Since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, a string of technological advances have made it faster and cheaper to sequence a human genome. But there’s still a big problem: what do you do with all that data once you’ve unraveled it?

For Andreas Sundquist, the answer is to send it to the cloud. Sundquist is the CEO and cofounder of DNAnexus, a software startup that positions itself between DNA sequencing facilities and those who need to manage, and glean information from, sequenced genomes—including academic researchers, doctors, and biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

“The more and more data you produce faster and cheaper, the more the bottleneck—which used to be the DNA sequencing itself—is actually now the data management,” he says.

Sundquist sees his company as an instant online genomics center, offering clients immediate access to vast stores of DNA data and to analysis tools so they can make sense of it all—and potentially come up with better treatments for cancer and genetic diseases, as well as identify genetic links to diseases like autism and alcoholism.

Eventually, Sundquist hopes DNAnexus will bring together lots of different genetic databases (which for now tend to exist on their own, without being linked to others), aiding research efforts, drug discoveries, and the creation of drug-targeting diagnostic tests.

And Sundquist expects the market for Mountain View, California-based DNAnexus’s services will grow dramatically. He estimates that about 20,000 full genomes have already been sequenced worldwide, and predicts this will rise to a million in several years as the price and time required continue to fall (right now, he estimates the process takes about a day and costs roughly $4,000). All that data will amount to more than an exabyte of data—one billion gigabytes—and hundreds of thousands of central processing units will be needed to analyze it all, he estimates.

DNAnexus isn’t the only company betting on this growth. David Dooling, assistant director of the Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, points out that several other companies are offering cloud-based DNA analysis services, too, including Illumina.

“I think it’s certainly good that there are people that are trying to make analysis more accessible to a wider community,” Dooling says. “I think it’s a difficult value proposition in that a lot of people are trying to do it now.”

If Sundquist’s expectations pan out, there will be plenty of work to go around. He expects that in the next three years millions of genomes will be sequenced. In 10 years, he believes, everyone in the developed world will have their genome sequenced as part of their medical records, and that many children will have their genome sequenced when they’re born.

One day soon, “when you go to the lab and get a test done, some of those tests are basically going to be software that runs on the genome that’s already part of your record,” he says.

This doesn’t mean we’ll all soon be plucking a hair or swabbing a cheek and sending it off to a lab to get our genomes sequenced. In Sundquist’s view of the future, it will be even easier than that. “I think probably you’ll stick your thumb in your cell phone and it will be built-in,” he says, grinning. “I’m sure the iPhone 10 will have a DNA-sequencing module.”

BY RACHEL METZ

Worryingly for European policymakers, a downturn that is hitting Italy and Spain hard, now appears to be taking root among core members France and Germany.

The data hit the euro and dented optimism following a similar survey on Tuesday that showed the pace of growth in U.S. manufacturing picked up much more than expected.

“The numbers coming out of the euro zone give no cause for comfort. The China economy is holding up, but the debt crisis in Europe is weighing on growth and its rippling across the world,” said Peter Dixon at Commerzbank.

“Global concerns on growth are there, despite stellar numbers from the United States.”

Markit’s Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped to 45.9 last month from 47.7 in March, slightly below a preliminary reading and marking its lowest reading since June 2009.

It has languished the 50 mark that divides growth from contraction for nine months.

The outlook for manufacturing, which drove a large part of the bloc’s escape from recession, is far from bright, and a fresh economic downturn looms.

Firms cut workers at the fastest pace in over two years after new orders fell for the 11th straight month.

Data from Germany, Europe’s largest economy, showed its manufacturing sector contracted for the second month running in April and it was a similar picture in neighboring France.

Only a handful of the 17-nation bloc’s economies are still growing and the euro zone as a whole is expected to suffer a mild recession until the third quarter of this year, a Reuters poll showed last month.

Manufacturing in Spain, now at the centre of the euro zone storm, shrank at its fastest pace in nearly three years and Italy – also under pressure over its towering debts – saw new orders evaporating more quickly than at any time since March 2009.

The downturn is taking a toll on jobs. Unemployment in the euro zone rose to 10.9 percent in March, equaling the record high of 15 years ago, separate data showed on Wednesday, driven by rises in Italy and Spain.

ASIA PRODUCES THE GOODS

A gauge of China’s manufacturing offered more evidence that the world’s second-biggest economy bottomed out in the first quarter of the year. And factory growth in emerging rival India ticked up.

The HSBC China PMI, which concentrates mainly on privately-owned firms, remained below the 50 threshold for the sixth month running. But it rose to 49.3 in April from 48.3, hinting that the rate of deterioration had slowed, and was stronger than last week’s “flash” estimate.

“The pace of China’s slowdown has stabilized,” said Hongbin Qu, chief economist for China & co-Head of Asian economic research at HSBC.

HSBC’s indicator was weaker than China’s official PMI, which soared to a 13-month high of 53.3 in April, highlighting an ongoing divergence between China’s larger, predominantly state-owned enterprises that dominate the official data and the smaller, private firms that struggle to get credit.

Bulging order books helped nudge India’s factory activity up even as slower output growth and increasing price pressures dampened sentiment, its business survey showed.

Similar data released on Wednesday showed manufacturing activity in Asia’s key exporters South Korea and Taiwan grew but at a slower pace.

The uneven performance in China, taken together with data on Tuesday showing U.S. factory growth accelerating but barely any growth in British manufacturing, underscores a bumpy and still-fragile global economy.

“The effect of the solid U.S. manufacturing activity will be felt in Asia in about six months, supporting my view that Asian exporters will gradually recover towards the end of the year,” said Hirokazu Yuihama, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo.

(Additional reporting by Yati Himatsingka in Bangalore, Lucy Hornby in Beijing, Leah Schnurr in Washington and Olesya Dmitracova in London; Editing by Mike Peacock)

(Reuters) – MasterCard Inc (MA.N), the world’s second-largest credit and debit card network, reported a 21 percent rise in quarterly profit as consumers spent more with their cards and revenue rose faster than expenses.

Executives cautioned, however, that such gains are less likely over the rest of the year because of the strength of the business in the latter parts of 2011, and given doubts about consumer confidence in the United States and in Europe.

MasterCard shares fell 2.6 percent to $445.59 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks fell broadly after disappointing news on manufacturing in Europe and private-sector job growth in the United States.

CEO Ajay Banga said that while U.S. consumer confidence has been roughly flat for two months, it is still higher than a year ago. Consumer spending in the United States, MasterCard’s home market, was up in all 11 categories the company tracks in the first quarter and was strongest at restaurants and at apparel, hardware and electronics stores, Banga said in a conference call.

Cardholders made $629 billion of purchases worldwide during the first quarter, up 17 percent from a year earlier, MasterCard said.

Card payments outside the United States grew 20.6 percent, based on local currencies, compared with 14 percent growth in the United States.

The number of transactions processed increased 29 percent to 7.7 billion, the fastest rate of growth since MasterCard went public in 2006. The increase reflects, in part, the increasing movement of consumers globally to making payments electronically instead of with paper currency.

Net income was $682 million, or $5.36 a share, compared with $562 million, or $4.29 a share, a year earlier, the Purchase, New York-based company reported on Wednesday.

Analysts on average had expected $5.30 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

MasterCard net revenue, adjusted for an acquisition, grew faster than expenses, rising 16 percent while operating expenses increased 9 percent.

Visa Inc (V.N), MasterCard’s larger rival in card payment processing networks, is scheduled to report its quarterly results following the close of New York Stock Exchange trading.

(Reporting by David Henry in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and John Wallace)

(Reuters) – Stocks were lower on Wednesday as a weaker euro zone report heightened concerns about the region’s fiscal health and domestic data casts doubt on the strength of the economic recovery.

A report by payrolls processor Automatic Data Processing showed U.S. private employers added 119,000 jobs in April, well short of expectations, ahead of Friday’s key payrolls report.

Euro zone factories sank further into decline last month, with the downturn hitting Italy and Spain hard and appearing to take root in France and Germany. European shares erased earlier gains, with the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 down 0.7 percent.

The reports came a day after the Dow closed at its highest level in more than four years on strong U.S. manufacturing data.

“These aren’t good numbers this morning, they are certainly on the low end of expectations. However, in the broader theme you can’t look at these numbers alone, you can’t isolate them from the broader picture, which is continuing expansion, continuing improvement in U.S. manufacturing,” said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey.

“It’s at the low end of the range and I know it’s disappointing, but in the broader context it’s not really a game changer.”

Adding to the negative tone, new orders for U.S. factory goods in March recorded their biggest decline in three years, even as they came in slightly above expectations.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 63.46 points, or 0.48 percent, to 13,215.86. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index .SPX lost 8.93 points, or 0.64 percent, to 1,396.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC fell 11.09 points, or 0.36 percent, to 3,039.35.

Energy was the worst performer among the 10 major S&P sectors, weighed down by an 13 percent drop Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.N) to $17.05. The S&P energy index .GSPE lost 1.4 percent. Chesapeake was the most actively traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange.

Analysts pointed to Chesapeake’s higher-than-expected natural gas output, up quarter on quarter, even as the company sought to cut production.

Also, Reuters reported Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon ran a $200 million hedge fund on the side that traded in the same commodities Chesapeake produces.

MasterCard Inc (MA.N), the big credit and debit card network, reported a 21 percent rise in profit. Shares were off 2.5 percent to $445.

CVS Caremark Corp (CVS.N) were up 1.9 percent to $45.55 after the drugstore operator and pharmacy benefits manager posted a sharp rise in first-quarter sales and raised its profit forecast.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc (AEO.N) jumped 12.5 percent to $20.13 after the teen clothing retailer raised its profit forecast.

Of the 350 S&P 500 companies that have reported results through Wednesday morning, 70 percent have topped analysts’ estimates, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Women’s clothing retailer Ascena Retail Group Inc (ASNA.O) will buy Charming Shoppes Inc (CHRS.O) for $857.2 million in an all-cash deal. Charming surged 23.4 percent to $7.28 as the most actively traded Nasdaq stock and Ascena gained 10 percent to $20.92.

Chipmaker Microchip Technology Inc (MCHP.O) will acquire smaller rival Standard Microsystems Corp (SMSC.O) for $829.2 million. Microchip added 0.3 percent to $35.35 and Standard Micro climbed 38.3 percent to $36.28.

Results are Wednesday from 31 S&P 500 companies, including Visa Inc (V.N), Whole Foods Market Inc (WFM.O) and Symantec Corp (SYMC.O).

(Reporting By Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

(Reuters) – The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an informal inquiry into Chesapeake Energy Corp’s controversial program that granted Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon a share in each of the natural gas producer’s wells, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

That investigation, being led by the SEC’s office in Fort Worth, Texas, comes after Reuters reported about loans McClendon had obtained on those wells that raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest by the company’s CEO.Chesapeake said in a statement earlier on Thursday that its directors had never reviewed or approved McClendon’s mortgages on stakes in those wells, reversing its assertions that its board of directors was “fully aware” of McClendon’s financing transactions around the well ownership stakes.

“The Board of Directors did not review, approve or have knowledge of the specific transactions engaged in by Mr. McClendon or the terms of those transactions,” the company said.Reuters reported on April 18 that McClendon, who founded the company, had borrowed as much as $1.1 billion against his 2.5 percent interest in wells that he received under the company’s “Founder Well Participation Program.”

The company also said on Thursday that it would end that program in 2015, when the shareholder approval of the program that started in 2005 expires.

Chesapeake said “the statement last week the that ‘the Board of Directors is fully aware of the existence of Mr. McClendon’s financing transactions’ was intended to convey the fact that the Board of Directors is generally aware” that McClendon had used the well ownership stakes as security for the loans.

One analyst said Chesapeake’s new statement did not provide any reassurance that it was addressing the issues.

“How can this make me more comfortable?” said Phil Weiss, an analyst with Argus Research. “Either you’re fully aware, or you’re not. ‘Fully’ and ‘generally’ are two entirely different words.”

But an investor said the move was a step in the right direction, and that it showed the company was listening to shareholders’ complaints.

“It’s basic due diligence that sadly wasn’t being done before,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which owns Chesapeake shares. “It shows the free reign that McClendon had.”

The company, the second-largest natural gas producer in the United States behind Exxon Mobil Corp, said it would not extend that program for McClendon beyond 2015, when authorization under a 2005 shareholder vote will expire.

Chesapeake said McClendon would disclose additional information about his ownership stakes in the wells, and the board would review the CEO’s financing arrangements.

The loans, taken out over the past three years, were previously undisclosed to shareholders, analysts and academics said, raising concerns that McClendon’s personal financial deals could compromise his fiduciary duty to Chesapeake.

(Reuters) – The housing market is seeing hints of stabilization, with February home prices rising for the first time in 10 months, according to a survey on Tuesday, while a measure of consumer confidence last month fell more than expected.

The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.2 percent in February from January on a seasonally adjusted basis, matching economists’ forecasts.

It was the first time prices have risen since April 2011. That gain was itself an anomaly in a string of declines stretching back to May 2010.

Still, the report was far from suggesting that problems in the battered sector were over. Average home prices across the country were back to late 2002 levels, the report said, as the non-seasonally adjusted 20-city index fell 0.8 percent to 134.20, the lowest since October 2002.

“Even with today’s data, the broad prospect for home prices is at best flat over the course of the year,” said Tom Porcelli, chief economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York.

“And as much as we have had progress with the supply and demand imbalance, it is still a challenge to gather any momentum here.”

Robert Shiller, co-creator of the home price index, said the housing market is likely to remain weak and may take a generation or more to rebound.

“I worry that we might not see a really major turnaround in our lifetimes,” Shiller said on Reuters Insider, calling the day’s home price data a mixed bag.

Data from the Conference Board showed its index of consumer attitudes edged down to 69.2 from a downwardly revised 69.5 in March.

Expectations for prices in the coming year cooled to 5.8 percent from 6.2 percent. March’s inflation expectation was originally reported as 6.3, the highest level since May 2010.

Wall Street saw little reaction immediately after the data with stocks getting a boost in the late morning from corporate earnings.

Earnings results from a round of large manufacturers on Tuesday topped Wall Street’s expectations, as recovering domestic demand helped offset a weak European economy and slowing growth inChina.

A separate, government report showed new single-family home sales sagged in March to their lowest level in four months, but sales in the prior three months were revised higher.

The Commerce Department said March sales slipped 7.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted 328,000-unit annual rate. February’s sales pace was revised higher to 353,000 units, the fastest pace since November 2009, from the previously reported 313,000 units.

“The conditions in housing are still extremely weak, but there are some very subtle, less negative, signs suggesting stabilization there,” said Sean Incremona, economist at 4Cast Ltd in New York.

Six years after home prices started to crumble, the housing market remains a thorn in the side of the economy. Ongoing foreclosures, tight credit and a dearth of buyers have kept the sector on the ropes.

Economists say a meaningful recovery in housing is still a long way off and will show a regional disparity as some areas improve more quickly than others.

The beleaguered housing market has also been a concern for the Federal Reserve. The central bank begins its two-day meeting on Tuesday, and investors will be keen for any insight on whether the central bank will provide more stimulus for the economy.

The Fed releases its statement on Wednesday. It has held interest rates at near-zero since late 2008 and has purchased more than $2 trillion in long-term securities as part of its efforts to bolster the fragile economic recovery.

The central bank has said it will likely keep rates at ultra-low levels at least through 2014.

ATLANTA, LAS VEGAS PRICES TUMBLE

Prices in the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index fell 3.5 percent year over year, moderating from the previous month’s decline of 3.8 percent.

Prices dropped in seven of the cities on a seasonally adjusted basis, while prices in two cities were unchanged. On an unadjusted basis, 16 of the areas slumped further.

By Leah Schnurr