Kligman 93 attempted drug on prisoners Nation/World

PHILADELPHIA -- Dermatologist Albert M. Kligman, whose investigate led to discoveries together with the acne and fold drug Retin-A but whose pioneering work was overshadowed by his experiments involving prisoners, has died. He was 93.

Kligman died Feb. 9 of heart disaster at Pennsylvania Hospital, his daughter Gail Kligman, a sociology highbrow at the University of California, Los Angeles, pronounced Sunday.

Kligman is credited as being the initial dermatologist to show a couple in between object bearing and wrinkles. He coined the tenure "photo aging" to report skin aging caused by the sun.

In 1967, he law Retin-A, a vitamin A derivative well known generically as tretinoin, as an acne diagnosis and perceived a new obvious in 1986 after finding the drug wrinkle-fighting ability.

As the designer of Holmesburg Prisons initial investigate module from 1951 to 1974, Kligman destined and achieved hundreds of experiments on prisoners. In a 1966 talk with The Philadelphia Inquirer on his work, he removed his initial revisit to the city prison: "All I saw prior to me were acres of skin. I was similar to a rancher saying fruitful margin for the initial time."

The experiments enclosed contrast of mind-altering agents, dioxin and "skin-hardeners" to strengthen skin from the goods of poisonous chemicals. Many were achieved underneath contracts with curative and containing alkali companies, war paint firms, sovereign agencies and the military.

At the time, jail experiments were common. The Holmesburg prisoners were paidsometimes hundreds of dollarsfor participating.

Medical contrast at Holmesburg took place until 1974, when it was criminialized by the city among congressional hearings in to healing experimentation, together with Tuskegee University tests that putrescent black men with syphilis.

A couple of former inmates sued the university and the city in 1984, and staid for sums in the $20,000 to $40,000 range.

"Preposterous"

In 2000, shortly after announcement of a book on the Holmesburg experiments, scarcely 300 former prisoners sued Kligman, Penn, Johnson & Johnson and Dow Chemical, alleging that the experiments caused debilitating health problems. Courts, however, ruled that the government of stipulations had expired.

Kligman never wavered in his invulnerability of the experiments, insisting that the exam subjects did not humour any long-term mistreat and progressing that the investigate should not have been halted since of the systematic advances it competence have yielded.

"The total thing is so preposterous," he pronounced in a 2003 talk in Dermatology Times. "It gets brought up each couple of years, and the explanations have to begin all over again."

Kligman wrote some-more than 500 investigate writings and most books during his prolonged career, that one after another in to his after years. He was featured in publications that enclosed the New England Journal of Medicine and the magazines Time, Life and Seventeen.

Fueling the destiny with fish tank excess Scientist discusses make use of of algae as biofuel

Experts plan that algae-based biofuels could excommunicate large volumes of motor fuel and jet travel fuels. One of the fieldleading experts, Sandia researcher Ron Pate, presented an general outlook of the stream state of investigate and expansion and compared opportunities and hurdles for algal biofuels during the annual assembly of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego on Feb. 19.

Pate, who is a principal piece of of technical staff at Sandia, has been in Washington, D.C., given Nov 2009, portion as a technical expert to the rising algae biofuels module inside of the Biomass Office of the Department of EnergyOffice of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (EERE).

The DOE module developed out of an commencement proposed in 2008 to rise a National Algae Biofuels Technology Roadmap; researchers from Sandia, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and alternative inhabitant laboratories, universities and industry are teaming up with DOE to overcome a little of the fieldbiggest challenges.

We"ve been heavily concerned in ancillary the Office of Biomass Program for the past year and a half on the Algae Biofuels Roadmap and a integrate of specific projects that are algae biofuel-related, Pate said.

Among those projects are dual general collaborations: one with industrial partners in Israel and the U.S., and an additional with the National Research Council Canada.

Using algae as a feedstock source for biofuels has a lot of intensity benefits, but there are additionally a little extensive challenges. We"ve been operative unequivocally tough to establish what the needs are, the stream state of the record and the areas that unequivocally need a little focused investment and work, Pate said.

Through new American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (stimulus package) and alternative module investments in Integrated Biorefinery and Algae Consortia projects commencement in FY2010, DOE/EERE is on condition that about $180 million in near-term appropriation privately focused on algae biofuels investigate and development.

Patepresentation, The Promise and Challenges for Algae Biofuels: Overview of Approaches and Issues for Sustainable Production Scale-up, will cover majority of the stream issues surrounding algae investigate and development. Algae is rising as an tasteful apparatus since it reproduces quickly, uses large quantities of CO dioxide and can flower in non-freshwater, together with somewhat salty and sea water, to illustrate avoiding foe with normal agriculturefreshwater needs. In addition, algae can furnish biomass and oils, and is tasteful as feedstock for renewable fuels, with potentially larger capability and significantly less land make use of mandate than with alternative commodity stand feedstocks such as corn, soy and canola.

In new assessments that set up on progressing work finished underneath the DOE-funded Aquatic Species Program during the late-1970s by the early 1990s, Pate and others have been receiving a new see at the nationpotential for algae biofuels prolongation genius expansion and apparatus requirements. The U.S. has plenty sunlight, reduce worth land and non-freshwater resources in the reduce embodiment coastal and internal states, together with the Southwest segment of New Mexico, Arizona and California, to potentially furnish large volumes of biofuel feedstock, if high productivies can be reliably achieved.

With algal oil productivities that could potentially reach annual normal levels in the range of 3,000 to 5,000 gallons per acre, the land footprint compulsory for large volumes of renewable fuel prolongation would be minimal when compared with alternative required oil crops, such as soy and canola, that furnish in between 50 and 120 gallons per hactare per year.

With algae, we"re articulate about annual normal productivities that could reach multiform thousand gallons per hactare per year -- with unsentimental values that investigate has shown competence be means to reach some-more than 6500 gallons per hactare -- so if you do the math, you can see the logic at the back of this research, Pate said.

Ron Patetalk Resources, Methods, and Approaches for Algae Production, took place on Friday, Feb. 19, as piece of the Algae for Food, Feed, Fiber, Freshwater, and Fuel panel, that will be hold 1:30-4:30 p.m. in Room 9 at the San Diego Convention Center.

Algae can furnish oils, that are naturemost in effect appetite storage medium. We already have the technologies entrance online to be means to take that and affordably modify it in to unequivocally utilitarian fuels that are radically drop-in homogeneous to todaypetroleum-based belligerent and aviation ride fuels. And there is a lot of guarantee to emanate utterly a bit of oil from algae, but nobody has unequivocally finished that affordably on a large, slight scale nonetheless so that you can rely on it day in and day out.

Making the jump from the stream rough methodical theatre to full-scale prolongation is challenged by a series of technical hurdles and unknowns. In the last decade, Pate and his colleagues have analyzed factors that are vicious to the success of algal biofuels. Sunlight, CO dioxide, usable, prosaic land and H2O are the key mixture to algae growth, so the researchers looked for areas of the nation where those factors were abounding and supposing an optimal sourroundings for growth.

The group dynamic that Southwestern states suggest the majority object and large areas of accessible land, but are not in in CO dioxide and water. Although algae can flower in the regionbrackish groundwater, uncertainties sojourn about how most H2O is essentially available. The group additionally had to residence concerns that biofuel prolongation will intrude on the nationvaluable land, H2O and manure resources now used for normal agriculture.

To beget intensity solutions, Pate and his colleagues contributed to a three-day seminar hosted by DOEOffice of Biomass Program in Dec 2008 in Washington, D.C., to plead the destiny of algal fuels investigate and industry. The eventuality was attended by 200 technical experts and stakeholders from supervision and state agencies from around the nation, who supposing profitable comments and insights.

Pate was piece of the DOE-sponsored group that drafted a inform formed on comments perceived both at the seminar and from public, and the report, that will outline the nationstrategy in algal biofuel research, is approaching to be published in the subsequent couple of months and will assistance expostulate the nationalgal biofuels efforts.

Despite the challenges, Pate is assured that algae has a clever possibility of apropos a viable source of travel fuel in the long-term future. People who are some-more picturesque think this will take at slightest 10 years for investigate and investments to get it to the point where it has blurb viability, Pate said. I think the jurystill out, but we"ll expected see an stroke in the subsequent decade.

Men Outlive Women Sexually

Men have shorter hold up spans than women on average, but whenit comes to passionate hold up expectancy, the guys have the advantage.

At age 55, men have an normal of fifteen years of passionate wake up forward of them,while women normal usually 10, according to a new consult of middle-age and olderAmericans.�

"Overall, men were some-more expected than women to besexually active, to inform a great peculiarity sex life, and to be meddlesome andthinking about sex on a unchanging basis," lead researcher Stacy TesslerLindau, executive of the Program in Integrative Sexual Medicine at theUniversity of Chicago, told LiveScience.

Sex and gender gap

Few studies have carefully thought about the tie in between sexualhealth and aging. To do so, Lindau and her organisation used interpretation from twonationally deputy surveys of 3,000 25- to 74-year-olds and another3,000 57- to 86-year-olds. The respondents answered questions about theirgeneral health as well as their passionate activity, passionate satisfactionand desire.

Much of the headlines was good. In center age, two-thirds ofwomen and men inform great peculiarity sex. The researchers additionally found people ingood or glorious health were roughly twice as expected to be meddlesome in sexcompared with those in bad or satisfactory health. Good or glorious health at age 55added five to 7 years to mens passionate hold up outlook and 3 to sixyears to womens.

But the investigate additionally unclosed a passionate gender gap. For30-year-old men, they can design 35 years some-more of passionate wake up and 45 years moreof life. Thirty-year-old women can design 31 some-more years of passionate activity, but50 some-more years of life. That equates to men will outlay 78 percent of hold up after 30having sex, compared with usually 61 percent for women.

The opening increases with age. At 75 and older, 40 percent ofmen were intimately active compared with usually seventeen percent of women. The disparityis driven mostly by the actuality that women lend towards to endure their masculine partners,Lindau said. In women and men with partners, the opening disappears.

More sex questions

Other commentary open up new questions. Among women in latelife who were carrying sex, usually half called the sex good. In comparison, almosttwo-thirds of men elderly 75 and up found their sex lives satisfying. That findingtroubles Lindau.

"Only half of the women in this age organisation who aresexually active contend that they have a great sex life," she said. "Whyis this, and what can be finished to show off not usually passionate function, but qualityof sex life?"

Part of the answer competence be pharmacological. Men who respondedto the passionate health questions in 2005 and 2006 reported a significantlyincreased interestin sex compared with men who took the consult 10 years earlier. Women didntshow a change. That competence not be a coincidence, Lindau said.

"Over time, weve seen the key of reallyeffective treatments for masculine erectile dysfunction, that is one of the mostcommon problems for men as they get older," she said. "For women wehavent seen the same."

The investigate gives researchers a new bargain of who mightbenefit from policies to residence later-life passionate health, Lindau said.

But, she said, there are still outrageous gaps in thatunderstanding. Because roughly all of the consult respondents identified asheterosexual, researchers know roughly zero about the passionate health of oldergay, lesbian and bisexualindividuals. Those populations are quite vulnerable, Lindau said,because they competence keep problems from their doctors for fright of taste orjudgment.

"We unequivocally need that data," Lindau said.

The investigate was published online Mar 9 by the BritishMedical Journal.

10 Surprising Sex Statistics The Sex Quiz: Myths, Taboos and Bizarre Facts 5 Myths About the Female Body

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Ludacris says he longed for Lauryn Hill for Sexes CD

March 26, 2010, 9:20 AM EST

NEW YORK (AP) -- Ludacris" ultimate manuscript facilities a series of womanlike rappers — but the Grammy-winner acknowledges there"s one woman he unequivocally longed for to work with.

"I think Lauryn Hill is similar to intensely gifted and I can contend I did try to do that, it usually didn"t work itself out," he says of the mixed Grammy-winning singer-rapper, whose usually college of music album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," has sole some-more than eight million units in the United States given the recover in 1998.

While the reserved former Fugees actor didn"t have it on "Battle of the Sexes," Ludacris" seventh college of music release, he successfully recruited Lil Kim, Eve, Trina and visitor Nicki Minaj.

Though he"s managed to approximate himself with womanlike rappers on the new album, Ludacris knows that women haven"t had the biggest success in hip-hop, generally in the last couple of years. He says that"s since womanlike rappers err their audience.

"They wish to swat for the guys when they should be rapping and being themselves and articulate about what"s going on with them," pronounced Ludacris. "We wish to listen to women speak some-more about what women do as against to perplexing to be similar to men or speak about what men do."

"Battle of the Sexes" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 manuscript charts this month.

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European sell M&A flickering behind in to hold up

Mark Potter and James Davey LONDON Fri Mar 12, 2010 9:41am EST Related News Women hit by climate change head to Capitol HillMon, Mar 8 2010

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe"s retail sector is set for a pick-up in takeover activity, despite a weak consumer outlook, as groups that restructured in the recession turn their focus to growth and confidence returns to private equity firms.

Deals

Retail executives and bankers expect neither a glut of transactions nor a return to the mega-leveraged, multi-billion dollar purchases of the boom years.

But they said conditions were now right for a pick-up in small to medium-sized deals, like bicycle-to-car parts chain Halfords"s recent purchase of Nationwide Autocentres for 73 million pounds ($109 million) and private equity firm KKR"s takeover of Pets at Home for 955 million pounds.

"There are a lot of conversations going on, and some of them are now landing (deals)," said Richard Lowe, head of retail and wholesale at Barclays.

"I haven"t seen this level of activity since 2008."

There were just $11.8 billion worth of retail takeover deals in Europe last year, down from $21.2 billion the year before and $56.5 billion in 2007, according to Thomson Reuters data.

While several retailers, including major players like Germany"s Arcandor and Britain"s Woolworths, collapsed in the downturn, it is striking how few were bought by rivals.

Survivors focused instead on adjusting their businesses to the recession -- cutting costs and stocks and improving supply chains -- and fighting for market share left by failed rivals.

But that may be changing.

Reaping the rewards of their restructuring, many retailers are seeing a return to profit growth in the face of sluggish economic recovery and are increasing their capital spending plans, despite an uncertain outlook for consumer spending.

Equity markets have also recovered from their lows, and debt markets are freeing up, creating the conditions for dealmaking.

At the same time, banks remain cautious about lending to firms that cannot demonstrate significant progress in paying down debts, which means there could still be distressed sellers.

"The timing is almost perfect for MA (mergers and acquisitions)," Rob Templeman, the chief executive of British department stores group Debenhams told an industry conference last week.

TRADE BUYERS

One reason there were few deals last year was that retail property prices fell steeply and it was often cheaper and easier for stronger firms to open new stores themselves.

But that may also be changing.

While shop vacancy rates remain high, there are signs of growing competition for the best sites, which is driving prices up and could make acquisitions a more attractive alternative.

The IPD Quarterly Property Index showed retail property prices in Britain rose 9.7 percent in the three months to end-December, its fastest rising market segment.

The collapse of Icelandic investor Baugur last year has also left a number of deals waiting to be done, as assets were taken over by nationalized banks which will not be long-term holders.

Barclays" Lowe believes companies such as Aurora Fashions, which runs brands like Karen Millen, Coast, Warehouse and Oasis; Aurum, which owns jewelers Goldsmiths and Mappin Webb; and the Iceland frozen foods chain, could all become available.

Possible buyers could include Philip Green, owner of the Arcadia fashion empire, who expressed an interest in Baugur"s assets during its collapse, while Debenhams has said it is looking for more deals like its purchase of the Principles fashion brand and Danish department store group Magasin du Nord.

There are signs deals could also pick up in mainland Europe.

Dutch grocer Ahold has said it is looking for acquisitions in the United States and Europe, while analysts think German fragrances-to-fashion group Douglas could look to buy a French perfume retailer like Nocibe.

PRIVATE EQUITY

Store groups, however, are likely to face stiff competition for acquisitions from private equity groups, which are looking for bargains in a sector which generates a lot of cash for them to quickly pay down debt used to fund deals.

"Whilst it might be a good environment for trade buyers to be looking at businesses, I think we"ll see time and again them being competed out by the private equity buyers," said Steve Burden, who leads the consumer business MA advisory team at consultants Deloitte.

While private equity firms baulked at the price recently sought by John Hargreaves for budget fashion chain Matalan, they remain firm favorites to snap up a number of other chains up for sale, including British sofa retailer DFS, greeting cards chain Card Factory, and crafts specialist Hobbycraft.

The level of interest could encourage other potential sellers to come forward.

People familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday that U.S. buyout firm Advent had hired Close Brothers to look at a possible sale of discount store chain Poundland.

SG Securities analysts think historically subdued equity valuations could make leveraged buyouts financially feasible for larger listed retailers like Marks Spencer, Home Retail, Kesa

and Debenhams.

However, bankers reckon a number of smaller deals will have to sealed first before private equity firms and their backers set their sights again on the really big targets.

(Additional reporting by Simon Meads and Sinead Cruise)

(Editing by David Cowell)

($1 = 0.6702 pound)

Deals

Panel backs new make use of of Boston Scientific inclination

Lisa Richwine COLLEGE PARK, Maryland Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:00pm EDT Related News U.S. panel backs new use of Boston Scientific devicesThu, Mar 18 2010UPDATE 1-US panel backs new use of Boston Scientific devicesThu, Mar 18 2010UPDATE 3-FDA staff: Boston Scientific heart study met goalsTue, Mar 16 2010

COLLEGE PARK, Maryland (Reuters) - Boston Scientific Corp on Thursday moved closer to winning U.S. clearance to promote implanted cardiac devices for patients in earlier stages of heart failure.

Health

A government advisory panel unanimously urged approval of the company"s Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillators, or CRT-Ds, for patients with heart failure who have no symptoms or only mild symptoms.

The recommendation, if adopted by the Food and Drug Administration, could help Boston Scientific boost future CRT-D sales. The company suspended sales of the devices this week after failing to tell regulators about manufacturing changes.

CRT-Ds are approved now for treating the most advanced stages of heart failure, but a Boston Scientific study showed they could also benefit healthier patients.

Nearly 22 million people worldwide have heart failure, in which the heart struggles to pump blood around the body, and early-stage patients make up about 70 percent of the total.

CRT-D devices pair a pacemaker that coordinates heart pumping with an implanted cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) to shock the heart back into normal rhythm if needed.

A Boston Scientific study called MADIT-CRT showed patients fared better with a CRT-D as opposed to an ICD alone. The CRT-D reduced hospitalizations from heart failure and other complications by about 42 percent.

Results from the trial of 1,800 people with early heart failure were released last year.

For the healthier patients, the FDA panel said use should be limited to people with an electrical problem in the heart known as a left bundle branch block. Boston Scientific said about 70 percent of patients it studied had that problem.

FDA reviewers asked the panel to consider that some device-related complications were higher with CRT-Ds. The advisers said that risk was acceptable.

"The benefits of this therapy outweigh the side effects," said Dr. JoAnn Lindenfeld, a panel member and cardiologist at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Boston Scientific was pleased with the panel decision, said Dr. Kenneth Stein, a senior vice president in the company"s cardiac rhythm management business. "We think the panel made a well-informed decision," he told reporters.

The CRT-D devices cost about $25,000 to $35,000, or about $7,000 to $8,000 more than a standard ICD.

The company has not said when it will resume sales of CRT-Ds and ICDs after the suspension announced on Monday. The FDA panel"s chairman told members not to let the recall influence their decision on the proposed wider use.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Health

Payrolls upheaval ISM might drive bonds

Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK Sun Feb 28, 2010 4:15pm EST Related News Bernanke, retailers hold key for stocksSun, Feb 21 2010Bernanke, retailers hold key for stocksSat, Feb 20 2010U.S. companies" sales turnaround may be misleadingFri, Feb 5 2010Are U.S. stocks set for a down year?Sat, Jan 30 2010 Stocks & &

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Payrolls could give the U.S. stock market some direction this week as investors comb through the key report on one of the economy"s weakest areas.

When trading resumes on Monday, Wall Street will watch copper prices and mining stocks such as Freeport-McMoRan Copper Gold (FCX.N) for impact from the massive earthquake that struck Chile, the world"s top copper producer, early on Saturday.

The earthquake, which killed more than 400 people, forced temporary suspension of up to a fifth of Chile"s mining capacity. In the quake"s aftermath, tsunami waves struck Pacific coastlines as far away as Japan and the far eastern edge of Russia.

"While it appears that a modest proportion of production has been halted, the major impact may come from the disruption on deliveries from the mines and from the disruption of power supplies to the mines," Citi analyst David Thurtell said.

Freeport McMoRan Copper Gold Inc said on Saturday the quake did not damage its two mines in Chile, but it is facing a power outage at its Candelaria mine, which will result in a temporary shutdown.

More news on Greece"s debt problems could also fire up investors after a week of little market movement, with U.S. stocks ending Friday"s choppy session slightly higher in light trading volume due to a heavy winter snow storm that hit much of the U.S. Northeast.

The Institute for Supply Management will give Wall Street vital information on manufacturing and services this week, when it releases its February indexes on those sectors.

But February"s non-farm payrolls report from the Labor Department will be the main event as job losses continue to give investors reason to question the sustainability of the economy"s recovery.

"The market is looking to move off center ... and the employment report is probably going to be the most important of the week," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.

"If that number comes in weak, it really confirms the strong unemployment claims data we"ve seen. If it comes a little bit better, it would indicate maybe we"re creating jobs at a fast enough pace to offset the claims," he said.

Besides payrolls, Wall Street will have a flurry of other numbers to mull over, including January personal income and spending, as well as February domestic car and truck sales.

Fourth-quarter earnings reports are winding down, but investors will see results from a handful of Standard Poor"s 500 .SPX companies, including natural gas producer and pipeline operator El Paso Corp (EP.N) and major U.S. office supplies retailer Staples (SPLS.O).

BEST MONTH SINCE NOVEMBER

While all three indexes finished slightly lower for the week, the stock market capped its best month since November.

For the month of February, the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 2.6 percent, the SP 500 .SPX was up 2.9 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC rose 4.2 percent.

Although February was sweet, the final week of the month went down in the loss column. For the week, the Dow slid 0.8 percent, while the SP 500 shed 0.4 percent and the Nasdaq slipped 0.3 percent. Lingering concerns about Greece"s fiscal deficit problems and its effects on the euro were among factors keeping investors on edge.

The SP 500 has climbed as much as 70 percent from its lows in early March 2009, largely because of stronger-than-expected economic data and earnings, but it has since retraced some of those gains.

SNOW MAY BLUR JOBS PICTURE

Recent snow storms and other harsh winter weather may contribute to the weaker February jobs picture and make the data even harder to forecast, analysts said.

But, they said, the numbers remain among the most important for the economic outlook.

"You can"t describe the economy as in a recovery until you have job growth," said Charles Lieberman, chief investment officer of Advisors Capital Management, LLC in Paramus, New Jersey.

For this Friday"s jobs report, the consensus forecast, according to economists polled by Reuters, calls for a loss of 50,000 jobs in February, compared with a decline of 20,000 in January. The U.S. unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 9.8 percent in February from 9.7 percent in January.

"Productivity has gone through the roof, and so have earnings, and that"s likely to translate into hiring" at some point, Lieberman said.

More than 70 percent of SP 500 companies have beaten earnings estimates so far for the fourth quarter, well above the 61 percent in a typical quarter, according to Thomson Reuters, which began tracking data in 1994.

With 96 percent of SP 500 fourth-quarter results already in, earnings are expected to increase 201.3 percent from a year ago, when the economic downturn took a big toll on corporate results.

SPENDING, FACTORIES AND SERVICES

Investors may need to keep the virtual snow shovels handy as they cope with piles of economic data this week, starting with Monday"s personal income and consumption, or spending, report for January. Personal consumption is forecast up 0.4 percent in January, twice December"s 0.2 percent gain.

The ISM also will give its February snapshot of manufacturing activity on Monday. The forecast from the Reuters poll: An ISM manufacturing index at 57.5 in February, down from 58.4 in January. Construction spending for January also will be released on Monday.

Monthly car and truck sales will be reported on Tuesday. The consensus forecast indicates a slight decline in total vehicle sales to an annual rate of 10.50 million units in February from 10.78 million in January.

Wednesday will bring the ISM non-manufacturing index, which will give a reading of how the important U.S. services sector is faring. A private-sector report on national employment in February from ADP is also due that day.

And while Wall Street"s skies may be a hazy winter gray, the trendy shade will be beige for market professionals. The Federal Reserve"s Beige Book, a collection of anecdotal reports on the U.S. economy from the Fed"s 12 district banks, will be released on Wednesday.

Thursday"s economic indicators will include the latest weekly jobless claims, revised fourth-quarter data on productivity and unit labor costs, and the January pending home sales index.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch, with additional reporting by Alonso Soto in Santiago; Nick Trevethan and Humeyra Pamuk in Singapore and Cairo; Editing by Jan Paschal)