Stocks fall on China worries; oil loses ground

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By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) – World equity indexes dropped on Monday as disappointing trade data in world No. 2 economy China stoked concerns over weakening global growth, while oil prices slipped.

All three major U.S. stock indexes were down more than 1 percent, while European shares closed 1.1 percent lower.

Fresh builds at the delivery point for U.S. crude futures also dragged down oil prices, offsetting bullish OPEC demand projections.

Data showed China’s October exports fell for a fourth month, while imports also dropped, leaving the nation with a record high trade surplus of $61.64 billion. The United States is one of China’s biggest trade partners.

Also not boding well for world growth, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development cut its 2015 global growth forecast again. But it said the U.S. Federal Reserve should raise interest rates as the U.S. economic recovery gains steam.

Recent data showing robust U.S. job growth has boosted bets for a long-anticipated December rate hike by the Fed.

“Market participants are of the view (after strong U.S. jobs data on Friday) that the worries about the global economy are overdone but then this weekend we saw some disappointment in the China exports,” said Emile Cardon, a strategist at Rabobank in the Netherlands.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 229.76 points, or 1.28 percent, to 17,680.57, the S&P 500 lost 28.97 points, or 1.38 percent, to 2,070.23 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 75.98 points, or 1.48 percent, to 5,071.14.

Growth sectors, including energy and consumer discretionaries, led the decline.

“We’ve had a rally up, and I think we’re just about done for now, at least for the next couple of weeks,” said Gary Kaltbaum, president of Kaltbaum & Associates in Orlando, Florida.

MSCI’s all-country world index fell 1.0 percent, while European shares closed down 1.1 percent.

Shares in Portugal, where an agreement between leftist parties to work together to form a government unnerved investors, led the European market lower.

In the oil market, Brent crude for December delivery was down 28 cents at $47.14 a barrel, while December U.S. crude fell 46 cents to $43.83 after falling nearly 5 percent last week.

A report saying the European Central Bank was forming a consensus to cut its deposit interest rate further into negative territory caused the euro to slip against the dollar.

The euro had risen from its Friday lows, when it had fallen to $1.07045, its weakest since mid-April. But then it slipped back to trade at $1.0742.

U.S. Treasuries prices extended recent losses as traders raised bets the Fed will raise rates in December.

Benchmark 10-year Treasuries notes were down 3/32 in price with a yield of 2.345 percent. The 10-year yield earlier touched 2.377 percent, which was the highest intraday level since July 21, according to Reuters.

“People are really buying into the December rate-hike story,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, interest rates strategist at TD Securities in New York.

(Additional reporting by Marc Jones in London, and Dion Rabouin, Richard Leong and Barani Krishnan in New York and Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Zieminski)

Source: Stocks fall on China worries; oil loses ground – Yahoo News UK

New study describes how glucose regulation enables malignant tumor growth | Science Codex

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — A new study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) identifies a key pathway used by cancer cells to make the lipids by integrating oncogenic signaling, fuel availability and lipid synthesis to support cell division and rapid tumor growth.

The researchers identified a critical molecule in that pathway that, if blocked, might cripple lipid production by cancer cells and slow tumor growth. This approach would be a new strategy for treating a lethal type of brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme, as well as other malignancies. This discovery also has significant therapeutic implications on other metabolic disorders with deregulated lipid metabolism, such as atherosclerosis, obesity and diabetes.

The study discovered that activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which triggers enhanced uptake of glucose, leads to a chemical change in a molecule called SCAP. This enables SCAP to transport a second molecule called SREBP, and this leads to the activation of genes that regulate the production and uptake of lipids. SREBPs are key proteins for regulating lipid metabolism.

The researchers published their findings in the journal Cancer Cell Nov. 9, 2015.

Source: New study describes how glucose regulation enables malignant tumor growth | Science Codex

Black women in Canada have substantially higher risk of preterm birth than white women | Science Codex

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A study comparing rates of preterm birth among non-Hispanic black and non-Hispanic white women in Canada found that the rates were substantially higher among black women than white women, mirroring the disparity in the United States. The research study, published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), is based on new cohort data from the Canadian Live Birth, Infant Death and Stillbirth Database linked with 2006 Canadian census data.

“Relative disparities in preterm birth and very preterm birth between non-Hispanic black and white women in Canada mirrored those in the US. This observation was contrary to our hypothesis, which was based on the different historical experiences of black populations in the 2 countries and evidence that socioeconomic and racial disparity in health and access to health care tend to be less extreme in Canada,” writes Dr. Britt McKinnon, Institute for Health and Social Policy, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, with coauthors.

The study included 91 045 live singleton births in Canada and just over 5 million live births in the US between May 2004 and May 2006. In Canada, 4.2% of all births were to women who self-identified as black compared with 20.5% in the US. Overall preterm birth rates were lower in Canada (6%) than in the US (9%). Preterm birth rates among black women in Canada were 8.9%, compared with 5.9% among white women. US rates were higher, at 12.7% and 8.0% respectively.

Foreign-born black women in Canada had preterm birth rates similar to those of native-born black women, unlike in the US, where foreign-born black women had lower preterm birth rates.

Source: Black women in Canada have substantially higher risk of preterm birth than white women | Science Codex

Health news: Dissolving stent for heart arteries passes first large test

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A new type of heart stent that works like dissolving stitches, slowly going away after it has done its job, last week passed its first major test in a large study, doctors said.

Abbott Vascular’s dissolving Absorb stent performed as well as a conventional stent in the one-year study, but the fact it did not prove superior led some experts to be wary.

Still, the results on this and other novel stents currently in testing are fueling hope for a new generation of these devices, used on about 850,000 heart disease patients each year in the United States alone.

Source: Health news: Dissolving stent for heart arteries passes first large test | VailDaily.com