(Reuters) - J.C. Penney Co Incon Tuesday reported another quarter of steep sales declines, hit by the lingering effects of its former chief executive's failed marketing strategy.

But Wall Street brushed off the news after the company, which last month brought back ex-CEO Myron Ullman to turn around its operations, reported cash levels that implied the department store chain had gone through less money than feared. Vendors and analysts expect sales to improve later this year.

Shares rose 1.6 percent to $16.66 in after-hours trading.

Penney, coming off a 25 percent sales plunge in 2012 largely blamed on former CEO Ron Johnson's strategy of eliminating coupons and sales in favor of everyday lower prices, reported that same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, fell 16.6 percent in the first quarter.

Analysts were expecting a drop of 13.2 percent, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Johnson was ousted last month and Ullman, whom he replaced in late 2011, has increased the pace of sales in the last two weeks and overseen an apologetic ad campaign aimed at winning back shoppers.

Penney reported quarterly sales of $2.64 billion, below the $2.74 billion Wall Street was expecting, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Some of the decline stemmed from a renovation at the home goods section at 500 of Penney's larger stores ahead of a re-opening this spring with brands by designers such as Jonathan Adler and Martha Stewart.

"This is all on Ron Johnson's dime," said Bernard Sosnick of Gilford Securities Inc about the first quarter results.

Penney will report full quarterly results May 16. Wall Street is more concerned about whether sales are improving now that the company has brought back some of its most popular private brands and old pricing strategy that included coupons and discounts, said Sosnick.

There is a sense among analysts and Penney vendors that sales are already improving since Penney brought back private brands like St. John's Bay clothing and a more aggressive promotion and discounting schedule, including using clear language like "sale" and "25 percent off."

"I think the direction the company is heading in is one that has higher probability of succeeding," Newell Rubbermaid IncChief Executive Mike Polk told Reuters last week. Newell sells items like Calphalon cookware and Levolor window treatments at Penney. Newell took a big hit because of Penney's sales hemorrhage last year.

PVH CorpChief Executive Manny Chirico last week said at an investor conference that he thinks Penney will be able to win back customers and expects Penney's same-store sales to go positive in the second half of the year. The company is a major supplier of menswear to Penney, including Izod brand.

The company, in providing preliminary, partial results for the quarter, said it had $821 million in cash on hand as of May 4, which suggested it had gone through $870 million in cash in the quarter, according to an estimate by Morningstar analyst Paul Swinand.

In a research note put out on Tuesday before Penney reported its results, Morgan Stanley analyst Kimberly Greenberger had estimated Penney had burned through $1.2 billion in cash.

Investors expect to hear more on the earnings call about whether Ullman will try to preserve cash by not opening more branded boutiques within Penney stores, a key part of Johnson's turnaround plan.

Last week, Penney said it had lined up a five-year, $1.75 billion financing deal with Goldman Sachs, its latest move to shore up its finances as it looks to stabilize its operations.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba in New York. Additional reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago and Dhanya Skariachan in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 closed at another record high, pushing further above 1,600 as financial shares led the way after Bank of America's settlement with MBIA.

Apple's advance helped lift both the S&P and the Nasdaq.

Bank of Americasaid it would settle claims with MBIAfor $1.6 billion, lifting shares of both companies as well as the S&P financial sector Index , which gained 1 percent. MBIA shares jumped 45.4 percent to $14.29 and Bank of America shares rose 5.2 percent to $12.88.

The day's gains followed a strong run in stocks since the start of the year. Supportive monetary policies that have kept interest rates low as well as solid earnings have helped to keep the market up. The S&P 500 has gained 13.4 percent since December 31.

"As long as you continue to have decent earnings reports and the support from central banks around the world providing liquidity, it's going to be hard to derail this market, at least in the short term," said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

Apple shareswere also among the top gainers after Barclays raised its price target on the stock. Apple shares shot up 2.4 percent to $460.71, leading both the Nasdaq composite index and the benchmark S&P 500 higher.

The Dow Jones industrial averagedipped 5.07 points, or 0.03 percent, to 14,968.89 at the close. But the Standard & Poor's 500 Indexinched up 3.08 points, or 0.19 percent, to finish at a record 1,617.50. The Nasdaq Composite Indexgained 14.34 points, or 0.42 percent, to close at 3,392.97.

During the session, the S&P 500 also reached an all-time intraday high of 1,619.77.

Although weak economic data from the euro zone and China has caused concerns over the global growth outlook, Friday's stronger-than-expected U.S. payrolls report fueled the gains that drove both the Dow and the S&P 500 to record levels.

Warren Buffett said on Monday that low interest rates have made bonds "terrible" investments, but stocks are "reasonably priced," and he continues to shy away from sectors such as media, where he cannot predict which will thrive in the long run.

But some analysts suspect the rally has little strength to keep going on.

The market "is discounting a tremendous amount of good news now, which I don't think is going to be substantiated, and I don't think it's allowing for any possibility of bad news," said Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners in New York.

Earnings have been mostly higher than expected, with 68.5 percent of companies surpassing estimates so far. At the same time, second-quarter estimates have fallen as outlooks remain more negative than positive.

Among Monday's reports, Tyson Foods Incposted a weaker-than-expected quarterly profit and cut its full-year sales forecast. Its shares declined 3.3 percent to $24.10.

In contrast, Humana Incjumped 2.1 percent to $75.49 as one of the S&P 500's biggest percentage gainers. JPMorgan upgraded the stock to "overweight."

But Johnson & Johnsonshares slid 1.3 percent to $84.68, weighing on the blue-chip Dow average.

GM's stock also declined. The U.S. Treasury said it will begin another round of sales of General Motorsstock acquired during the government's bailout of the auto sector. GM shares slipped 0.9 percent to $31.82.

Volume was roughly 5.3 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, below the average daily closing volume of about 6.4 billion this year.

Advancers outpaced decliners on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq by a ratio of about 3 to 2.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry, Nick Zieminski and Jan Paschal)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - America's ageing population is posing special challenges, fitness experts say, because it is difficult to design effective workout routines for people with such a wide range of abilities.

For one 70-year-old, the goal may be to run a marathon, for another it's getting out of a chair.

"If you are teaching 10-year-olds, it's perfectly reasonable to do an activity that everybody would participate in," said Dr. Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko, an expert on aging with the American College of Sports Medicine.

But 20 80-year-olds could be as different as chalk and cheese."

Some baby boomer could be athletic, he explained, while others would be unable to get out of bed.

There are now more Americans age 65 and older than at any other time in U.S. history, according to Census Bureau figures. Some 40 million people age 65 and over lived in the United States in 2010, accounting for 13 percent of the total population. The older population grew from 3 million in 1900 to 40 million in 2010.

Older adults should be doing aerobic activity to help maintain body weight, strengthening exercises to develop and maintain muscle mass and some type of flexibility training, according to Dr. James Graves, Dean of the College of Health at the University of Utah.

Physical activity can reduce the risk of diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and osteoporosis, he said, as well as improve the quality of life by maintaining functional capacity, such as the ability to climb stairs, open doors, and carry groceries.

"A very healthy 70-year-old can safely participate in high-intensity activity while a frail 60-year-old needs to lower the intensity," said Graves. "My recommendation is to work with a personal trainer or group leader who has knowledge and qualifications to work with the elderly."

Mary Ann Wilson is the creator and host of the "Sit and Be Fit," a senior fitness program that has aired on U.S. public television since 1987.

The majority of her viewers are women over 65. For that population, she said, the goal of exercise is health and well-being, not physical prowess.

"Gravity has been working on them for 70 years," said Wilson, a registered nurse who specialized in geriatrics. "Gravity is not our friend after many years of pulling our heads, shoulders and upper torsos forward and down."

The 30-minute class includes warm-up, circulation and strength segments, a finger segment (for stiffness), standing for balance, and final relaxation.

Posture, breathing, balance, cognitive functioning and reaction time are among the most importantand neglectedcomponents of elder fitness, she said.

"Focusing on gait is really important because as we age our gait changes," said Wilson.

Karen Peterson, author of "Move with Balance: Healthy Aging Activities for Brain and Body," stresses a mind-body approach in workouts with seniors.

"In our society it seems people don't really like to do things unless they're good at it already," said Peterson, a kinesiologist based in Maui. "But what the brain likes is to be challenged."

Her exercises include tossing a bean bag to improve reaction time, walking a figure-eight pattern for balance, as well as eye stretches, jaw relaxers, childhood games and cognitive challenges to keep body and mind alert.

"We take balance exercises and add conversation or math problems," she said. "The concept is to always progress, always get more challenging."

To tackle the isolation and diversity of the older population, Peterson initiated a mentoring program in which the fitter seniors work with the frailer.

"Some partners will become friends," she said. "They'll get really turned on."

Experts agree that it's never too late to do something. "Exercise is effective even in the most frail individual," Wilson said. "If they can wiggle their toes, they can exercise."

(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Sandra Maler)

LONDON (Reuters) - King Edward VIII may be best known for giving up the throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson, but it wasn't the first time his love affairs posed a threat to the British monarchy.

A new book by British barrister and former judge Andrew Rose unearths a little-known affair with a French courtesan 20 years before Edward's abdication, which ended in a rigged trial at the behest of the British establishment trying to protect a future king's reputation.

"The Prince, The Princess, and The Perfect Murder" details how the then-Prince of Wales's first great love, French courtesan Maggie Meller, blackmailed him to avoid the gallows after murdering her playboy Egyptian prince husband.

Meller was acquitted in a high profile trial at London's Old Bailey in 1923 despite the evidence stacked against her.

Rose said the acquittal was a shock but his research has now revealed an extraordinary story involving the murder trial, a secret cache of vanished letters and a cover-up to save the reputation of the future king.

Six years before her trial, Meller had an affair with the British prince. She used evidence from that relationship to force the royal household to lean on the establishment in an effort to get her off the hook and cover up the scandal, Rose told Reuters.

"This affair had been carefully airbrushed from history so the connection between the murder and the Prince of Wales was never drawn," Rose told Reuters.

"The royal household took steps to make sure that the prince's name did not come out in the trial to protect the reputation of the future king. It is amazing that she got away with it."

Rose's book, published by Coronet this week forms the basis of a TV documentary, "Edward VIII's Murderous Mistress", on Britain's Channel 4 later this month.

The latest book was a follow-on work from Rose's book about the trial, "Scandal at the Savoy", published in 1991.

He was intrigued by Marguerite Alibert, better known as Meller, who, dressed in a Chanel gown, shot her second husband, Egyptian Prince Fahmy Bey, at London's Savoy Hotel in 1923.

COVER UP FOR THE PRINCE

At the time her past reputation as a gold digger was brushed off and the focus was on her claim that she acted in self-defense to protect herself from her abusive husband.

But after his book was released, Meller's grandson contacted Rose, informing him of her affair with the prince, love letters between the two, and a memoir she wrote in 1934.

Rose said it took several years to trace the relationship, accessing unpublished documents in royal archives and private collections but also finding a trail of destroyed documents.

Rose said the prince's involvement came as a surprise but was in character as Edward, who abdicated in 1936 after less than a year on the throne, was a well-known womanizer.

"He was emotionally immature and feckless in his private life ... although he had enormous charm," said Rose.

"But you can be approachable and amusing and also neurotic, self-centered and unreliable. He spent his time chasing woman, had a string of love affairs and was always susceptible particularly to powerful women."

Rose said the prince's protectors were quick to move once Meller was arrested, negotiating with her to return the prince's letters that she had stored in Cairo.

The crucial part of the deal, however, was that she would not mention the prince in court and she stuck to that.

Her promiscuous past was never mentioned in court and the trial instead focused on the violent nature and perverted sexual tastes of her husband.

"Really this was a show trial," said Rose, "The authorities wanted Marguerite to be acquitted. A murder conviction would have been catastrophic for the Crown."

Meller was released and moved back to France where she lived the rest of her life in Paris, dying wealthy in 1971.

"This story really does show another side to Edward and how unsuitable he always was to be king," said Rose.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, editing by Paul Casciato)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The menus offered to children by most U.S. restaurant chains have too many calories, too much salt or fat, and often not a hint of vegetables or fruit, according to a study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

The group, which has agitated for everything from healthier popcorn at the movies to calorie labeling in supermarkets, found that among almost 3,500 combinations surveyed, kids' meals failed to meet nutritional standards 97 percent of the time.

That was a marginal improvement over 2008 when such meals failed to meet standards 99 percent of the time.

Every children's meal offered at popular chains such as Chipotle Mexican Grill, Dairy Queen, Hardee's, McDonald's, Panda Express, Perkins Family Restaurants and Popeyes fell short of standards adopted by the center from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's nutritional recommendations.

The meals also fell short of standards set by the National Restaurant Association's Kids LiveWell Program, said the CSPI, which titled its study, "Kids' Meals: Obesity on the Menu."

"Most chains seem stuck in a time warp, serving up the same old meals based on chicken nuggets, burgers, macaroni and cheese, fries, and soda," said Margo Wootan, CSPI nutrition policy director. "It's like the restaurant industry didn't get the memo that there's a childhood obesity crisis."

Among the meals singled out was Applebees' grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough bread, fries and two percent chocolate milk, which has 1,210 calories, 62 grams of fat and 2,340 milligrams of sodium.

The combo meal had nearly three times as many calories as the CSPI's criteria for four- to- eight-year-olds suggest.

At Ruby Tuesday, the macaroni and cheese, white cheddar mashed potatoes and fruit punch combo has 870 calories, 46 grams of fat and 1700 milligrams of sodium, said Wootan.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that children eat no more than 2,300 milligrams of salt each day to avoid high blood pressure, which can lead to coronary disease, stroke and other ailments.

Being overweight as a child leaves a person vulnerable to heart disease, diabetes and a shortened life span. About one-third of American children are now considered overweight and 17 percent are considered obese, according to USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

The CSPI cited Subway restaurants' Fresh Fit For Kids meal combinations as exceptions to the salty, fatty norm.

Subway serves apple slices with its kid-sized sub sandwiches and offers low-fat milk or bottled water instead of soda. All eight of its children's meals met CSPI's nutrition criteria.

A few other establishments have begun to offer side dishes beyond French fries. In fact, every child's meal at Longhorn Steakhouse now comes with fruit or a vegetable.

"More chains are adding fruit, like apple slices, to their menus, but practically every chain could be adding more vegetable and whole grain options," said Ameena Batada, an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Wellness at the University of North Carolina Asheville.

Labeling can be a potent tool. The report cited two studies that indicated customers who are provided with calorie counts on the menu sometimes gravitate toward healthier choices.

To produce its study, the CSPI looked at 50 top U.S. chain restaurants, finding 34 of them had meals designed for children and were willing to provide nutritional data. It analyzed those meals and meal combinations.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Ros Krasny and Steve Orlofsky)

Sony spokesman Steve Elzer said Friday that the film's producers are heeding official requests to remain indoors as a massive manhunt Friday virtually shut down the city and some suburbs.

Authorities suspended mass transit and asked businesses not to open as thousands of officers swarmed the streets.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra also said it was postponing its Friday night concert for a week.

"American Hustle," about an FBI sting operation in the late '70s, features Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper both stars of Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook" along with Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale and Amy Adams.

Utah's biggestruns east of Salt Lake City, at the base of the steep Wasatch Mountains. About 75 percent of the state's population lives near the 240-mile-long (385 kilometers) Wasatch Fault, according to the Utah Geological Survey. Its last big earthquake hit in 1600, 147 years before Mormon settlers arrived.

To the west, in urban , a 4-mile-wide (6 km) zone of fault segments called the West Valley Fault Zone stretches north-northwest for 9 miles (14 km)beneath the valley.

Trenches along a portion of the West Valley fault zone, near Salt Lake City's airport, reveal that both the West Valley and Wasatch faults seem to rupture simultaneously during earthquakes, scientists will report today at the meeting.

While dating techniques can't confirm that the earthquakes were synchronous, instead of within a few days, month or years, modeling suggests they strike at the same time, said Christopher DuRoss, study co-author and a geologist at the Utah Geological Survey.

"Based on models of how the crust would behave, we expect the West Valley Fault Zone would rupture instantaneously with the Salt Lake City segment," DuRoss told OurAmazingPlanet.

Two faults, more shaking

If both fault zones ruptured during an earthquake, it would mean more shaking for Salt Lake City, which sits atop soft lake sediments, the kind that experience liquefaction during severe earthquakes. In the 2011 Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake, liquefaction destroyed the city's downtown core. In Salt Lake City, planners are also concerned about the risk of flooding from waves in theand landslides in mountain canyons during a major earthquake.

Residents of Salt Lake will get a better picture of their risk when the Utah Geological Survey and U.S. Geological Survey release updated hazard maps in 2014, which are based on today's presentation and other recent work, DuRoss said. []

The Wasatch Fault is divided into 10 segments, which act mostly independently, researchers think. The 25-mile-long (40 km) Salt Lake City segment is thought to be one of the most hazardous, with the probability of a large quake (magnitude 7.0) put at 16.5 percent in the next 100 years, according to the Utah Geological Survey. However, that earthquake forecast is now out-of-date, thanks to new research, and will be updated next year by the Working Group on Utah Earthquake Probabilities, DuRoss said.

Trenches find big quakes

DuRoss and study co-author Michael Hylland looked at the link between the Wasatch Fault and the West Valley Fault Zone with trenches dug near the Salt Lake City airport, where the shrinking Great Salt Lake has exposed West Valley fault traces. For the Wasatch fault, the team dug new trenches near the University of Utah.

Disturbed sediment layers indicate fouron the West Valley fault broke ground in the past 15,700, 13,000, 12,300 and 5,500 years ago, said Hylland, also a geologist at the Utah Geological Survey.dating ties the broken ground to earthquake records in trenches along the Salt Lake City section of the Wasatch Fault.

More complete sediment records exist for the Salt Lake City section of the Wasatch Fault, with nine prehistoric temblors found, Hylland said.The last big earthquake on the Salt Lake City segment was 1,400 years ago. The quakes hit every 1,300 to 1,500 years, researchers think.

"From what we can see, it looks like the frequency is about the same" on the two fault zones, Hylland told OurAmazingPlanet. "What it really comes down to is 'how active is the Salt Lake City segment?'" Hylland said. "That's the real driver of the hazard for Salt Lake Valley."

The separate faults likely merge into a single fault deep beneath the valley, Hylland said. The West Valley faults angles to the east, and the Wasatch Fault dips to the west.

Movement on both faults is up-down. They are both normal faults, sliding one block of the Earth's crust away from another block during an earthquake.

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc's shares fell below $400 on Wednesday for the first time since December 2011 after a chip supplier's disappointing revenue forecast fanned fears about weakening demand for the iPhone and iPad as competition intensifies.

The stock dropped below $400 briefly before bouncing back to end 5.5 percent lower at $402.80, losing more than $22 billion of market value in a single day.

Cirrus Logic, which makes analog and audio chips for the iPhone and iPad, on Tuesday warned of a reduced product forecast from one customer - which it did not name. But 90 percent or more of its business comes from Apple, making it a key indicator of demand for iPhones and iPads.

The surprise warning fueled fears that demand for the iPhone - which makes up more than half of Apple's revenue - is falling faster than expected as Samsung Electronics and other rivals who use Google Inc's Android software flood the market with cheaper phones. Typically, many Apple fans also hold off on buying the gadgets if they believe a new model will be introduced in the next few months.

Apple is to report quarterly results on Tuesday. Analysts say Cirrus Logic's reduced outlook lends weight to arguments that consumers' love affair with the iPhone is waning as challengers such as Samsung vie for their attention.

"This is a tough environment. Apple is in transition between products," said Michael Yoshikami, a portfolio manager at Destination Wealth Management, which owns about 50,000 Apple shares. Cirrus's warning "makes it more likely Apple's not going to surprise on upside."

Since its September 2012 peak, Apple has lost 40 percent of its market value or more than $280 billion - slightly more than Google's entire capitalization - battered by worries about the effect on Apple's industry-leading margins if it's forced to do faster updates of its products to keep up.

Some believe Apple will not be able to sustain its high gross margins as competition in the tablet and smartphone markets leads to lower prices. Shorter product cycles limit Apple's ability to bring down component costs, Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi said in a note to clients.

Cirrus's weak forecast follows a 19 percent decline in first-quarter sales at Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, Apple's main contract manufacturer.

"It's a reminder of weakening demand and the challenges around product transitions," Shannon Cross, of Cross Research, said. "There's not a lot of conviction about what the second half is going to look like."

Verizon Communications Inc, which with Vodafone controls the No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier Verizon Wireless, reports results on Thursday and may offer more clues to iPhone and iPad demand in the quarter.

NERVES

Investors are growing increasingly nervous about Apple's growth prospects.

Shares of other chip makers and Apple suppliers, including Qualcomm, Avago Technologies, Broadcom and Skyworks, fell between 2 and 6 percent on a day that saw broad weakness in financial markets.

Goldman Sachs analyst Bill Shope said in a note on Wednesday that Apple's momentum could weaken further before it launches new products later this year.

Apple, which relies heavily on new products to drive its revenue growth, has not had a launch since last October when it unveiled its 7.9-inch iPad mini and an updated full-size iPad.

The company typically launches a new iPad in the spring, but it is unlikely to do so because of the October update. Looking forward, investors now expect an upcoming new iPhone to power earnings in the second half. The two versions of the iPad are also likely to get an update in the fall.

In the past week, analysts had reduced their estimates for Apple's March quarter revenue on average to $42.53 billion from $42.68 billion. Following Cirrus' warning on Tuesday, some think Apple's results could miss those already reduced expectations.

Apple is expected to report a 9 percent increase in quarterly revenue, with net profit expected to decline 17 percent to $9.59 billion, or $10.08 a share, for its fiscal second quarter, according to average analysts' estimates.

Sacconaghi, who lowered his revenue estimate to $41.1 billion from $42.4 billion, said he expects mixed results with Apple's revenue coming in below consensus and earnings per share largely as expected.

Apple's implied volatility, which measures perceived risk of future stock movement, shot up on Wednesday. The implied volatility for the next 30 days for Apple stood at 43.73 percent, a 16.7 percent increase.

Share price volatility should increase into earnings and surpass an annual high in the next few days, said Ophir Gottlieb, managing director of options analytics firm Livevol.

(Additional reporting By Edwin Chan; Editing by Maureen Bavdek, Andrew Hay, Leslie Adler and Cynthia Osterman)