."

Together they drive to campus in Dale's truck, where they go from a street parking spot to Cory's first class, with Cory wheeling himself most of the way. It is a process that makes his shoulders ache and has turned his hands into giant calluses, but he refuses to use a power chair or wheelchair gloves, staring down his new life as he once stared down 90-mph cutting fastballs.

"I see all these college kids running and skating across campus, and then I see Cory just chugging along in his chair, the world moving past him," Dale says. "I feel really bad for him … and I am so, so proud of him."

After classes, together they go to lunch, with Cory able to feed himself only after countless days of practicing with his dad. Their efforts were fueled from the embarrassment Cory said he felt when, eating lunch for the first time with friends, he realized they would have to feed him.

Cory Hahn, Arizona State, Dale Hahn, Dale Hahn, Cory, Tempe, Ariz.

Latimes.com

Daniel Hope: Inspired by Joseph Joachim

The playing of the British violinist Daniel Hope, who is performing at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall this Sunday, is not just distinguished by its tonal beauty, but by its compelling rhetorical quality—the 38-year-old's phrasing seems often to express an unwritten text. Perhaps this is the result of growing up in a literary household. Mr. Hope's father is the novelist and poet Christopher Hope, whose earlier poetry, critical of apartheid, had obliged the family to leave South Africa for Britain, and whose novels since then have garnered important British literary awards.

Zina Saunders

A student of the celebrated Russian teacher Zakhar Bron at London's Royal Academy of Music, Daniel Hope was from early childhood a protégé of the violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin, who in 1999 made his last public appearance conducting Mr. Hope in Alfred Schnittke's technically daunting Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Chamber Orchestra. During the last six seasons of the venerable Beaux Arts Trio, Mr. Hope was its violinist, the youngest member in its history.

Mr. Hope's interests range beyond the classical repertoire, however. In a recent series of conversations and emails, he noted: "My goal is always to keep my ears as wide open as possible. I have been privileged to work with many great classical musicians, from Menuhin to [the Beaux Arts' veteran cellist] Menahem Pressler, who imparted so much wisdom. Intense study with Indian musicians such as Gaurav Majumdar and Zakir Hussain has inspired me to rethink my view of instrumental sound. And some of the most spontaneous and inspiring recording sessions I ever experienced were with Sting, a consummate and fiercely intelligent musician from an entirely different genre."

Mr. Hope's activities also include administering music festivals on two continents. He is artistic director of Germany's Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, with which he has been associated for two decades. And since 2002 he has also served as associate artistic director of the Savannah Music Festival, in Georgia, where artistic director Rob Gibson has given free rein to Mr. Hope's remarkably catholic taste in programming. Talking about this year's Savannah season (March 22-April 7), Mr. Hope noted that "Savannah's hallmark is its cultural diversity, and on any given day our programs range from, say, the Baroque to Brahms to Edgar Meyer, from Fauré to Portuguese Fado, from Béla Fleck to Chris Thile. It's a celebration of music in all its many forms."

During his current visit to New York, Mr. Hope is leading another celebration. On Sunday he joins pianist Wu Han, violist Paul Neubauer, cellist David Finckel and violinist Erin Keefe of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in "Inspired by Joachim." The concert program reflects Mr. Hope's investigation into the work and influence of the great 19th-century Austro-Hungarian violinist and composer Joseph Joachim, who also inspired his critically acclaimed Deutsche Grammophon recording "The Romantic Violinist: A Celebration of Joseph Joachim." Mr. Hope said that, "In a sense, we are reintroducing one of the 19th century's most transcendent violinists and musical minds to today's New York audience."

Joachim (1831-1907) is best known to posterity for his close friendship with Johannes Brahms, whom he introduced to Robert and Clara Schumann. But there is a great deal more to his story. "As dedicatee of Brahms's Violin Concerto, Joachim is the name that every violinist first encounters when he opens that score," Mr. Hope observed. "But it was not until I read his collected letters that I realized the true extent of his influence on the major composers of the day.

"Most fascinating is his correspondence with Brahms and with Max Bruch, going into tremendous detail about interpretive suggestions for both composers' violin concertos. Bruch wrote his G-Minor Concerto for another violinist, but Joachim took it and revised it completely into 'his' piece. In fact, Bruch worried that if people read his correspondence with Joachim, they would think Joachim had written the concerto himself. Also of great interest were the letters voicing Joachim's very public break with Liszt and the school of music he represented—after having studied with Liszt at Weimar. It was a move that shook the music world."

A protégé of Felix Mendelssohn, Joachim had triumphantly played Beethoven's Violin Concerto under Mendelssohn's baton in London in 1844, helping establish that work in the core repertoire. As part of the Brahms-Schumann circle, Joachim performed, composed, formed the celebrated Joachim Quartet, founded the Berlin Music Academy and enjoyed an unassailable reputation for the dignity and purity of his playing. His influence as the teacher of more than 400 violinists was equivalent to that of Liszt in the keyboard realm, despite their aesthetic differences.

"Joachim's concert programming was 'cutting edge' for his time," Mr. Hope said. "He reintroduced Bach solo sonatas, he initiated entire programs of string quartets when mixed programs of chamber music, operatic selections and other genres were customary."

Joachim not only conducted the English premiere of Brahms's First Symphony, but also played the premieres of his Violin Concerto and his Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, both having been composed for him (and Robert Hausmann, cellist of the Joachim Quartet, in the latter instance). In addition, the Schumann-Brahms circle included Bruch, Albert Dietrich, Antonin Dvořák and several other important composers, all of whom wrote works for him.

The Tully Hall program will thus reflect Joachim as inspiration to one of Central Europe's most important musical coteries. On the bill are Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Opus 25 and several of his Hungarian Dances arranged by Joachim for violin and piano; Dvořák's "Echo of Songs" for String Quartet, B. 152; and the Schumann and Brahms movements from their collaborative "F-A-E" Sonata. In addition, audiences will be treated to Joachim's own Romanze, Opus 2 and his Sostenuto and Andante Cantabile from "Hebrew Melodies," Opus 9, after Lord Byron.

"Joachim's writing for the violin is technically extremely challenging, yet always wonderfully intelligent," Mr. Hope said. "You never find virtuosity for its own sake. His concern was with expression and with expressing fundamental musical values." All in all, Sunday's program will place Joachim in his historical context while placing familiar and unfamiliar works against the backdrop of his influential life.

Mr. Scherer writes about music and the fine arts for the Journal.

Daniel Hope, Hope, Christopher Hope, Brahms, Johannes Brahms, Joseph Joachim, Joachim Quartet, Alice Tully Hall, Violin Concerto, Yehudi Menuhin, Max Bruch, Robert and Clara Schumann, Robert Hausmann, Felix Mendelssohn, Violin and Chamber Orchestra

Online.wsj.com

Main Falls Stacked

Main Falls Stacked

Tags

Croton Dam

Water

Falls

Nikon

D90

NY

Dam
Flickr.com