После длительных выходных американский фондовый рынок смог начать торговую сессию понедельника, 5 апреля, на оптимистичной ноте. Инвесторы опасались выхода 2 апреля, когда торги не проводились, негативной макроэкономической статистики с рынка труда, предпосылки для этого сложились еще в середине прошедшей недели. Но безработица в марте осталась на прежнем уровне - 9,7%, а число созданных рабочих мест стало максимальным с начала рецессии (с декабря 2007г.) - 162 тыс. Добавило оптимизма обнародованное в понедельник значение индекса деловой активности в сфере услуг: в марте показатель вырос до 55,4 пункта, что на 1,4 пункта превзошло ожидания экспертов. Индекс уже в течение трех месяцев подряд находится выше отметки 50 пунктов, что указывает на усиление активности, и теперь можно говорить об относительно устойчивой тенденции.

Более настороженно участники торгов отнеслись к результатам с рынка жилья. Здесь февральское значение опережающего индекса активности в жилищном секторе взлетело до 97,6 пункта с предыдущих 90,4 пункта. Предыдущие значения были гораздо ниже, данные от 5 апреля рынок воспринял с оптимизмом. В то же время инвесторы понимают, намеченное на апрель сворачивание мер

В четверг, 8 апреля, основные фондовые индексы Соединенных Штатов Америки на фоне опубликования лучших за последние 11 лет данных о продажах основных ритейлеров страны за март, которые переселили страхи касательно проблем Греции, завершили день с положительными результатами.

Помимо опасений касательно возможного дефолта Греции, продолжающих оказывать давление на мировые рынки, негативным фактором в ходе прошедших торгов стали данные о повышении количества первичных обращений за пособиями по безработице за прошлую неделю с 439 тыс до 460 тыс против ожидавшегося сокращения до 435 тыс.

В то же время, данные организации International Council of Shopping Centers о росте продаж 31 сетевого ритейлера в марте на 9%, что явилось максимальным с 1999 года приростом, поддержали не только акции ритейлеров, но и всего рынка.

На конец торгов барометр "голубых фишек" индекс Доу поднялся на 0,27% до значения 10 927,07 пункта, в то время как более "широкий" индекс S&P 500 окреп на 0,34% и закрылся на уровне 1 186,44 пункта. Показатель с большой долей акций высокотехнологичных компаний Nasdaq прибавил 0,23% до значения 2 436,81 пункта.

Бумаги ритейлера Gap подорожали на 3,1%,а его конкурента Target стали тяжелее на 3%. .

Котировки оператора казино MGM Mirage, а также его конкурента Las Vegas Sands завершили день укреплением на 10% и 5,7% соответственно, чему послужили опубликованные данные о росте общей выручки от азартных игр в штате Невада за февраль на 14%.

By Joe Carroll

April 16 (Bloomberg) -- Bo Vavrusa was heaping dirt into the path of a wildfire on a Texas ranch in October 2007 when his tractor rammed an Exxon Mobil Corp. natural-gas pipe hidden in a thicket. Flames engulfed the tractor, burning his face, arms and hands as he fled.

“I thought I was fixing to die,” said Vavrusa, 28, who was earning $10 an hour to groom the ranch for quail and dove hunters.

Exxon, the biggest U.S. oil producer, has neglected this stretch of Texas since its oil fields began drying up in the 1970s, said Jerry Patterson, the state’s General Land Office Commissioner. Now Patterson and other state officials are urging Texas lawmakers to follow the examples of California and Pennsylvania in cracking down on oilfield practices that have left leaking pipelines, wells and storage tanks.

Oozing chemical pits and Vavrusa’s scarred skin are emblematic of a legacy Exxon has sought to keep buried in court, even as it gears up for a return to active exploration within miles of the ranch through its pending $29.3 billion acquisition of Fort Worth, Texas-based XTO Energy Inc.

Exxon’s renewed focus on North America follows nationalist energy policies in Venezuela and Russia that reduced opportunities to profit abroad. It coincides with fresh scrutiny in the U.S. that is leading Congress to examine whether stricter drilling regulations are needed.

Oil’s ‘Ugly Side’

“This isn’t something the states are proud to advertise,” said Philip Dellinger, chief of the groundwater section in the Austin, Texas, office of the Environmental Protection Agency. “It’s the ugly side of the oil and gas business.”

The EPA says it has no authority to force companies to address contamination on active fields and must defer to Texas regulators, who let oil companies determine if sites need cleanup.

In Pennsylvania, where the petroleum industry was born with Edwin Drake’s 1859 discovery of crude, Governor Ed Rendell more than doubled the number of well inspectors and has asked the legislature to impose more than $400 million in new taxes on companies pumping gas from the Marcellus Shale, a geologic formation that extends from New York to Ohio and holds enough of the fuel to supply the entire U.S. for 15 years.

Mike Bennetts has landed his dream job. The chief executive of Greenstone Energy, the company that now runs Shell's retail and distribution network, turned his back on the oil game after a quarter of a century working for BP.

He says the industry held no spark for him any more and after living in myriad locations around the world, coming back to New Zealand was all about his two kids.

"Their only concept of New Zealand was a three-week holiday.

"Although we would drone on about what a great place New Zealand is, it just didn't make sense to them. We thought, they won't know what it means to be a New Zealander unless they spend a decent block of time here, and high school is a good time to do that.

"The timing was terrible in terms of coming home in the middle of a recession, but I wouldn't do it any other way."

As it turns out the timing couldn't have been better.

The global recession would have played a big part in oil industry players looking hard at what they were doing, and consequently deciding the way forward was in exploration and production, not retail and distribution.

Exxon Mobil and Shell both put their "downstream" businesses on the table, and with few buyers capable of taking on such an extensive business it offered a prime opportunity for infrastructure investment company Infratil and the New Zealand Super Fund.

Infratil managers Morrison and Co picked Bennetts to front the new company, which Greenstone eventually paid $700 million for – a bargain, by all accounts. It is a long way from where Bennetts started, a 21-year-old law school dropout fluking a job as a sales rep with Europa in the early eighties.

"Fluking" is his word, acknowledging he did not have any qualifications and tended to think he "had all the answers".

But that fluke turned into a defining 25-year career, spanning what he sees as five material shifts in the shape of BP, not to mention the industry.

"It's always been so stimulating and exciting because it changes so often. When I joined BP it was like an arm of the British civil service."

The energy industry has morphed massively over the years, and the focus has shifted to a more interactive and enthusiastic idea of how it works in with everyday life, he says.

By Doug Miller / MLB.com

04/14/10 11:26 PM ET

Bud Norris and Kyle Lohse both struggled with command in their first starts of the 2010 season. They'll both try to redeem themselves in their second go-around Thursday, when the Astros and Cardinals meet for their series finale.

Norris, the young Astros right-hander, will take on veteran Cardinals righty Lohse in Busch Stadium as the two clubs wrap up their three-game series on Jackie Robinson Day. All members of each team, plus coaches and umpires, will wear uniform No. 42 to honor the man who broke Major League Baseball's color barrier on April 15, 1947.

The Astros, the only winless team in the Majors, are a loss away from matching the worst start in franchise history. They started 0-9 in 1983.

Norris, who went 6-3 for Houston in 11 games as a rookie last year, made his 2010 debut April 9 against the Phillies at Minute Maid Park and gave up six hits, three runs and four walks in 2 2/3 innings.

"I kept battling and never gave in," Norris said. "It wasn't pretty, but I wanted to keep making pitches ... I'm trying my best to keep my team in it and give up as little damage as we can and keep the snowball from getting bigger."

Norris has some past success against St. Louis in his corner come Thursday. He hasn't allowed a run against the Cardinals in 13 career innings. He threw seven scoreless innings in his first win in his first Major League start Aug. 2 at Busch Stadium, holding the Cards hitless through the first five innings. He beat them again Sept. 23 in Houston, throwing six scoreless innings.

Lohse, meanwhile, will have to throw more strikes to get the job done against Houston on Thursday.

In his start last Friday in Milwaukee, he walked three and gave up six hits and four runs in six innings, getting a no-decision when the Cardinals won on Nick Stavinoha's two-out, ninth-inning home run off Trevor Hoffman.

"I got in trouble and I walked guys," Lohse said. "You can't walk yourself into trouble like that."

Lohse is 6-5 with a 2.99 ERA in 12 games against Houston, and since 2008, he is 5-1 with a 2.44 ERA in seven starts

“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Anderson said. “Hammer came down to the hotel room this morning and let me know. I was pretty shocked…I’m just here to help out as much as I can and get to know everybody.”

Anderson, 23, is a career .299 hitter in the minor leagues and has been regarded as one of the organization’s top prospects in recent years. His progress slowed, however, and he spent much of the last two seasons in Triple A.

The knack on Anderson has been his defense but the organization’s catching instructor, Mike Matheny, said Wednesday that Anderson has been improving defensively even since the start of spring training.

“It was the number one thing for the last couple years, improving my defense and trying to get that going so I could get called up,” Anderson agreed.

Matt Pagnozzi appeared to pass Anderson on the club’s organizational catching depth chart in spring training, but the left-handed hitting Anderson is regarded as a much better hitter. Despite having Nick Stavinoha available to catch as well, manager Tony La Russa said Anderson likely won’t be used much as a pinch-hitter.

Anderson was 6-for-18 in four games for Memphis while Pagnozzi was 0-for-6 with four strikeouts.

“He was hitting really well down there,” La Russa said. “It was a tough call because all spring long we got Pags’ ready to do this. But when you earn it, you earn it…He’s been getting the playing time down there.”

La Russa said with the Cardinals playing eight straight games before a day off that Anderson will likely get a start at some point.

LaRue suffered the injury while running the bases on Sunday night in Milwaukee. The veteran also suffered a deep bone bruise on his left hand late in spring training.

The Cardinals placed LaRue on the disabled list retroactive to April 12.

“He just took an at-bat and was running to first base,” La Russa said of LaRue. “He was sitting there and kind of got a quick call to get ready and I said ‘we didn’t give you enough time?’…He does a lot of stretching usually so he probably didn’t get his ideal (stretching done).”