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10A Daily News – Friday, March 23, 2012 NEW YORK (AP) — Signs that China's econo- my is weakening and Europe is slowing sent U.S. stocks lower. Stocks lower on worries over China slowdown Wall Street China is also the The price of crude oil dropped 2 percent Thurs- day to its lowest level in a week. That hurt oil stocks: Alpha Natural Resources, Consol Energy, and Noble Energy each fell 4 percent. The disconcerting eco- nomic news from overseas overshadowed other reports that suggested the U.S. economy is gaining momentum. The Dow Jones indus- trial average closed down 78.48 points, or 0.6 per- cent, at 13,046.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 10.11, or 0.7 percent, at 1,392.78, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 12 points, or 0.4 percent to 3,063.32. Eight out of 10 sectors declined in the S&P 500, led by energy and materi- als as investors worried about a drop in global demand for oil and raw materials. China has released a string of worrisome eco- nomic reports recently. The latest, on Thursday, sig- naled that its manufacturing sector could be contracting. A manufacturing index compiled by HSBC fell to 48.1 in March from 49.6 in February. Figures below 50 indicate that manufacturing is contracting. That's a negative sign because growth in China has played a key role in shoring up the global econ- omy since the financial cri- sis of 2008. world's largest consumer of raw materials, so a slow- down there would affect those companies. US Steel Corp. tumbled 5.82 per- cent, and copper wire and bar manufacturer Freeport- McMoRan Copper Gold Inc. lost 3.7 percent. It didn't help that anoth- er survey in Europe also pointed to slower growth. The purchasing managers' index from Markit, a finan- cial information company, fell to a below-forecast 48.8 points in March from 49.3 a month earlier. The index combines both the services and manufactur- ing sectors in Europe. Those signs of a decel- eration in key global mar- kets dwarfed the latest pos- itive news on the U.S. economy. The number of Americans seeking unem- ployment benefits fell 5,000 to a four-year low last week, bolstering the view that the job market is strengthening. A measure of future U.S. economic activity, the Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators, rose 0.7 percent in February for the fifth straight month, more evidence that the economy is gaining momentum. news from abroad also hurt FedEx Corp.'s The poor economic stock, which fell 4 percent. Chief financial officer Alan Graf said the current global eco- nomic environment and higher fuel prices are dri- ving more customers to ''trade down'' or choose slower methods of ship- ping to save money, just like they did during the recession. Investors decid- FedEx's quarterly profit more than doubled between December and February after it shipped more packages and charged higher prices. While news out of China has been bad for global company stocks, it may provide some relief to consumers with oil prices falling. Gasoline has risen 59 cents per gallon since Jan. 1 and the average price nationwide is above $4 in at least eight states, plus the District of Colum- bia. It was a good day for ed to focus on his com- ments, rather than the com- pany's stellar performance. IPOs. Payment processor Vantiv Inc. soared 14.7 percent in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, while email marketer ExactTar- get Inc. rocketed up 32 per- cent on its first day of trad- ing. Insurers speed health care overhaul preparations (AP) — The nation's big insurers are spending mil- lions to carry out President Barack Obama's health care overhaul even though there's a chance the wide- reaching law won't survive Supreme Court scrutiny. It's not that health insur- ers want to bet big that the court will uphold the Affordable Care Act. It's that they can't afford not to. It will take at least several months and lots of resources for insurers to prepare to implement key elements of the law, which includes a controversial requirement that most Americans have health insurance by 2014. WellPoint Inc., the nation's second-largest health insurer with 34 mil- lion members, has said it will spend $100 million this year on technology upgrades to meet the law's requirements. Aetna Inc., third-largest U.S. health insurer with more than 18 million members, says it expects to spend $50 mil- lion this year in part to upgrade software and com- puters. Even smaller insurers RANDAL S. ELLOWAY DDS IMPLANT DENTISTRY 2426 SO. 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The Supreme Court will hear arguments over the $140 in Discount Coupons were published last week in the D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY … And that does not count all the ads offering percentage discounts, two-for-ones and Free-with-Purchase offers! Don't miss a day of it! Subscribe Today 527-2151 It pays for itself. law for three days starting Monday. Among other options, the justices could uphold the law, strike it down completely or get rid of some provisions. Insurers will be paying particular attention to argu- ments over two key provi- sions. One is the so-called individual mandate that requires most people to carry health insurance by 2014 or pay penalties. Of equally high interest is the requirement that insurers cover everyone who applies even if they have a pre- existing condition, like dia- betes, which can produce high medical costs. The two mandates are important cogs in the law's push to expand coverage through health insurance exchanges set up by federal and state regulators. These exchanges will be mostly online marketplaces, where individuals and small busi- ness employees can go to comparison shop for insur- ance policies. Insurers are spending money to figure out how to set prices for their coverage on these exchanges, which will vary by state and require changes like the inclusion of subsidies to help people pay for coverage. Much of the money insurers are spending is paying for a close look at how to set premiums high enough to cover the expect- ed increase in claims from people with pre-existing diseases, but not so high that healthy customers are scared off. That includes research into how many people with chronic condi- tions will need expensive prescriptions or how their customers will use health care. ''There's an awful lot of work that goes into prepar- ing those kinds of analy- ses,'' said Sheryl Skolnick, an analyst at CRT Capital Group, an institutional bro- ker and dealer. ''One should California Democratic Chairman John Burton, Keynote Speaker Tehama County Democrats "Salute to American Workers" Annual Fundraiser Tri-Tip Buffet and Dessert Opportunity Drawings and Auction Your opportunity to meet elected officials, and those running for office, including Jim Reed, congressional candidate. Red Bluff Community Center, 1500 S. Jackson Street Saturday, March 31, 2012 For ticket info call: Sue Gallagher @ 530-384-2945 or John Elshere @ 530-529-1238 or: E-mail tehamacountydemocrats@gmail.com Paid Political Advertisement Doors open 5:15pm Keynote Speech at 6:00pm $25.00 person not do that in a rush because making a mistake could literally be fatal to the health plan.'' Even though these changes wouldn't take effect for a couple years, insurers are preparing now because they'll need to have their plans ready sev- eral months before then. They will have to submit plans to regulators and then wait for a review and approval, the timing of which will vary by state. Additionally, they will need time to advertise the plans before customers will be able to start signing up in October 2013. Insurers also have to pre- pare for more pressing deadlines. For instance, the overhaul requires for them to create benefits sum- maries by September that make it easier for con- sumers to compare cover- age. The summaries will give consumers details like a plan's deductible or the annual amount a patient pays out of pocket for care before insurance coverage kicks in. They'll also give examples for how the plan would cover events like childbirth. 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