Other disease outbreaks in the news include a global measles, seasonal flu and, in some parts of the United States, mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile virus.
Other sectors whose gains on good news outweighed the declines on bad news include energy producers, insurers and basic-materials makers like chemical companies.
Informative sites to check for virus and virus-hoax news include the CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University (www.cert.org/other--sources/viruses.html) and Hoaxbusters (hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HoaxBustersHome.html), which is run by the Computer Incident Advisory Capability.
Stocks in the news include EDS, which topped its lowered third-quarter forecast and said it will cut its workforce by 3% to 4%, and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia reported a 42% decline in profits, despite increased sales.
Other stocks on the move due to company news include agricultural and industrial chemical company IMC Global igl, which is selling its IMC Chemicals soda ash and boron chemicals business to Mincorp LLC in a $520-million 520-million transaction
Other strategies to mitigate anxiety from receipt of bad news include enabling walk-in appointments for patients after abnormal test results and using personal voice calls instead of messages for particularly critical results.
