NPR 2009-10-15

Better-than-expected earnings 1 reports from a couple of key sector 2 companies help to send the most closely-watched stock market index above 10, 000 for the first time in more than a year. The upbeat assessment's pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a yearly record high close. Sam Stovall is an economist 3 of Standard & Poor's.

Closing above 10, 000 is a very good thing, certainly from an investor 4 optimism standpoint. It was a year ago that we were last at around this level on the Dow and also was about ten years ago that the Dow first broke above this level, so certainly revisiting an old friend ten years later is not such a bad thing.

JP Morgan Chase, the nation's second biggest bank, says its third quarter profits rose to 3.6 billion dollars. Its earnings from its investment business offset 5 losses from its credit card operations. Computer chip maker 6 Intel also came out with a fairly optimistic earnings forecast.

On Wall Street, the Dow closed up 144 points today to end the session at 10, 015. The NASDAQ gained 32 points. The S&P 500 rose 18 points today.

Commerce Department says slumping 7 auto 8 sales in the wake of Cash for Clunkers helped push down retail 9 sales last month in the US. NPR’s Scott Newman reports.

Analysts 10 say it's no surprise that the brisk business at car lots across the country has settled down, now that hefty government incentives 11 are gone. That was the main force driving down retail sales by 1.5% after the 2.2% rise they experienced in August when Cash for Clunkers was in full swing. Still the September data was better than economists 12 had expected. Many analysts believe the nation’s Gross Domestic Product is growing by about 3% in the second half of the year. But unemployment and household debt continue to be a drag on consumer spending, which is key to any recovery. Scott Newman, NPR News, Washington.

Federal Grand Jury has indicted 13 a Twin Cities man who may be linked to the disappearance 14 of some two dozen young Somalis from the Minneapolis area. NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston reports.

A St. Paul Grand Jury formally indicted 26-year-old Abdow Abdow this morning. His arrest is the latest in a broad investigation 15 into the recruitment of a roster 16 of young Somali Americans for an Islamic militia 17 called Al- Shabaab. Al-Shabaab has been waging a civil war against the transitional government in Somalia. It's on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations, and it's thought to have links to Al-Qaeda. Abdow has been indicted on two counts of making false statements to federal agents, never related to a cross-country drive he made earlier this month. Abdow also denied paying for the rental 18 car he took to make the drive. The FBI says he used his debit 19 card. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

Investment banker Bruce Wasserstein who helped pioneer the hostile takeover in the 1980s has reportedly died today. Wasserstein was 61 years old. The cause of his death was not determined 20.

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Russia’s Prime Minister today criticized the idea of possible sanctions against Iran for that country’s disputed nuclear program. Speaking in China just a day after a Moscow visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that threatening such sanctions is “counterproductive” despite US hopes that Russia might be willing to put forth 21 a united front with the US in terms of sending a message to Iran that has not happened. US and a number of western nations have maintained Russia's nuclear program is aimed at developing weapons. Iran claims the program is for peaceful purposes.

The rate of abortions 22 around the world is declining. That's according to the Reproduction Rights Organization, the Alan Guttmacher Institute. Between 1995 and 2003, the number of abortions fell from a little more than 46 million to 42 million. NPR's Brenda Wilson reports.

Most of the decline in abortions occurred in Eastern Europe where the rate was more than halved 23. Researchers say it was correlated with an increase in the use of contraceptives. Birth control became more available to women there when that part of the world opened to the West. And the decline continues a trend from the previous decade and all regions of the world. The decline is steepest where abortions are legal. Countries across the globe have eased restrictions 24 on abortions, among them Ethiopia, Mali, Swaziland in Africa, and Nepal, Thailand and Iran, as well as Switzerland in Europe, and Africa and other parts of the world where contraception has lagged. The report found that abortions are also often restrictive and unsafe. It's estimated that as many as 70, 000 women still die from abortions each year. Brenda Wilson, NPR News.

Once again the Dow closed above 10, 000 today.

I'm Jack 25 Speer, NPR News in Washington.