Arnold Schwarzenegger is back, but can he flex Box-Office muscle?

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Arnold Schwarzenegger is back at the box office, but will anyone notice? We’ll find out on Friday, when he debuts as a kick-ass small-town sheriff in “The Last Stand,’ his first starring role in nine years.

When Schwarzenegger famously delivered his “I’ll be back” line in 1984, it was as a time-traveling android in “The Terminator.” Following his stint as California governor and a very messy divorce from Maria Shriver complete with love child, his return as a box-office force seems almost as unlikely as his role as a time-traveling android.

But Hollywood has embraced the return of California’s 65-year-old former “Governator.” He has three films coming out in the next 12 months and Universal is developing “Triplets,” a sequel to the Danny DeVito-Schwarzenegger comedy “Twins,” as well as another “Conan the Barbarian” movie.

But whether the movie going public is as excited as Hollywood about Arnold‘s return is an open question.

Lionsgate is distributing “The Last Stand,” an action film with a reported $ 50 million budget.

Directed by Korean director Kim Jee-woon and written by Andrew Knauer and Jeffrey Nachmanoff, “The Last Stand” is the tale of an aging border-town lawman drawn into a showdown with a drug cartel kingpin. Johnny Knoxville, Forrest Whitaker and Eduardo Noriega co-star. It was produced by Leonardo Di Bonaventura and was acquired by Lionsgate back in 2009 before Schwarzenegger was involved. Liam Neeson was attached to star at one point.

Lionsgate has proven adept at marketing genre films, including “The Expendables” and Tyler Perry franchises, and last year’s “The Possession,” and that will help “The Last Stand.” Distribution chief Richie Fay tells TheWrap he’s confident Schwarzenegger‘s return will connect with the public.

“I’ve been in a number of screenings and at the premiere,” Fay told TheWrap Tuesday, “and the reaction to the film has been great. People are laughing at his one-liners, they seem very comfortable with Arnold back on the screen in his action mode.”

Fay has reason to be bullish. Schwarzenegger‘s most recent screen appearance was in another Lionsgate entry, the ensemble action film “The Expendables 2,” last August. That one has taken in more than $ 300 million worldwide. And he’ll be back – there we go, again – with Sylvester Stallone in “The Tomb,” for Lionsgate‘s Summit Entertainment in September.

Others aren’t so sure.

“I can’t see this film opening to more than the mid-teen millions,” Exhibitor Relations senior analyst Jeff Bock told TheWrap. “There’s not a lot of negative buzz, but people aren’t dying to see him come back, either. Bottom line, I don’t think he’ll inspire anywhere the level of passion he once did at the box office.”

If Lionsgate is to make money on “The Last Stand,” it appears foreign will be critical; analysts see the film topping out at $ 30 million domestically.

“Schwarzenegger is still a big deal overseas,” Bock said, “and that’s where this movie will make or break itself.

I could easily see it doing double whatever it does in the U.S.”

At this point in his career, the stakes for Schwarzenegger may be higher than they are for the studios. His paycheck for “The Last Stand” is reportedly in the $ 8 million to $ 10 million range, with some potential profit participation. That’s about half of what he commanded in his heyday for the “Terminator” films, “True Lies” and “Total Recall.”

Schwarzenegger‘s box-office clout was beginning to fade prior to his heading to Sacramento in 2003. His last film, “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” made $ 150 million domestically for Warner Bros. in 2003, but his two previous movies, “Collateral Damage” and “The Sixth Day,” topped out at $ 40 million and $ 34 million respectively.

Hollywood’s expectations have changed, too. Most of Schwarzenegger‘s hits were big summer movies, with budgets well over $ 100 million. “The Last Stand” cost half that, and its release on a moderate 2,800 screens in January, typically a soft time for new releases, is no accident. “Ten,” Schwarzenegger‘s third film, is scheduled for release on January 24, 2014, by Open Road Films.

“The Last Stand” is the first of three upcoming openings for action movies with older stars. Warner Bros. is opening “Bullet to the Head,” starring Stallone, on February 1. Bruce Willis stars in “A Good Day to Die Hard” from Fox on February 15.

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HMV boss ‘confident of solution’

15 January 2013 Last updated at 09:32 ET

Chief executive Trevor Moore: “We will be working tirelessly to take this business forward.”

The boss of HMV has said he is confident of finding a solution to the embattled retailer’s troubles.

Trevor Moore said management had begun working with administrators Deloitte.

“We remain convinced we can find a successful business outcome,” he told journalists. “The intention is to continue to trade the stores.”

HMV revealed late on Monday that it intended to appoint an administrator. The firm has struggled against online competition.

Mr Moore said the board would do whatever they could to support staff, while Deloitte assesses the prospects for the business and seeks potential buyers.

“I would like to personally pay tribute to the 4,500 people who work for HMV. Clearly this is a very worrying time for them and their families.”

‘Disappointing’ Christmas

The company has said that it is not accepting gift vouchers or issuing any more.

Mr Moore did not reveal how many customers held the vouchers but said: “We’re working to reconcile that number.”

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

I’m surprised, it seemed to be busy at Christmas. I’ve got a gift card and I can’t use it now”

End Quote Vince Chalmers

Over the past week, the company had redeemed a significant amount of vouchers – more than they sold – he said, but admitted they had still been selling them up until Monday.

But Allianz Insurance, which underwrites HMV’s extended warranties, said it would continue to honour insurance claims made under extended warranty policies taken out by HMV customers.

Mr Moore said that trading over Christmas had been disappointing, particularly so in technology products.

“We had a very limited supply of two key brands of tablets,” he said, without specifying the brands.

He said that while HMV’s problems had been well documented, “the events of last night will have come as a shock to many of you”.

Chief financial officer Ian Kenyon added that the company had received “amazing support” from its suppliers.

Brand in decline

HMV is the last remaining national music retailer. It has 230 stores in the UK and Ireland, as well as nine shops under the Fopp brand.

News of its imminent administration has been greeted with sadness by customers and those in the music industry.

Since its first store opened in 1921, it has been one of the most recognisable brands on the High Street, with its iconic dog and gramophone trademark.

But many analysts say its demise has been inevitable over the past 20 years as it failed to embrace the shift towards online sales and digital downloads.

The expense of having so many stores, and therefore a large rent bill, is likely to have contributed to its decline, they say.

Continue reading the main story

HMV

• Founded in 1921 with its first store on London’s Oxford Street


• Its trademark dog and gramophone image is taken from the 1898 oil painting, His Master’s Voice, which features Nipper the dog listening to an early gramophone recording


• Moved into live entertainment but started selling off its live venues last year, including the flagship Hammersmith Apollo in west London


• Bought the Waterstones book chain in 1998 but sold it last year as its debts mounted

As its debts mounted, HMV sold off parts of the business, notably its live entertainment arm and the Waterstones book chain.

Last week, the group announced a month-long sale with 25% off prices, sparking worries that it needed to shift stock after poor Christmas trading.

HMV follows electrical goods firm Comet and camera chain Jessops into administration, but while those two companies have ceased trading, HMV hopes that a buyer can be found and the business will be able to continue on the High Street.

“There are likely to be very many options for this business in the coming days,” Mr Moore said.

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Holiday sales rose 3 percent, below forecast: NRF

By Phil Wahba and Jessica Wohl

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Shoppers spent only 3 percent more during the 2012 holiday season than they did a year earlier, the National Retail Federation said on Tuesday, citing economic uncertainty for tempering consumers’ enthusiasm.

The NRF’s data, based on U.S. government figures, fell short of the trade group’s own forecast, which called for a 4.1 percent jump. In 2011, such sales rose a stronger 5.6 percent. The NRF looks at U.S. sales from November and December excluding automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants.

After a strong showing over the Thanksgiving weekend in late November, when many consumers start their Christmas shopping, their willingness to spend was dented by concerns about the sluggish pace of job recovery and the possibility of higher taxes.

“The larger impact is simply the fact that the economy has been growing slowly, employment has been growing slowly and consumers are still in a deleveraging mode,” said Ira Kalish, Director of global economics at Deloitte Research, noting that many Americans are giving priority to paying down their debt.

Total spending during the holiday season rose to $ 579.8 billion, the NRF said.

Non-store sales, which are mostly online, rose 11.1 percent. The group had forecast online sales growth of 12 percent. Non-store sales were not included in the 3 percent figure.

The NRF will issue its 2013 forecast next week. Many analysts and economists are not expecting a big jump, with consumption likely to be curbed by the recent 2 percentage point increase in payroll taxes that is leaving consumers with less money in their paychecks.

“Heading into 2013, consumers could continue to think twice about their discretionary purchases as they face decreases in their paychecks and other concerns with their household budgets,” said NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz.

The trade group also called on U.S. lawmakers to put their differences aside and work on improving the level of employment. The U.S. unemployment rate stands at 7.8 percent.

Earlier on Tuesday, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that its broader measure of U.S. retail sales rose 0.5 percent in December, after rising 0.4 percent in November. That was better than the 0.2 percent increase expected by economists polled by Reuters.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba and Jessica Wohl in New York; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Tim Dobbyn)

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Wall Street cuts declines as retailers gain

NEW YORK - Stocks cut earlier declines on Tuesday, with the Dow turning positive as shares of retail companies rose.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> edged up 2.44 points, or 0.02 percent, at 13,509.76. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> slipped 0.12 point, or 0.01 percent, to 1,470.56. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was off 5.69 points, or 0.18 percent, to 3,111.82.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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Are gun curbs just symbolism?

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Gun violence recommendations are expected from Vice President Biden on Tuesday


• The proposals are expected to contain substantive and symbolic ideas to curb gun violence


• Presidents use symbolism to shift public opinion or affect larger political or social change

Washington (CNN) -- The pictures told the story: Vice President Joe Biden looked solemn, patrician and in control as he sat at a long table in the White House, flanked by people on both sides of the gun control issue.

The images conveyed a sense that the White House was in command on this issue.

And that's the point. Historically, presidential administrations have used symbolic imagery—at times coupled with marginal actions—to shift public opinion or affect larger political or social change.

"Politics is a risk taking project," said Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University historian and CNN contributor. "They put together these commissions in response to some crisis. You try a hundred things and hope something works."

As Biden's gun control task force recommendations land on the desk of President Barack Obama, political experts say it is important that his administration sends a clear signal that it has things in hand.

Obama says gun lobby stokes fear of federal action

That is especially critical in what will likely be an uphill battle to push specific changes, like an assault weapons ban, as part of a broader effort on gun control.

The first move in the image battle will be to appear to move quickly and decisively.

"You have to give the Obama administration credit for one thing: They've learned from history to do things quickly," Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said of previous task force initiatives that fizzled.

In 2010, Obama appointed a bipartisan commission headed by former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming and Erskine Bowles, a former Democratic White House chief of staff, to come up with a proposal to balance the budget and cut the debt.

Like the gun task force, Simpson-Bowles reviewed current regulations, gathered input from the public and engaged in tense internal conversations. But after months of working on a proposal—a blend of steep revenue increases and spending cuts—the group struggled to agree to a solution. The president did not take up the recommendations.

Obama largely avoided the issue of gun control during his first term.

He wrote an opinion piece two months after the 2011 assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, acknowledging the importance of the Second Amendment right to bear arms. In the piece he also called for a focus on "effective steps that will actually keep those irresponsible, law-breaking few from getting their hands on a gun in the first place."

Newtown searches for answers a month later

But in the aftermath of that shooting and as the election season loomed, the Justice Department backed off from a list of recommendations that included a measure designed to help keep mentally ill people from getting guns.

For now, at least, there is a sense in Washington that the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting where 26 people -- 20 of them young children -- were slaughtered could lead to meaningful legislative reform.

Public opinion would seem to suggest that the White House efforts are well timed.

In the month since the massacre, a new poll showed the percentage of Americans who said they were dissatisfied with America's gun laws has spiked.

The Gallup survey released on Monday showed 38% of Americans were dissatisfied with current gun regulations, and wanted stricter laws. That represented 13-point jump from one year ago, when 25% expressed that view. "You want to strike while the iron is hot," Sabato said. "We Americans have short attention spans and, as horrible as the Newtown shooting was, will anyone be surprised if we moved along by spring?"

The White House has since worked overtime to show it considers gun control an urgent matter.

The vice president has spent the last week meeting with what the White House calls "stakeholders" in the gun control debate.

On Monday, Biden was to meet with members of a House Democratic task force on guns, along with Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health and Human Services.

Universal background check: What does it mean?

In a series of face to face discussions on Thursday, Biden sat down with the National Rifle Association and other gun owners groups before conferring with representatives from the film and television industry.

In a sign the White House is prepared to move aggressively on its proposals, Biden made public comments just before meeting with the National Rifle Association, the country's most powerful gun lobby.

"Putting the vice president in charge of (the task force) and having him meeting with these groups is intended to show seriousness and an effort to reach out and respond to concerns and wishes of various groups," said Alan Abramowitz, a political science professor at Emory University.

Still, the NRA expressed disappointment in its discussion with Biden and later released a statement that accused the administration of mounting "an agenda to attack the Second Amendment."

Organizations seeking tougher gun control laws insist an assault weapons ban is critical to addressing the nation's recent rash of mass shootings. However, such a ban could be difficult in a Congress mired in gridlock.

"The bully pulpit is limited. It's hard for the president to sustain that momentum," Zelizer said of the White House's gun control efforts after the Newtown shootings. "The thing about symbolism is, like the shock over Newtown, they fade quickly."

Newtown opens eyes to other gun violence against young people

CNN's Jim Acosta and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report

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Poet Sharon Olds wins T.S. Eliot award

LONDON (Reuters) – American poet Sharon Olds won the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry on Monday for “Stag’s Leap”, a critically acclaimed collection that traces the end of her marriage 15 years ago.

The annual award, celebrating its 20th anniversary, goes to what a panel of poets decides is the best collection of verse published in the United Kingdom and Ireland each year, and is considered to be one of the world’s top poetry prizes.

Stag’s Leap, published in Britain by Jonathan Cape, was chosen from a record 131 submissions and a shortlist of 10.

“From over 130 collections, we were particularly impressed by the strong presence of women on the list and were unanimous in awarding the 2012 T.S. Eliot Prize to Sharon Olds‘ Stag’s Leap,” said Carol Ann Duffy, chair of the judges.

Duffy, also Britain’s poet laureate since 2009, called the work “a tremendous book of grace and gallantry which crowns the career of a world-class poet.”

Olds wins a cheque for 15,000 pounds ($ 24,000) for the prize, which is administered by the Poetry Book Society and supported by the estate of leading 20th century poet T.S. Eliot whose works include “The Waste Land”.

When her marriage ended, Olds, now 70, promised her children she would not write about the divorce for 10 years. In fact, it took her 15 years to get around to publishing a collection which some critics said was her best yet.

“Olds, who has always had a gift for describing intimacy, has, in a sense, had these poems thrown at her by life and allowed them to take root: they are stunning – the best of a formidable career,” wrote Kate Kellaway in The Observer.

The critic added that the collection was surprisingly kind considering its subject matter.

In “Unspeakable”, from Stag’s Leap, Olds writes:

“He shows no anger,/I show no anger but in flashes of humor/all is courtesy and horror. And after/the first minute, when I say, Is this about/her, and he says, No, it’s about/you, we do not speak of her.”

Olds was born in San Francisco in 1942 and her first collection of poems, “Satan Says” (1980), received the inaugural San Francisco Poetry Center Award.

She went on to win a string of other prizes and currently teaches creative writing at New York University.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Flat-rate pension plan hits many

14 January 2013 Last updated at 12:04 ET

Pensions Minister Steve Webb: “People will retire with a single, simple, decent state pension”

Plans for a “simple” flat-rate state pension have been unveiled, but many of those entering the workforce now will be worse off than under current rules.

The government’s White Paper shows that there are short-term gainers but longer-term losers from the policy.

Instead of a basic pension of £107 a week plus various mean-tested top-ups, recipients will get £144 in today’s money from 2017 at the earliest.

The government said this was fairer for the self-employed and many mothers.

Figures in the White Paper, published on Monday afternoon, suggested that at least half of all people reaching state pension age before 2050 were likely to have a better outcome under the new system than they would if the current system were to continue. Of these, the majority would be better off by at least £2 per week.

However, by 2060, more than half would be worse off than if the current system continued, because they could not build up a state second pension.

After April 2017, people will also have to work longer, making 35 years’ worth of National Insurance (NI) contributions, rather than the current 30, to qualify for the full pension.

Continue reading the main story

Pension facts

• Currently 11.5 million people claim the state pension


• 2.8 million women receive a state pension of less than £80 a week. Only 474,000 men do so


• 3.2 million individuals receive pension credit to supplement their retirement income

Source: DWP

Anyone who has not paid NI for at least 10 years will not qualify for the new state pension at all.

‘Complicated’

The current full state pension is £107.45 a week, but can be topped up to £142.70 with the means-tested pension credit, and a state second pension which is based on National Insurance contributions.

Anyone who qualifies for the state pension before April 2017 will continue to receive their entitlement under the current system.

For new pensioners from April 2017, the second state pension and pension credit will be abolished. The replacement – the universal flat-rate payment in England, Wales and Scotland – will be the biggest overhaul of the pension system for decades.

Pensions Minister Steve Webb said that the single payment would make it clearer for people to see how much extra they needed to save, in private or workplace pension schemes, for a comfortable retirement.

He told MPs that 10 million people were not saving enough for their pension.

Continue reading the main story

Winners and losers

Winners include:

The self-employed, who currently do not build up a state second pension

Those who have spent time out of the workforce, such as mothers and carers of those with disabilities, will benefit in the short-term

Losers include:

Those entering the workforce now are likely to receive less than they would have done had the current system remained in place

Those who have fewer than 10 years of National Insurance contributions, who will get no state pension under the new rules

“The current state pension system is too complicated and leaves millions of people needing means-tested top-ups,” he said.

“Our simple, single-tier pension will provide a decent, solid foundation for new pensioners in an otherwise less certain world, ensuring it pays to save.”

But Labour said that the government had “dithered and delayed” over proposing reforms.

“We support sensible pensions reform but this government has consistently acted with secrecy and incompetence and we will study these plans very closely to ensure ministers are completely straight with the millions of hardworking people who will lose out under these plans,” said Gregg McClymont, the shadow pensions minister.

Overhaul

The change involves merging the state second pension with the basic state pension, to create one flat-rate payment.

The self-employed will benefit, as they tend to get a lower state pension. Women who have taken time out of the workplace to bring up children are also set to benefit.

“[These are] people who don’t make enough contributions throughout their working life to, in particular, the state second pension, which includes people with intermittent work patterns, periods of low earnings and the self-employed,” said Chris Curry, from the charity the Pensions Policy Institute.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: “This reform is good news for women who for too long have been effectively punished by the current system.

“The single tier will mean that more women can get a full state pension in their own right, and stop this shameful situation where they are let down by the system when it comes to retirement because they have taken time out to care for their family.”

Under the new system, anyone who works, has been claiming benefits for being unemployed, has been looking after children aged 12 or under, or caring for sick or disabled adults for 35 years will receive a fixed pension of £144 a week when they reach state pension age.

The amount will be lower if their if they have fewer “qualifying years” of this kind.

However, it will be updated each year – as the state pension is now – in line with earnings, prices, or 2.5%, whichever is higher.

Under established plans, the state pension age is rising to 66 for both men and women by 2020, with further plans for this to increase to 67 between 2026 and 2028.

Mr Webb told MPs that he wanted to see a review of the state pension age every five years, starting in the next Parliament.

He also said that all current workers’ accrued pension rights will be recognised, so the new system will have to involve some future pensioners being paid a top-up to the new, merged, flat-rate payment.

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The Comeback Cities of the Housing Recovery

The nationwide housing market is now in full recovery mode after suffering greatly during and following the market meltdown, and it’s believed that 2013 will be a big year for many markets. However, some cities did better than others.

Las Vegas and Seattle had the two biggest year-over-year improvements in home asking prices between 2011 and 2012, according to data from the real estate tracking firm Trulia. Las Vegas saw prices climb 16.3 percent in 2012 after falling a total of 11.2 percent over the course of 2011, marking a total jump of 27.5 percent. Meanwhile, Seattle’s total appreciation was 24 percent behind a 10.2 percent appreciation in 2012 after a 13.8 percent decline the year before.

[Related Article: Why You Can't Get a Home Loan]

“What a difference a year makes,” said Jed Kolko, Trulia’s chief economist. “In 2012, prices rose in 82 of the 100 largest metros, compared with just 12 metros seeing price increases in 2011. The 2012 price turnaround was strongest in the West and Southwest, where steady job growth and vanishing inventories lifted home prices by more than 10 percent in many markets.”

Rounding out the nation’s top three largest appreciations was Phoenix, which saw a 21.8 percent overall improvement, where prices have risen in both of the last two years (26 percent in 2012 and 4.2 percent in 2011), the report said. Oakland and San Jose, Calif., where the year-over-year differences came in at 21 and 20.8 percent, respectively. Oakland saw prices rise 12.7 percent last year after an 8.4 percent decline in 2011, while San Jose’s spiked 16.1 percent following a 4.7 percent drop the year prior.

[Related Article: Will 2013 Be the Year You Can Finally Get a Mortgage?]

Kolko also noted that all these improvements bode well for property values nationwide headed into 2013, the report said. He added that because prices particularly accelerated in the third and fourth quarters of the year after a slow start, it’s reasonable to assume that rising prices will encourage more new constructions, and entice more existing homeowners to put their properties on the market once again.

However, some experts have also said that there may be some amount of slowdown in acceleration over the coming year, simply because the improvement in the last six months or so have been so impressive that they likely cannot be repeated.

More from Credit.com

This article originally appeared on Credit.com.

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S&P, Nasdaq dip as Apple weighs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street slipped on Monday, weighed down by shares of Apple in the face of demand concerns, while investors faced a busy week for earnings in what is expected to be a lackluster quarter.

Apple lost 2.8 percent to $505.84 as the biggest drag on both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 <.ndx> indexes after reports that the tech company has cut orders for LCD screens and other parts for the iPhone 5 this quarter due to weak demand. The stock earlier hit a session low of $498.51, the first dip below $500 since February 16.

"There is this speculation building 'Is this the end of Apple?'" said Carol Pepper, chief executive of Pepper International in New York.

But Pepper said Apple also "doesn't have to grow at the rate it was to do extremely well. It's still going to be one of the marquee companies of the U.S. and the world."

Apple suppliers also lost ground, with Cirrus Logic off 6.8 percent to $29.43 and Qualcomm down 1.2 percent to $64.13. The S&P tech sector <.gspt> gave up 0.9 percent as the worst perfumer of the 10 major S&P sectors.

The pace of earnings season picks up this week with 38 S&P 500 companies set to report, including Goldman Sachs , Bank of America , Intel and General Electric .

Overall earnings are expected to grow by just 1.9 percent in this reporting period, according to Thomson Reuters data.

President Barack Obama is expected to hold a news conference, which will cover looming budget and debt ceiling due dates on Monday, White House officials said.

"We could have some more noise because they are trying to get people to focus on their issues, but I don't think they are going" to allow the government to default, said Pepper.

Separately, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be speaking on monetary policy, recovery from the global financial crisis and long-term challenges facing the American economy at 4 p.m. (2100 GMT).

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> added 6.79 points, or 0.05 percent, to 13,495.22. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> shed 3.37 points, or 0.23 percent, to 1,468.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> lost 14.16 points, or 0.45 percent, to 3,111.48.

Appliance and electronics retailer Hhgregg Inc slumped 9.6 percent to $7.13 after the electronics and appliance retailer cut its same-store sales forecast for the full year.

Transocean Ltd has disclosed that billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has acquired a 1.56 percent stake in the offshore rig contractor and is looking to increase that holding. Its shares rose 2.5 percent to $55.43.

The Dow, which does not list Apple as one of its components, fared better than the other two indexes as Hewlett-Packard rose 3.8 percent to $16.78 after JPMorgan upgraded its rating on the stock and raised its price target to $21 from $15.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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Title games feature Ravens-Pats, 49ers-Falcons

One game is a rematch. The other might feel like one — at least to one of the teams.

For the second straight year in the AFC, the New England Patriots will host the Baltimore Ravens with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.

In the NFC, it will be San Francisco traveling to Atlanta, with the Falcons defense trying to stop a versatile, running quarterback for the second straight week.

"Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick are mobile quarterbacks who throw the ball at extremely accurate levels," Falcons safety Thomas DeCoud said. "We can use this game as a cheat sheet to prepare for next week."

On Sunday, the Falcons barely got past Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks, who overcame a 20-point deficit to take a one-point lead, but gave it up after Matt Ryan drove Atlanta into field goal range and Matt Bryant made a 49-yard kick with 8 seconds left.

Atlanta is the only team not making a repeat appearance in the NFL's final four. Last year, it was the Giants playing, and beating, the 49ers for the NFC title.

On Saturday, Kaepernick passed for 263 yards and rushed for 181 — a playoff record for a quarterback — to defeat Green Bay 45-31.

"We're one step closer to where we want to be," said Kaepernick. San Francisco hasn't been to the Super Bowl since 1995, when Steve Young led the 49ers to their fifth Lombardi Trophy.

Though the Niners must travel cross country for the game, they opened as 3-point favorites in a meeting of teams that played twice a year until 2003, when Atlanta was moved from the NFC West to the NFC South. Their only previous playoff meeting was a 20-18 win for the Falcons in the 1998 divisional playoffs. Atlanta won at Minnesota the next week to make its only Super Bowl.

San Francisco's 20-17 overtime loss last year to the Giants was part of a tense day of football that began with New England's 23-20 victory over the Ravens in the AFC title game.

In that game, Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal that would have tied the game with 11 seconds left.

This season, Justin Tucker beat out Cundiff for the kicker's job. Tucker hit a 47-yarder against Denver on Saturday to lift the Ravens to a 38-35 win in double overtime, extending Ray Lewis' career for at least one more week and putting the 17-year veteran one win away from his second Super Bowl.

"We fought hard to get back to this point and we're definitely proud of being here," Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco said. "We feel like it's going to take a lot for somebody to come and kick us off that field come the AFC championship game."

Lewis and the Ravens will have to stop the NFL's most potent offense. The Patriots put up 457 yards in a 41-28 victory over Houston, which left them one win away from their sixth Super Bowl in the 2000s.

"I think the two best teams are in the final," Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said. "Baltimore certainly deserve to be here and so do we."

The Patriots were made early 9½-point favorites against the Ravens.

These teams met in the regular season and that game was also decided by a kick — Tucker's 27-yard field goal that sneaked through the right upright for a 31-30 victory. Or did it?

While the Ravens were celebrating, Pats coach Bill Belichick ran to midfield and grabbed a replacement official's arm as he tried to exit the field. The NFL fined Belichick $50,000 for the gesture.

New England is the even-money favorite in Vegas to win the Super Bowl. San Francisco is next at 2-1, followed by Atlanta (5-1) and Baltimore (8-1).

Among the possible Super Bowl story lines:

—The Harbaugh Bowl. Jim Harbaugh coaches the 49ers and John Harbaugh coaches the Ravens.

—A rematch of San Francisco's 41-34 win at New England on Dec. 16 — one of the most entertaining games of the regular season.

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