NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 broke a five-day streak of record closing highs on Thursday, ending a fairly volatile session lower as the market's recent momentum faded and Apple's shares declined.

The Dow also broke its two-day string of all-time closing highs, but still ended above 15,000.

The length of the recent rally has surprised many investors. Analysts said it's difficult for the upward momentum to continue without further catalysts, such as first-quarter earnings reports, which are nearing an end.

Volume was the highest of the week so far, giving more weight to the day's decline. Much of this year's rally has been on weak volume.

"This market is so stretched to the upside that if we get some little wiggle somewhere, I can easily see us getting back down to 1,580" on the S&P 500, said Stephen Massocca, managing director of Wedbush Equity Management LLC in San Francisco.

Apple , down 0.9 percent at $456.77, led the declines of both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, while International Business Machines , down 0.8 percent at $203.24, was the biggest drag on the Dow.

The day's economic data was mostly positive, but failed to give much of a boost to stocks. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in almost 5-1/2 years - contrary to economists' forecast of a gain - U.S. Labor Department data showed.

The Dow Jones industrial averagefell 22.50 points, or 0.15 percent, to end at 15,082.62. The Standard & Poor's 500 Indexdeclined 6.02 points, or 0.37 percent, to finish at 1,626.67. The Nasdaq Composite Indexslipped 4.10 points, or 0.12 percent, to close at 3,409.17.

After the bell, shares of Pricelinefell 3.3 percent to $713 after the online travel agency forecast second-quarter profit would fall below analysts' estimates.

Despite the declines for the day, both the Dow and the S&P 500 reached all-time intraday highs - with the Dow touching 15,144.83 and the S&P 500 reaching 1,635.01.

The market, which had been down slightly from the opening bell through midday, reversed course and began to edge higher in early afternoon. Stocks gave up those gains later in the session.

Limiting the S&P 500's loss, News Corpshares gained 4.5 percent to $33.29. It reported earnings late Wednesday that beat expectations while revenue rose 14 percent. Rupert Murdoch's media company also said it was on track to split off its slow-growing publishing business by the end of June.

Among other top advancers, Tesla Motors Incsurged 24.4 percent to $69.40 a day after posting adjusted earnings that were three times what analysts were expecting as the company sold more cars than it had initially forecast.

Shares of Barnes & Noble Incshot up 24.3 percent to $22.08, after hitting a fresh 52-week high of $22.25. The stock's sharp advance followed a report by web publication TechCrunch that Microsoft Corpwas considering an offer to acquire all of Nook Media's digital assets for $1 billion. Microsoft shares slipped 1 percent to $32.66.

Both Barnes & Noble and Tesla Motors have been among favorite stocks to short, and their gains on Thursday were likely extended by traders who were forced to cover bets the stocks would fall in order to prevent further losses.

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

Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a ratio of nearly 2 to 1 and on the Nasdaq, about three stocks fell for every two that rose.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski and Jan Paschal)

Dancer and choreographer Alif Sankey told a jury hearing a lawsuit filed by Jackson's mother that the pop star appeared thin and unprepared for the rigors of the shows.

She testified that a month before Jackson's June 2009 death, she wrote an email to tour director Kenny Ortega urging him to try to improve the singer's health and spirits. She says she never received a reply.

Sankey worked with Jackson beginning on his music video for 1987's "Smooth Criminal" and was an associate producer on the singer's planned comeback tour "This Is It."

She is testifying in a negligent hiring trial filed by Jackson's mother against concert promoter AEG Live LLC.

The couple believes it's unlikely there ever will be a full answer explaining why a man gunned down 26 people inside the Newtown, Conn., school last year. But they feel more research into brain health and how a propensity for violence is manifested could help prevent future tragedies.

"When we started reaching out to scientists to talk about the underpinnings of violence and how this particular factor played a role in what happened to us, there is some, but no real, research going on this field," Hensel said.

On Monday, they announced a scientific advisory board for the Avielle Foundation, which was established with the goal of reducing violence. While some other victims' families have immersed themselves in the push for tighter gun restrictions, Avielle Richman's parents see the foundation named for their curly-haired daughter as their response to a tragedy that has launched advocacy work on many fronts, including school safety and mental illness.

The Dec. 14 massacre was carried out by 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who killed 20 first-graders and six educators inside the school with a military-style semi-automatic rifle before committing suicide. The isolated, socially awkward Lanza played first-person shooter video games in a weapon-filled house where he lived with his mother, according to search warrants released last month, but authorities have not described a possible motive or released details of any medical condition that might shed light on his actions.

Avielle, a girl who loved horses, Harry Potter and the color red, had moved to Connecticut with her family about two years before the shooting. Her father kept a blog called "Avielle's Adventures," telling friends about a trip to a Thanksgiving Day parade, her 6th birthday at a horse stable, a road trip to Iowa.

Jeremy Richman is a researcher at the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. Hensel, his wife, is a medical writer with her own company. The foundation is a way for them to harness their training and skills and to channel their grief.

"I think the best way to help from a tragedy such as this is by action where your strengths lie," Hensel said. "This is our motivation now. We will never stop being parents to Avielle."

The Avielle foundation, funded through donations and grants, aims to raise $5 million this year and begin reviewing its first grant applications later this year.

One member of the foundation's advisory board, Terrie E. Moffitt, said science on the origins of violence has been neglected by federal agencies that provide research grants.

"Families of individuals with autism, ADHD, learning problems or schizophrenia demand that funding agencies support research into these disorders," said Moffitt, a neuroscience professor at Duke University and at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. "Families of violent individuals don't."

The other members of the board announced Monday are R. John Krystal, chair of the psychiatry department at the Yale University School of Medicine, and James Blair, chief of the unit on affective cognitive neuroscience at the National Institute of Mental Health.

The Avielle Foundation says it hopes to remove stigmas for people seeking mental health aid, develop the concept of a "brain health check-up," and identify behavioral and biochemical diagnostics for detection of people at risk of violent behaviors.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - For years, headlines about Catholic schools in the United States have told gloomy tales of falling enrollment and multiple closings.

Between 2000 and 2013, 2,090 U.S. Catholic schools closed or consolidated and enrollment fell 24.5 percent, according to the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA). In places like Chicago's Leo Catholic High School for boys, student numbers have plummeted from 1,200 students in the 1950s to 157 this year. In New York, the Catholic Archdiocese plans to close 24 schools.

This decline has implications for public schools throughout the nation, say Catholic school supporters. According to the NCEA, the 2 million U.S. students they serve save the nation approximately $21 billion a year in public school costs.

But while schools are closing in northeastern and Great Lakes cities, they're expanding in places like Indiana, Texas, North Carolina and Florida, which have growing Catholic populations, governments willing to support private school, or both.

In Raleigh, North Carolina, for example, Cardinal Gibbons High School has expanded three times since 1994 and now has two facilities for 1,240 students.

"Enrollment in this area is very, very strong," said diocesan superintendent Michael Fedewa. When he came to Raleigh 19 years ago there were so few Catholics it was considered "missionary territory." The diocese has since opened eight new schools.

Nationally, 32 percent of Catholic schools have waiting lists, showing the mismatch between space and demand.

LOSS OF CHEAP LABOR FORCE

Catholic schools took root in the United States when 19th century church officials, responding to anti-Catholic sentiment in public schools, urged every parish to build its own school. Enrollments peaked in the early 1960s, when there were more than 5.2 million students.

Staffed by religious orders like the Jesuits, the schools gained reputations for discipline and academic rigor. Catholic schools outscore public schools in reading and math significantly, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. For eighth-grade reading, for example, Catholic school scores were 7.2 percent higher, the NAEP found.

Graduates joke about getting smacked by nuns but brag about their education. "In my time as an editor, I could always pick out which reporters went to Catholic school, because they could spell," said Leo President Dan McGrath, a former Chicago Tribune editor.

Reasons for declining enrollment include climbing costs and demographic changes - smaller families and the departure of parents with children from northeastern and Great Lakes cities for the suburbs or for jobs in the south and west, according to Catholic school experts. The clergy sex-abuse scandal hasn't helped either.

The expansion of charter schools, which offer an alternative to traditional public schools and charge no tuition, have also hurt Catholic schools. About one in three students gained by charter schools in New York State came at the expense of Catholic schools, according to a new study by Abraham M. Lackman, scholar in residence at the Graduate School of Education, Fordham University.

Where Catholic schools are growing, it's often because of innovative ideas, voucher systems, and outreach programs for growing numbers of Hispanic immigrant children.

Money is a big problem. The number of religious sisters has declined from nearly 180,000 in 1965 to 54,000 in 2012, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, or CARA. That has meant a large loss of cheap labor. Only 3.2 percent of the professionals at today's Catholic schools are clergy or in religious orders, compared with 90.1 percent in 1950, the NCEA said.

"They're replacing low-paid nuns with medium-paid lay people," said Charles Zech, an economics professor at Villanova University near Philadelphia and a specialist in church finances. Whereas lay teachers receive modest salaries, nuns receive "very small" annual stipends, room and board in the convent, and no pension, Zech explained.

Another issue is that Catholics on average give 1.2 percent of their income to the church, compared with 2.5 percent given by Protestants, Zech said. "At least since the mid-60s, we've seen a pattern of Catholics giving half of Protestants."

Weekly church attendance among Catholics fell from 47 percent in 1974 to 24 percent in 2012, according to the Pew Research Center. The clergy abuse scandal, which cost the U.S. church about $3 billion in settlements, and disagreement over the ban on contraception helped drive some people away, according to a Pew study. Less in the collection plate means less to subsidize school tuition.

Catholic school experts worry that soaring tuition is pricing out the low- and middle-income children the Church is supposed to serve. Sister Mary Paul McCaughey, school superintendent for the Chicago archdiocese, recalled how in the mid-1960s she apologized to her parents because her high school tuition rose to $470 (almost $3,000 in today's dollars).

Now tuition averages $3,673 a year for Catholic grade school and $9,622 for high school. The K-12 cost for private school averages $20,612, according to the National Association of Independent Schools. McCaughey said some families are afraid to even consider Catholic school, though scholarships are available.

School officials hope smart planning can save schools. In New York, the diocese is trying to improve its finances by closing underused schools, creating regional centers of control and bringing in help from lay experts for "our Achilles' heels" - marketing, finance and building management, said Timothy J. McNiff, school superintendent for the New York archdiocese.

Right-sizing has been painful. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor told the New York Times she was "heartbroken" that her old Bronx grade school, Blessed Sacrament, would close. The Philadelphia archdiocese closed 34 schools last year.

The Chicago archdiocese will close five schools this year but has seen signs of a turnaround, with city elementary enrollment up three years in a row. McCaughey said young parents in gentrifying neighborhoods and a seven-day public school strike last fall are helping to boost the numbers.

LOOKING FOR TAX SUBSIDIES AND CHARITY

In Indiana, a voucher program for low- and middle-income students has been a boon for Catholic schools. In the archdiocese of Indianapolis alone, the number of voucher students more than doubled from 2012 to 2013, to 2,328.

"We've had to open up new classrooms," said Gina Fleming, assistant superintendent for schools. "We're finally able to provide a desired Catholic education to families who wanted it all along."

Teachers' unions oppose vouchers because they drain money from public schools, and such a program is unlikely in Democrat-majority states like New York and Illinois. Catholic school officials see more hope in programs that allow individuals and corporations to allocate part of their state taxes toward private-school scholarships. Fourteen such programs exist in 11 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Catholic schools also are pushing for more private charity to help needy students.

"We try to turn nobody away for financial reasons. If they really want to come here, we try to find a way to make it work," said Leo's McGrath, whose desk is piled with letters to potential donors. One selling point: over the last five years, every Leo senior has graduated and gotten into college.

ATTRACTING HISPANICS

Many dioceses have seen an increase in the Catholic population due to Hispanic immigrants. But while Hispanics make up nearly 40 percent of U.S. Catholics, they account for just 14 percent of Catholic school students.

The problem is partly cultural. While U.S. Catholic schools have long taken children of various income levels, the schools are seen by many Latin American immigrants as only for the rich. So schools have to let Hispanic families know they're wanted, and explain that scholarships are available.

"You can't do that by giving them a pamphlet," said Raleigh's Fedewa. "You have to build relationships."

The diocese of Venice, Florida, worked directly with the pastor of a majority-Hispanic parish. He in turn reached out to 10 leading parish families to spread the word about Catholic school.

Bringing in Hispanics means being more culturally aware - from hanging images of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico's famous icon, in the hall to having more chairs outside the office to accommodate extended families, said Kathleen Schwartz, diocesan education director.

The other way to expand Catholic schools is by offering innovative, competitive ideas, said Patricia Weitzel-O'Neill, head of the Roche Center for Catholic Education at Boston College.

She cited St. Jerome grade school in Hyattsville, Maryland, a school that's not in a wealthy area but is attracting parents willing to pay for a classical education that includes Latin and rhetoric.

Another example is Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School in Washington, D.C., where students work one day a week at a designated job partner. This helps teach real-world skills and pay for tuition.

Above all, according to Lorraine Ozar, director of the Center for Catholic School Effectiveness at Loyola University, schools must be true to their religious function: "to communicate the person of Jesus and the worldview that comes out of Gospel values ... We need that kind of school now even more than we did before."

(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Arlene Getz and Prudence Crowther)

Lees other amendments, including a bipartisan measure, will seek to narrow some of the categories of people who are allowed to apply to stay in the U.S., such as those who have been sentenced to deportation or who have been deported but have come back to the country. He will also introduce a stricter process for determining how much illegal immigrants owe in back taxes and proving that they are currently employed.

In this time of a growing Hispanic demographic, corporate focus on ROI, and an increasingly competitive market, Thought Leadership is vital for Hispanic marketers to succeed. Through a series of research studies, webinars and strategic partnerships with the best market research companies, AHAA is leading the charge to help educate marketers on the increased need to segment properly for higher ROI and not treat the vast Hispanic market as a "one size fits all."

The study, underwritten by AARP, used Scarborough USA+ (2012) to measure product usage and Doublebase GfK MRI (2012) to measure attitudes and conducted a broad field study that tied the findings to key cultural metrics.

Generational buying patterns and behaviors reveal new opportunities

There have been significant demographic changes since 1980. Sixty percent of all Hispanics are U.S. born, and there are record numbers of multigenerational and multiracial households in the U.S. Coupled with linguistic and cultural differences among Hispanics and the expansion of online and social media, marketers are faced with new challenges and need to take greater measures to understand the differences among Hispanics.

The AHAA Generational Study delved into how generational segments behaved towards several aspects of Latino and Anglo cultures, such as food, music, language, media usage, and celebrations among others, and how the variations play a role in different category buyers when contrasted by generational segment. AHAA found that the cultural orientation of different category buyers often varies, widely suggesting that marketers that leverage relevant cultural cues to its target audience by generational segments can create a greater competitive advantage than those who treat all Hispanics (from Boomers to Millennials) as one monolithic segment.

Specifically, the study points out that there are huge opportunities for marketers in key categories where Hispanics are more likely to be its buyers.

Here are six major areas that sum up the findings:

Additionally, Latino Generational segments differ from each other in buying patterns, partly based on Generational macro-trends, as well as socio-economic and lifestage priorities.

Culture is a common bond

U.S. Hispanics do not live in one culture, but two the question is, which one? And what aspects of each culture are they embracing? It is important to differentiate between acculturation and cultural orientation: acculturation measures demographic variables such as language use, birthplace and media consumption, while cultural orientation measures cultural dimensions such as food, music and values. While measuring cultural orientation helps describe how Hispanics are culturally similar or different to each other and to non-Hispanics, understanding cultural orientation is what helps marketers tailor their messaging effectively because it uncovers aspects of culture, which Hispanics have shown an affinity for.

The AHAA Generational Study revealed that Hispanic cultural duality across all Hispanic generations appears well balanced, but younger Millennials have a higher Anglo cultural orientation than the other Hispanic generations. Marketers must acknowledge not only the changing demographic landscape, but the "cultural duality" the affinity toward two cultures among Hispanics.

This means that marketers with specific opportunities skewing towards a certain generational segment may want to investigate the specific needs and the cultural orientation nuances of their particular target. As millions of Latinos expand across all lifestages, more specific category opportunities abound, oftentimes requiring a mix of broader strategies and tactics.

Conclusion

As part of the AHAA's Thought Leadership strategy, the Generational Study findings pave the way for deeper analysis by marketers for their specific categories and should be used as a starting point. All three Hispanic generations have significant Hispanic values in their DNA, even though they have varying degrees of Anglo orientation. This suggests that great skill will be required to effectively reach them, as well as structure persuasive messaging. Understanding the differences and similarities of each segment can be used to plan how to reach them with broad reach media as well as more targeted ways to deepen engagement. Understanding the generational and cultural orientation differences can help define targeting priorities for product and service marketers.

For more information on this study, please visit .

About AHAA: Headquartered in McLean, VA, AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing represents the best minds and resources dedicated to Hispanic-specialized marketing. Companies trying to reach and connect with Hispanic consumers turn to AHAA members for unmatched cultural expertise and knowledge. As the voice of the Hispanic marketing industry since its founding in 1996, AHAA demonstrates the value of targeting Hispanics, showcases the impact of using AHAA member agencies, and provides forums for the discussion and dialogue between brands and industry professionals.

About AARP:AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, with a membership of more than 37 million, that helps people turn their goals and dreams into real possibilities, strengthens communities and fights for the issues that matter most to families such as healthcare, employment and income security, retirement planning, affordable utilities and protection from financial abuse. We advocate for individuals in the marketplace by selecting products and services of high quality and value to carry the AARP name as well as help our members obtain discounts on a wide range of products, travel, and services. A trusted source for lifestyle tips, news and educational information, AARP produces AARP The Magazine, the world's largest circulation magazine; AARP Bulletin;; AARP TV & Radio; AARP Books; and AARP en Espaol, a Spanish language news source. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to political campaigns or candidates. The AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. AARP has staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Learn more at.

SOURCE AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing

Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi read out a Cabinet statement to reporters Sunday in Damascus following an emergency government meeting.

Al-Zoubi says the Israeli attack is evidence of the Jewish state's links with Islamic extremist groups trying to overthrow President Bashar Assad's regime.

He adds that Syria has the right and the duty "to defend its people by all available means."

The Markit/CIPS Construction Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 49.4, just below the 50 level that separates growth from contraction but well above a forecast for 48.0 in a Reuters poll of economists.

In March, the index stood at 47.2.

Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit, said the sector appeared to have benefited from a catch-up in work after a disruption caused by cold weather earlier in the year.

"The overall survey findings are an early indication that construction will act as less of a drag on UK GDP over the second quarter of 2013," Moore said.

Construction was the biggest drag on Britain's gross domestic product between January and March, lopping 0.2 percentage points off economic growth in the period.

The signs of a slow recovery in construction mirrored a similar reading for the British manufacturing sector on Wednesday.

Residential construction grew in April but commercial and civil engineering activity contracted, Markit said.

Overall demand remained weak, with new business volumes falling for the 11th consecutive month. Although the fall was small, it added to the longest run of declining new business since the steep recession of 2008-09.

Britain's government has taken several measures to help the housing sector and plans to guarantee up to 130 billion pounds in higher-risk mortgages starting in January 2014.

(Reporting by William Schomberg; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

The season started about a month earlier than usual, sparking concerns it might turn into the worst in a decade. It ended up being very hard on the elderly, but was moderately severe overall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Six of the pediatric deaths were reported in the last week, and it's possible there will be more, said the CDC's Dr. Michael Jhung said Friday.

Roughly 100 children die in an average flu season. One exception was the swine flu pandemic of 2009-2010, when 348 children died.

The CDC recommends that all children ages 6 months and older be vaccinated against flu each season, though only about half get a flu shot or nasal spray.

All but four of the children who died were old enough to be vaccinated, but 90 percent of them did not get vaccinated, CDC officials said.

This year's vaccine was considered effective in children, though it didn't work very well in older people.And the dominant flu strain early in the season was one that tends to cause more severe illness.

The government only does a national flu death count for children. But it does track hospitalization rates for people 65 and older, and those statistics have been grim.

In that group, 177 out of every 100,000 were hospitalized with flu-related illness in the past several months. That's more than 2 1/2 times higher than any other recent season.

This flu season started in early December, a month earlier than usual, and peaked by the end of year. Since then, flu reports have been dropping off throughout the country.

"We appear to be getting close to the end of flu season," Jhung said.

___

Online:

CDC flu: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm

Police began searching for the suspects on Friday in the southern region of Araucania.

Officials say the 3-day-old baby was thrown onto a bonfire in November because the leader of the sect believed that the child was the antichrist.

Police arrested four other members of the sect Thursday after a months-long investigation. Among them was the baby's mother, 25-year-old Natalia Guerra.

In her written court statement, she said that all sect members knew that her child "would be murdered" and that they had to obey the leader because he "was God."

The ringleader is 36-year-old Ramon Gustavo Castillo. Police say he escaped to Peru and authorities are working with Interpol to capture him.