As late as May 3rd, it seemed that Facebook wouldn’t quite make it to $100 billion, as an amended form S-1 showed that the company only valued itself in the $60-75 billion price range, but apparently would-be investors helped the company pull out the stops at the last minute.

As you’d expect in preparation for a major financial announcement like this, interest in Facebook’s founders and business practices is at an all-time high. Here are just a few recent jumping-off points if you’re interested, and you can find more in our StoryStream on the right.

The world champion boxer and Filipino congressman has been criticized ever since he was quoted in an interview on the examiner.com website saying he opposed President Barack Obama’s support for gay marriage.

Pacquiao said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press that he doesn’t support gay marriage because of his Roman Catholic beliefs. But he said he has gay friends and relatives, and supports their rights.

“I’m not against the gay people,” Pacquiao said. “I’m not condemning them. … I have a cousin (who is) gay. I have relatives (who are) gay. I have a lot of friends (who are) gay, so I’m not condemning gays. What I said is I’m not in favor of same-sex marriage. That’s the one thing I said to the guy.

“I told (the reporter) I’m against same-sex marriage,” Pacquiao added. “He said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘It’s the law of God.’ That’s all I said.”

The examiner.com story contained a Bible passage from Leviticus calling for the death of “a man (who) lies with a man,” and Pacquiao said many readers erroneously believed he had quoted that verse.

He said he had not, and the writer later clarified in a follow-up post that he had included the verse himself.

“My favorite verse in the Bible is ‘Love one another,’ and ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself,’ ” Pacquiao said. “It’s in the Bible: Do not judge. I’m not judging.”

Pacquiao was banned from a popular Hollywood shopping mall after the article was publicized Tuesday, and an online petition encouraging sponsor Nike to drop Pacquiao received 4,868 signatures before it was suspended Wednesday morning. The petition site, change.org, posted a note saying that the author of the original article had clarified that Pacquiao didn’t cite the Bible passage.

Pacquiao spoke to the AP next to his pool at his comfortable Los Angeles home, where the congressman lives while training for fights at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. The champion had the day off from training, spending the morning in medical exams before a big lunch and some relaxation.

Although Pacquiao is experiencing a newfound passion for his religion and has socially conservative views in line with many Filipinos’ beliefs, he was eager to clear his name after a 24-hour avalanche of criticism over the belief that the eight-division world champion boxer had denounced gay rights and even supported the killing of gay people.

Although he opposes same-sex marriage, Pacquiao declined to weigh in on civil unions, the internationally popular alternative, saying he didn’t know enough about the concept to form an opinion.

“It’s hard to give a correct answer to what’s the right situation,” he said.

The expansive Los Angeles mall known as The Grove, where the syndicated entertainment-news show “Extra” films its episodes, wouldn’t allow Pacquiao to film a segment on its premises, worrying that an appearance by the boxer could be disruptive. Host Mario Lopez, an avid boxing fan, instead filmed an interview with Pacquiao at the fighter’s home.

Pacquiao chuckled at the knowledge that his words — even words he said he didn’t say — carry more weight than those of an average athlete because of his political aspirations.

“With great power comes great responsibility, so that’s my responsibility, to handle everything,” Pacquiao said. “This has happened before. You have to explain and understand. It’s a lot more fun to train (for a fight).”

Pacquiao is the Philippines’ most famous person and one of the world’s most popular athletes. The eight-division world champion is a movie star, singer, pitchman and congressman, representing the Sarangani province in the Philippines’ House of Representatives since May 2010.

He has won 16 consecutive fights since March 2005, beating Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito. He will defend his WBO welterweight title against Timothy Bradley on June 9 in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao has embraced Catholicism in recent months after marital trouble with his wife, Jinkee. Although he has always attended Mass before his fights, the boxer has taken up frequent Bible study, and he traveled from the Philippines to the U.S. in the company of a spiritual adviser and pastor, Jeric Soriano, now a regular presence in Pacquiao’s life in Los Angeles and the Philippines.

“It’s difficult sometimes, but God gave me a talent,” Pacquiao said. “He gave me a wisdom and a knowledge.”

Although Pacquiao has some conservative social views, he also has ties to progressive American politicians, including Nevada Sen. Harry Reid. The boxer campaigned for the Democratic majority leader during his tough re-election victory over Sharron Angle in 2010.

Pacquiao also visited Obama at the White House last year, discussing basketball and boxing. The fighter says he enjoyed meeting Obama, but didn’t share his views on same-sex marriage.

Pacquiao is the fourth of six children born into poverty in the Philippines, and he has four children of his own with his wife. He has spoken out against birth control during his political career, affirming his Roman Catholic faith.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., Pacquiao’s only rival for pound-for-pound supremacy in boxing, took to Twitter on Wednesday to tout his own beliefs.

“I stand behind President Obama & support gay marriage,” Mayweather tweeted. “I’m an American citizen & I believe people should live their life the way they want.”
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY — Even down late, the Oklahoma City Thunder are showing that they are never out.

Kevin Durant scored 22 points and rattled in the go-ahead basket on a baseline runner with 18 seconds left, and the Thunder scored the final nine points to rally for a 77-75 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals Wednesday night.

Oklahoma City trailed by seven with two minutes left before surging back with a series of defensive stops by its stars to claw back from that deficit in the closing stages of a game for the second time this postseason. The Thunder were also seven down with 2½ minutes left in Game 1 against defending NBA champion Dallas in the first round.

“They won’t quit. That’s not in their DNA,” coach Scott Brooks said. “They’re not wired that way and if they were, they wouldn’t be here. We’re not going to win every game, but we’re going to fight to the last second of the game and we did that tonight.

“If we would have gotten down on ourselves with two minutes to go, we would have lost by 12 and we would go to L.A. 1-1.”

Instead, Oklahoma City takes a 2-0 lead into Game 3 on Friday night at Staples Center.

Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum scored 20 points apiece for the Lakers, who came up empty on their last six possessions after Bynum’s hook shot made it 75-68 with 2:09 remaining.

After struggling throughout the second half and missing 20 of their first 27 shots, the Thunder suddenly came alive after Brooks called timeout following Bynum’s basket that gave Los Angeles its largest lead of the game.

James Harden drove for a layup before Durant used his height advantage to reach up and tip away a pass from Bryant, who he was guarding. Durant ran out for a right-handed dunk at the other end beforeRussell Westbrook forced another turnover by aggressively challenging an outlet pass to Bryant along the sideline.

Harden made the next stop, blocking Bryant’s jumper on the next Lakers possession and getting a layup in transition off it to cut the deficit to one in the final minute.

Bryant couldn’t connect again, this time on a 3-pointer, to give the Thunder the ball back with the chance to take the lead and Durant was able to make it happen.

“I wish it was my magical words. All I told the guys was, ‘We’re down seven. You don’t have to play perfect basketball, but we better come pretty close,’” Brooks said.

Steve Blake missed an open 3-pointer from the right side with about five seconds left after Metta World Peace couldn’t get the ball to Bryant on the inbounds play.

Brown said he thought Bryant was open on the back side of the play, but World Peace apparently didn’t see him — agreeing that Bryant was supposed to be the first option.

“Blake was wide open. We didn’t have any timeouts left and he got a clean look, a really good look,” World Peace said. “He can knock that down.”

Durant was then fouled with 0.3 seconds left and made his first try before missing the second on purpose — failing to hit the backboard or rim for a violation.

The Lakers got a desperation try, but World Peace’s long pass for Bynum was intercepted by Harden.

“What they did the last few minutes there, they just made gambles,” Bryant said. “They just jumped in the passing lanes. It’s something that we’re not accustomed to seeing. It’s just flat-out risks defensively.”

Historically, the loss makes a huge difference. Los Angeles is 29-12 when splitting the first two games of a seven-game series and has lost 17 of 19 when falling into a 2-0 hole. The Lakers’ last comeback was in the 2004 West semifinals against San Antonio.

The Thunder have won all nine of their series after leading 2-0, dating back to the franchise’s days in Seattle.

“It’s not good. I don’t think anybody’s happy in there (in the locker room),” coach Mike Brown said. “We felt like we let one slip away.”

Bryant was right at the heart of the meltdown, missing two shots and having a hand in two turnovers in the final 2 minutes. The first turnover came when Durant used his nearly 7-foot frame and impressive wingspan to come up with an energizing steal and fast-break chance.

“He used his length on Kobe. Coming up with that steal was huge,” Brown said. “That’s what great players are supposed to do. They’re supposed to take on the challenge at the end of the game and he did.

“He won the game for them, basically.”

Westbrook added 15 points for Oklahoma City, which matched its lowest scoring total of the season but still gutted out the win. The Thunder had ripped apart the Lakers’ defense with their pick-and-roll attack in Game 1, scoring 119 points in a 29-point blowout.

“We dominated defensively,” Bynum said. “We stopped them, made them play through their bigs and turn the ball over. In the last two minutes, we gave the game away.”

In a game that was nip-and-tuck throughout, the Lakers started inching away early in the fourth quarter while Westbrook was on the bench.

Bryant drilled a jumper from the left wing and Blake followed with a 3-pointer before World Peace hit one of two free throws for a 69-63 advantage with 7:27 remaining — the Lakers’ largest lead to that point.

Westbrook returned then but provided only the briefest of sparks for the struggling Oklahoma City offense, and Bynum’s second straight basket — on a left-handed hook shot at the left block — made it 75-68 with 2:09 to play.

Until that point, Oklahoma City had more turnovers (eight) than made baskets (seven) in the second half after committing an uncharacteristically low four turnovers in Game 1.

Game notes
The NBA on Wednesday fined Devin Ebanks $25,000 for actions related to his Game 1 ejection and Bynum $15,000 for failing to speak to reporters Tuesday. Bynum, who has had recent disciplinary issues within the team, talked at the Lakers’ morning shootaround Wednesday and called it a make up for skipping the previous day. “I think he’s learning. Is he going to be a perfect citizen the rest of his career? I don’t know,” Brown said. “He’s bound to make mistakes. I think everybody makes mistakes.” … World Peace has said he supported Brooks to become Sacramento’s coach back in 2007, when Brooks had been an assistant under Eric Musselman. “Little does he know, if I would have got the job, I was going to ask for him to be traded,” Brooks joked. He then called World Peace, or Ron Artest at the time, the third-best two-way player at the time behind Bryant and Kevin Garnett. … Harden caught World Peace with an inadvertent elbow to the face in the first quarter.

McClain must serve 45 days in prison for each charge, totaling 180 consecutive days. McClain must also pay a fine of $500, in addition to court costs.

McClain appealed the charges and is not currently in custody, according to the clerk. The date on which he will start his sentence is pending the outcome of the appeal.

McClain’s co-defendant pleaded guilty and testified against McClain on Thursday morning. This came after a disturbing video emerged of the incident that precipitated the charges.

The video showed McClain and his co-defendant, Jarodiaus Willingham, attacking Rishard Tapscott, the alleged victim in the case. Willingham is shown kicking and punching him.

It’s a stunning turn of events for a player that looked like a rising star not long ago. McClain will be subject to NFL discipline. Raiders have stood by McClain throughout his ordeal, but clearly must make plans for his absence.

Seventh-round pick Nathan Stupar and second-year player Travis Goethel looked like potential backups to McClain. The team could also look to sign a veteran or try outside linebacker Philip Wheeler in the middle. There were many low-cost middle linebackers available in free agency, but the Raiders chose not to fortify the position.

Speaking Thursday after a quarterly owners’ meeting, Selig said there’s no timetable for resolving Oakland’s dispute with the San Francisco Giants. The Giants are preventing the A’s from building a ballpark in San Jose, which is part of the Giants’ territory.

Baseball has been reluctant to approve relocations. When the Montreal Expos became theWashington Nationals after the 2004 season, it was the first shift since the expansion Washington Senators transformed into the Texas Rangers in 1972.

Asked whether the A’s would consider other relocation possibilities, Selig responded: “You’d have to ask Lew Wolff. That’s really his decision to make.”

Twenty-three teams have opened ballparks since 1989, and the A’s and Tampa Bay are the only two teams still seeking new stadiums. Wolff would be allowed to consider other sites within the A’s territory — such as downtown Oakland — but approval from MLB would be needed for a move outside the territory.

“It depends where they’d be. They could be all over the world, for that matter,” Selig said. “They need approval. We have to go through an approval process. It just depends on where they’re moving to.”

Selig said last month he hoped the A’s and Giants would resolve the matter themselves, but there’s no indication that will happen.

“Both clubs yesterday made a presentation to the executive council, but there’s nothing new other than that,” Selig said.

He added that he can’t provide a timetable and responded “no” when asked whether some kind of decision was approaching.

With the Houston Astros switching to the American League next year, MLB also is working on a new schedule format that provides season-long interleague play. Selig said it’s possible baseball could retain six interleague games between rivals, such as the New York Yankees and Mets, theChicago Cubs and White Sox, the A’s and the Giants, and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels.

“The fans like it,” Selig said. “When your fans like something, you have to be responsive to that and sensitive to it.”

Baseball hopes to complete its new collective bargaining agreement with players within a few weeks. A memorandum of understanding on the five-year deal was signed Nov. 22.

Rob Manfred, MLB’s executive vice president of labor relations, also gave MLB’s first explanation for last week’s decision to fire Shyam Das, the arbitrator who in February overturned a 50-game suspension for NL MVP Ryan Braun following a positive drug test. Braun’s lawyers argued his urine sample wasn’t handled as specified in baseball’s drug agreement.

“Shyam served for 13 years. That’s a very long time,” Manfred said. “He’s a very high-quality arbitrator. We made a decision to exercise our contractual right to make a change. There’s nothing more to that.”

Management and the union are to talk next week about selecting a new arbitrator, who would hear the union’s grievance to overturn a 100-game suspension for Giants reliever Guillermo Mota.

Mark Walter and Stan Kasten, the Dodgers’ new chairman and president, attended their first owners’ meeting since buying the team from Frank McCourt on May 1 in a record $2 billion deal. Owners approved a six-year extension of the major league constitution and Baseball Advanced Media, the sport’s Internet division.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

The 40-year-old Wright (51-5-1, 25 KOs), naturally, has a tremendous experience advantage over Quillin (26-0-, 20 KOs), who was seven years old attending  grammar school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when “Winky” made his pro debut in 1990.

“Winky” hasn’t fought in three years but he has had significantly more fights (57-26), rounds (394-97), and years as a pro (21 ½ – 6 ½) than Quillin, who, of course, hopes to be the first non-world champion to defeat Wright, as well as stop the defensive southpaw for the first time.  In a class comparison, Wright has a decided edge having defeated all-time greats such as Felix Trinidad and Shane Mosely, while Qullin’s most notable win came against Craig McEwan in his last fight and HBO debut.

“I understand the risk,” Quillin commented.  “I fear no man and I’m so confident because I’m working hard, six days at week, at Wild Card Gym (trainers Freddie Roach and Eric Brown), and with (strength-and-conditioning coach) Brad Bose.  I’ve dedicated my life to boxing.  ‘Winky’ is a future Hall of Famer.  Beating him will give me respect.  He’s a good defensive fighter and I need rounds. None of my last five fights have gone more than six rounds (19 total).

“I’m not taking him lightly, even if he’s 40 and has been off for a few years. I am challenging myself to see if I can be the first to stop him.  I worked five weeks with Freddie Roach, soaking up everything he said and showed me, to learn about becoming a more complete fighter.  This fight is make-or-break for me.”

Team Kid Chocolate believes the risk of fighting an experienced, potentially dangerous Wright is well worth the reward.

“We feel Peter is on the threshold of becoming a special fighter,” explained John Seip, who co-manages Quillin with Jim McDevitt.  “He is fighting a future Hall of Fame fighter who still possesses a lot of boxing skills, knowledge and experience.  This fight is a good test for Peter.  We take one fight at a time but are confident and ready for ‘Winky.’  Peter is training hard and he is not taking anything for granted.  He is focused and prepared.  This will be the beginning of a very exciting year for Peter.  The middleweight division has become a very interesting weight class and beating ‘Winky’ will position Peter as one of the top middleweight contenders in the world.”

NEW YORK – Stocks recovered from an early loss Thursday, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average within four points of 13,000. Investors were encouraged by more good news on U.S. jobs, but gains were limited by poor results from retailers such as Safeway and Kohl’s.

The Dow was up 35 points at 12,973 just after 3 p.m. EST. In the morning, it rose as high as 12,996. On Tuesday, the Dow briefly traded above 13,000 for the first time in nearly four years.

The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 was up three points to 1,361, and the Nasdaq composite was up 16 points to 2,950.

Investors were encouraged after the government reported that the number of people seeking unemployment benefits last week was unchanged, and the four-week average was the lowest in four years.

High unemployment has been a problem for retailers, which have been forced to slash prices even though they are paying more to make and ship their goods. The burden showed in Thursday’s earnings reports.

Kohl’s, the department store chain, sank 5 percent after weak holiday sales caused it to miss Wall Street estimates for revenue and earnings. Grocery store chain Safeway Inc. plunged 10 percent after reporting a 6 percent drop in profit.

Part of the problem is the rising cost of gas, which could hurt the economic recovery. The price of gas is rising as tensions mount over Iran’s nuclear program. A gallon of regular sells for $3.61 on average, the highest on record this time of year.

The price of oil jumped again Thursday, to $107.83, a nine-month high and up $1.52 for the day. Besides Iran, analysts blamed the falling U.S. dollar, which makes oil more expensive for investors holding foreign money.

The euro jumped to a two-month high against the dollar, $1.3333, up almost a penny from Wednesday, after business confidence surged in Germany.

Dillard’s, another department store chain, and the discount chain Target also missed analysts’ estimates. Earlier this week, Wal-Mart fell short on earnings and revenue after aggressive discounts for the holidays cut into profit margin.

Sears Holdings Corp., which owns Sears, Kmart and Land’s End, also missed estimates for revenue and per-share earnings. Its stock soared 17 percent, but that was because it outlined plans to spin off some stores and sell others.

For the most part, U.S. stocks have been rising since Thanksgiving, as the most potent fears of last summer – that the country would enter another recession, and that the European debt crisis would damage the U.S. economy – have dissipated.

The market has yet to settle into a definitive trend, however. In the 35 completed trading days so far this year, the Dow has risen on 20 and fallen on 15.

“On Tuesday the world is ending, on Wednesday the opposite happens, after two or three weeks we’re right where we started because not much happened,” said Bill Hampel, chief economist of the Credit Union National Association.

Of the S&P 500′s 10 industry groups, seven were up in afternoon trading. Financials led the charge forward, partly because of a calm day for news about Greek debt talks. U.S. bank stocks were pummeled last year as investors worried about exposure to European debt, but some of those concerns have eased.

On Thursday, the Greek Parliament approved a plan to wipe out euro107 billion of debt that it owes to investors who hold its government bonds. Greece is expected to make a formal offer to bondholders Friday.

Earlier this week, Greece locked down a second bailout from the International Monetary Fund and other countries that use the euro currency. The bailout is designed to prevent a default on Greece’s debt, which could shock the world financial system.

But deep problems continue to haunt Greece, including a recession and the prospect that investors will shy away from buying its bonds in the future. The U.S. market has been yanked up and down this year by incremental headlines from Greece.

David Trone, managing director of JMP Securities, a brokerage, said financial stocks were up because of the relative calm in Greece. U.S. bank stocks had plummeted last year over fears about their exposure to European debt.

Otherwise, Thursday’s news out of Greece was too incremental to move the market much one way or the other. “Investors aren’t feeling any happier or any worse than they were yesterday,” Trone said.

In the bond market, yields for U.S. Treasurys fell after the government sold seven-year notes at a lower yield than the average over the past four months. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.98 percent from 2 percent Wednesday.

Among other stocks making big moves in the U.S.:

- HSN Inc., which runs a cable TV channel for home shopping, rose 1.9 percent after its profit climbed 13 percent in the most recent quarter.

- Vivus Inc., a drugmaker, rose 80 percent after federal regulators said that Qnexa, a drug Vivus is developing for weight loss, should be approved.

- CEC Entertainment Inc., which owns Chuck E. Cheese children’s restaurants, rose 1.6 percent after an analyst for Morgan Keegan upgraded the company. Morgan Keegan said store remodels may attract more guests.

NEW YORK – Pepsi is hoping to win back soda drinkers with a compromise.

Some people don’t like the calories in regular soda, but loathe the taste of diet. So the nation’s No. 2 cola company is rolling out “Pepsi Next,” a drink that has about half the calories of regular Pepsi at 60 calories per can.

The cola, which is slated to hit store shelves nationally by the end of March, is Pepsi’s biggest product launch in years. The drink comes as people increasingly move away from sugary drinks to water and other lower-calorie beverages because of health concerns. It’s also an attempt by Pepsi to revive the cola wars against Coke and others.

Pepsi Next isn’t the first drink to try to hit the sweet spot between diet and regular cola. Dr Pepper Snapple rolled out its low-calorie Dr Pepper Ten, which has 10 calories. The company said the drink, which has sugar unlike its diet soda, helped boost its fourth-quarter sales.

But coming up with a successful “mid-calorie soda,” which has more calories, has been more challenging for beverage makers. In 2001, Coke rolled out “C2″ and Pepsi in 2004 introduced its “Pepsi Edge,” both of which had about half the calories of regular soda. Both products also were taken off the market by 2006 because of poor sales.

“The problem was that consumers either wanted regular soda or a diet drink with zero calories – not something in between,” said John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest.

Pepsi says its latest stab at an in-between soda uses a different formula to more closely imitate the taste of regular soda. In addition to sugar, Pepsi Next is made with a mix of three artificial sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup.

A Pepsi spokeswoman, Melisa Tezanos, said the company developed the cola by researching the “taste curve” that consumers experience when drinking regular soda. She compared that arc to how someone might evaluate a sip of wine, from the moment the liquid hits the tongue to the aftertaste it leaves.

“We wanted to develop a taste curve that gives the full flavor of regular Pepsi,” Tezanos said.

Pepsi Next also follows the company’s lower-calorie variations of its other drinks. Gatorade, a unit of Pepsi, has “G2,” which at 20 calories has a little less than half the calories of the original version. And the company’s Tropicana unit introduced “Trop50,” which is half of the 110 calories in a regular 8-ounce glass of orange juice.

But orange juice and sports drinks have nutritional benefits that a drink maker can market. A mid-calorie soda is a tougher sell because it provides only empty calories. So health-conscious drinkers usually opt for diet soda or quit soda altogether.

Sales in the $74 billon soft drink industry have been fizzling out, with volume falling steadily since 2005, according to Beverage Digest, which tracks the industry. Meanwhile, healthier drinks are growing more popular, with bottled water accounting for 11 percent of all beverages consumed in 2010, up from 2 percent in 2000. Consumption of sports drink rose to 2.3 percent, from 1.2 percent.

Diet soda also rose to 29.9 percent of the carbonated drink market in 2010, up from 24.7 percent a decade earlier. To keep up with changing tastes, Coke and Pepsi have introduced newer versions of their diet drinks – Coke Zero and Pepsi Max – that promise a taste that’s more like their regular sodas.

Pepsi hopes Pepsi Next will help it gain back the market share it’s lost in recent years. The company’s namesake drink had its share in the carbonated soft drink market fall to 9.5 percent in 2010, from 13.6 percent a decade earlier, while Diet Pepsi’s share remained steady at 5.3 percent.

Coke is still the top selling brand, with 17 percent market share. Diet Coke follows with 9.9 percent.

PepsiCo Inc., based in Purchase, N.Y., said earlier this month that it plans to increase marketing for its brands by $500 million to $600 million this year. A centerpiece of that will be the company’s first global ad campaign this summer, a peak time for the soda market.

—

Follow Candice Choi at http://www.twitter.com/candicechoi

Rates for 30-year contracts rose from 3.87 percent to 3.95 percent with 0.8 point for the week. A year earlier, 30-year mortgage rates averaged 4.95 percent.

The 15-year fixed rate in the week rose from 3.16 percent to 3.19 percent with 0.8 point. In the same week of 2011 the average rate for 15-year loans stood at 4.22 percent.

Five-year adjustable rate mortgages averaged 2.8 percent for the week with an average 0.7 point, down from last week’s rate of 2.82 percent. A year earlier, five-year adjustable rate contracts averaged 3.8 percent.

One year Treasury-indexed adjustable mortgages rates also slid in the week, dropping from 2.84 percent to 2.73 percent with 0.6 point.

Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft said mortgage rates are climbing as the housing market is showing signs of improvement.

“New data releases this week suggest the housing market is continuing to gradually improve. Loans that were seriously delinquent (90 days or more past due plus the foreclosure inventory) fell to 5.3 percent of prime mortgages at the end of 2011, representing the lowest quarterly share since the start of 2009,” he said.

In addition, new residential construction starts in January came in higher than expectations and existing home sales were “at the strongest pace in January since May 2010,” Nothaft said.

NEW YORK – Stocks recovered from an early loss on Wall Street Thursday, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average within four points of 13,000. Traders were encouraged by more good news on the U.S. jobs market, but the gains were limited by poor results from retailers including Safeway and Kohl’s.

The Dow was up 49 points to 12,988 shortly after noon. Earlier in the morning, it rose as high as 12,996. On Tuesday it briefly traded above 13,000 for the first time in nearly four years.

The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 was up three points to 1,361, and the Nasdaq composite was up 19 points to 2,952.

The gains were uneven. Seven of the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rose, led by financials.

The market has been yanked up and down this year by incremental headlines out of Greece as the country’s lawmakers and its lenders wrestled over a deal that would keep the country from defaulting on debt next month but also require it to cut the profligate public spending that its citizens have grown used to.

Earlier this week Greece locked down terms of its second bailout but it doesn’t have the money yet. The terms of the deal still need to be validated by the end of March, meaning the market could continue to fluctuate on small changes in the deal-making process.

David Trone, managing director of JMP Securities, said financial stocks were up on the relative calm in Greece. U.S. bank stocks had plummeted last year over fears about their exposure to European debt.

Otherwise, Thursday’s news out of Greece was too incremental to move the market much one way or the other. “Investors aren’t feeling any happier or any worse than they were yesterday,” Trone said.

For the most part, U.S. stocks have been rising since Thanksgiving, as the most potent fears of last summer – that the country would enter another recession, and that the European debt crisis would prove catastrophic to the U.S. – have dissipated.

The market has yet to settle into a definitive trend, however. In the 35 completed trading days so far this year, the Dow has risen on 20 and fallen on 15.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.02 percent from 2 percent late Wednesday, another sign that investors are putting more money into stocks rather than the safe-haven government bonds.

There have been signs that the U.S. economy is improving – including Thursday’s report that the number of people seeking unemployment aid last week was unchanged, at its lowest point in four years.

There are also concerns that the nascent recovery could be derailed by a jobless rate that remains roughly double what economists consider full employment, and gas prices that are higher than they’ve ever been at this time of year. A gallon of regular gas costs $3.61, on average, up from $3.19 a year ago as tensions mount over Iran’s nuclear program.

Among the biggest movers on the stock market:

-Grocery store chain Safeway Inc. plunged 10 percent after reporting a 6 percent drop in profit. Grocers are struggling with rising prices for food and fuel while dealing with cost-conscious shoppers.

-Kohl’s, the department store chain, sank 5 percent after weak holiday sales forced it to miss analysts’ estimates for revenue and per-share earnings. Retailers are struggling to lure cash-strapped customers to keep spending and are being forced to slash prices, which might persuade more customers to walk through the door but also cuts into profit margins.

-Hewlett-Packard dropped 4 percent after issuing a disappointing profit outlook and reporting a 7 percent decline in sales. New CEO Meg Whitman pleaded for patience from investors as she described internal challenges and other problems that contributed to a decline in earnings at one of the world’s largest technology companies.