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Stocks struggle higher in afternoon; Netflix, Etsy soar
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NEW YORK (AP) — Major stock indexes flipped from losses to gains Thursday afternoon following a rebound in crude oil prices. Major markets in Europe finished with losses amid renewed concerns that Greece could default on its debts.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average rose 39 points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,153 as of 2:34 p.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index inched up three points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,110 and the Nasdaq composite picked up three points, a sliver of a percent, to 5,014.

RESPONSE: Investors are trying to figure out if the recent run of uninspiring economic news will hit corporate profits, said David Lebovitz, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. At the same time, big banks and other corporations have turned in better results than Wall Street expected this week.

"There's a bit of a tug of war right now," Lebovitz said. "So far, it looks like the earnings season is off to a decent start."

HUGE QUEUE: Netflix added 4.9 million subscribers in the first three months of the year, better than any other quarter since the company started streaming video eight years ago. All told, Netflix finished March with 62 million subscribers around the world. Traders drove the company's stock up $80.87, or 17 percent, to $556.79, the biggest gain in the S&P 500.

BIG CITI: Citigroup's quarterly net income rose as the bank trimmed expenses and legal costs, which compensated for a decline in revenue. The results beat Wall Street's estimates, sending Citi's stock up 98 cents, or 2 percent, to $54.18.

EARLY LOOK: The first-quarter earnings season is supposed to be the worst in years, with analysts forecasting a 3 percent drop in earnings compared with the year before. The early results suggest things might not turn out that way. Earnings from eight out of 10 companies have come in higher than estimates, according to S&P Capital IQ.

CRUDE: U.S. benchmark crude rose 32 cents to close at $56.71 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, rose 54 cents to $63.86 a barrel.

JOB MARKET: The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid last week inched up for the second week in a row, the Labor Department said. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, edged up to 282,750, still close to the lowest level in nearly 15 years.

GREEK JITTERS: Mounting fears of a Greek debt default sent the country's borrowing costs surging. The latest jitters were stoked by a report Thursday in the Financial Times that Greece made an "informal approach" to the International Monetary Fund to have its bailout repayments delayed. The report, citing unnamed officials, was unsettling for investors. The yield on Greece's 10-year bonds surged to nearly 13 percent. Greece owes the IMF around 1 billion euros ($1.06 billion) next month. Many in the markets think the Greek government will struggle to make those payments if it doesn't reach an agreement with European creditors soon.

ANOTHER TAKE: "There seems little chance of talks being resolved," said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital. "A debt default looms."

EUROPE: European stock markets fell. Germany's DAX dropped 1.9 percent and France's CAC 40 lost 0.6 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 slid 0.5 percent.

METALS: Industrial metals surged while precious metals barely budged. Copper rose 6 cents to settle at $2.77 a pound. Gold fell $3.30 to $1,198 an ounce, and silver added a penny to $16.28 an ounce.

VINTAGE PERFORMANCE: Etsy nearly doubled in its first day of trading, The online market for handmade crafts and vintage goods raised $267 million in its initial public offering on late Wednesday, selling shares at $16 each. Etsy's stock soared $13.90 to $29.90 in afternoon trading Thursday.

BONDS, CURRENCIES: U.S. government bonds held steady, with the 10-year Treasury yield trading at 1.88 percent. The euro rose 1 percent to $1.0797, while the dollar was edged down to 118.91 yen.

 
Raging wildfires in South force evacuations in Tennessee
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Fires blaze on the hills above Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Tuesday morning. Bruce McCamish Photography | The Covington News

ATLANTA (AP) — Raging wildfires fueled by high winds forced the evacuation of thousands of people and damaged hundreds of buildings in a popular resort town on the border of the Smoky Mountains National Park as National Guard troops arrived early Tuesday to help overwhelmed firefighters.

Rain had begun to fall in some areas, but experts predicted it would not be enough to end the relentless drought that has spread across several Southern states and provided fuel for fires now burning for weeks in states including Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina.

The storms appeared to be taking aim at the nearly 28,000-acre Rough Ridge Fire in north Georgia and the nearly 25,000-acre Rock Mountain Fire that began in Georgia and then spread deep into North Carolina.

In Gatlinburg, Tennessee, officials said hundreds of homes and other buildings, including a 16-story hotel, were damaged or destroyed by flames. And preliminary surveys indicated that Westgate Resorts, with more than 100 buildings, and Ober Gatlinburg were both likely destroyed, according to a news release Tuesday morning.

Emergency officials ordered evacuations in downtown Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and in other areas of Sevier County near the Smoky Mountains while crews continue to battle the blaze, which also had crept to the edge of the Dollywood theme park. About 14,000 residents and visitors were evacuated from Gatlinburg alone, officials said.

No deaths have been reported, though several people were hospitalized with burns, emergency officials said in the news release.

Officials say there are about 1,200 people sheltering at the Gatlinburg Community Center and the Rocky Top Sports Park. Several other shelters have opened to house those forced from their homes. TV broadcasts showed residents streaming out of town just as rain started to wet roads.

Workers at an aquarium evacuated because of the wildfires were concerned about the thousands of animals housed there. Ryan DeSears, general manager of Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, told WBIR-TV the building was still standing and all workers had been evacuated late Monday. However, he said workers were anxious to return to check on the well-being of the 10,518 animals.

The rain forecast "puts the bull's-eye of the greatest amounts right at the bull's-eye of where we've been having our greatest activity," said Dave Martin, deputy director of operations for fire and aviation management with the southern region of the U.S. Forest Service.

The projected rainfall amounts "really lines up with where we need it," Martin said Monday. "We're all knocking on wood."

After weeks of punishing drought, any rain that falls should be soaked up quickly, forecasters said. It will provide some relief but won't end the drought — or the fire threat, they said.

Drought conditions will likely persist, authorities said. The problem is that rainfall amounts have been 10 to 15 inches below normal during the past three months in many parts of the South, authorities said.

"I think we racked up deficits that are going to be too much to overcome with just one storm system," said Mark Svoboda, director of the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

"I would say it's way too early to say 'Yes, this drought is over,'" Svoboda said. "Does it put a dent in it? Yes, but we have a long ways to go."

The rain also brings danger because strong winds at the leading edge of the storms can topple trees and limbs that can kill and injure firefighters, he said.

In Mississippi, trees were reported downed Monday in nearly 20 counties across the state. Sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph with gusts of more than 50 mph were reported and more than 2 inches of rain fell in some areas.

Power outages peaked at more than 23,000 statewide in Mississippi. Powerlines downed by winds sparked grass fires in four counties, said Greg Flynn, a spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

The storms moved across Alabama on Monday night and fell on Georgia during the overnight hours. High wind warnings were issued for mountainous areas in northern parts of Georgia.

In South Carolina, the stormy forecast was giving hope to firefighters battling a blaze in the northwest corner of the state. The South Carolina Forestry Commission hopes to contain the Pinnacle Mountain fire by the middle of next week.
More rain was expected Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
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Fuller reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writers Rebecca Yonker in Louisville, Kentucky; Jeff Amy in Jackson, Mississippi; Beth Campbell in Louisville, Kentucky; and Jack Jones in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.