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VOL. CCLXI NO. 86 * * * * * * * *

SATURDAY/SUNDAY, APRIL 13 - 14, 2013

HHHH $2 .00

WSJ.com

Americans in recent weekshave cut spending on everythingfrom dining out to electronics tocars, suggesting a renewed skep-ticism in the economy after a re-silient start to the year.

The question now: Is the con-sumer pullback a stutter orsomething more serious?

Cash-register sales in Marchfell by 0.4%, with weakness evi-dent in many discretionary cate-gories, the government said Fri-day in its monthly retail report.And the latest Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan reading on

consumer sentiment fell to thelowest level in nine months. Thosereports came a week after thegovernment reported that overallhiring slowed last month, withsome industries, including retail-ers, cutting jobs.

“We’re definitely feeling, in thelast few weeks and months, likefolks are tightening up a little bit,”said Phil Keiser, president of Cul-ver’s, a fast-casual restaurantchain based in Prairie du Sac,Wis., with 480 outlets in 20 states.

The signs of consumer dis-tress come despite what was anotherwise solid first quarter.Forecasters surveyed by TheWall Street Journal estimate the

U.S. economy grew around ahealthy 3% pace in the firstquarter. And the stock markethas been setting records almostdaily.

Amy Beaird, a 31-year-oldfrom Decatur, Ga., said she andher husband have always beenfrugal but now they are doublingdown on those efforts. One rea-son: Her husband’s employer ischanging to a health-care planthat is likely to include higheremployee contributions.

“We’re doing everything wePleaseturntopageA5

BY JOSH MITCHELLAND SERENA NG

Consumers ShowFreshCautionRetail Sales Falter as Shoppers, Resilient Earlier in the Year, Retrench Amid Economic Worries

FALFURRIAS, Texas—On a Wednesdaymorning in February, a bicyclist pedalingpast a crossroads spotted something in thetall weeds that has become common here:a dead body.

The dead man was flat on his back, hishands hard by his sides and his face blank.Law-enforcement officials speculate hewas an illegal immigrant from CentralAmerica left behind by human smugglers.They still don’t know his name.

Authorities found the corpses of 129suspected illegal immigrants last year herein Brooks County, a desolate region of cac-tus-covered ranch lands an hour north ofthe Mexican border and 2½ hours south ofSan Antonio.

The death toll—twice as high as in2011—is on pace to be even higher thisyear, according to county officials. Nine-teen bodies have been discovered so far,even before triple-digit summer tempera-

tures sear South Texas, raising the dangerof the arduous crossings through BrooksCounty’s 944 square miles.

The growing U.S. crackdown on immi-gration is leading to a grim reality: Whilethe number of people crossing the borderis down, the number who die while doingso is rising as immigrants take more dan-gerous routes to avoid apprehension.

This week, a bipartisan group of sena-tors pushed forward with a proposed over-haul of U.S. immigration laws that calls foreven stricter enforcement of the border, inexchange for granting more green cards topeople in the country without permission.

Brooks County highlights that the bor-der itself is only part of the battlegroundfor U.S. authorities and the criminal orga-nizations that smuggle people and drugsinto the country. The second line of de-fense is a series of 71 interior checkpointswhere the U.S. Border Patrol stops and in-spects vehicles heading north on majorhighways from the California coast to the

Gulf of Mexico.The checkpoints, typically 25 to 100

miles from the border, are the last layer ofthe Border Patrol dragnet serving to stemthe flow of people entering the country il-legally and contraband funneling to majorpopulation centers such as Los Angeles,Phoenix and Houston.

A 2009 report by the Government Ac-countability Office found that the check-points accounted for more than a third ofdrug seizures by the Border Patrol in theSouthwest, despite using just 4% of itsagents. The busiest, such as the checkpointon the northbound lanes of Interstate 5near San Clemente, Calif., stop more than100,000 vehicles a day.

The Brooks County checkpoint on U.S.281 heading toward San Antonio averagesabout 10,500 vehicles a day, making it oneof the busiest checkpoints in Texas. Coy-otes engage in a perilous cat-and-mousegame there with authorities, steering im-

PleaseturntopageA12

Near the U.S.-Mexico Border,A Grim New Reality

BY MIGUEL BUSTILLO

Alonzo Rangel transports the body of an unidentified man believed to have crossed the border illegally. A bicyclist found him in Falfurrias, Texas.

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Why Do the Toads Cross the Road? It’s Mating Season in Philadelphiai i i

Annual Ritual Is Precarious Game of Frogger; Comin’ a Courtin’ at the Assemblies of God Church

PHILADELPHIA—The nightlife has been jumping in an oth-erwise quiet, wooded corner ofthe city.

Tom Howard was surroundedby toads, and was trying to grabas many as he could. He pickedup what looked like a two-headed one. It actually was amale hitching a ride on a female.

“Hey, get a room, would ya?”said Mr. Howard as he lifted thecouple to the top of a stone wallat the base of a hill, easing theirjourney to their honeymoon innearby wetlands.

Add two morelives saved in theRoxborough Res-ervoir Toad De-tour, a rite ofspring that hasPhiladelphiansextending broth-erly love to amo-rous amphibians.

Most spring evenings since2009, hundreds of volunteerslike Mr. Howard have takenturns manning the barricades inthe Roxborough section of thecity, armed with an unusual citypermit to close off sections oftwo streets when the toads hit

the roads. Themission: to pre-vent them frombeing squishedby cars.

The Americantoads are migrat-ing from theirwinter shelters

in the woods of a nature pre-serve to an abandoned reservoiracross the street, where theymate and lay eggs. Their tinyoffspring return to the woods af-ter several weeks, continuing thecycle—if they make it alive. Theroads close for returns, too.

Lisa Levinson started the de-

tour after realizing several yearsback that the fallen leaves shethought she saw on her drivehome from work as a movementtherapist were actually toads—and many were being killed.

Ms. Levinson tried to pull theplug on that real-life game ofFrogger. She started carryingtoads across the road and signal-ing drivers to slow down. A po-lice officer finally positioned hersquad car to stop traffic afterMs. Levinson showed her a dyingtoad. That sparked the idea for adetour.

Volunteers of all ages havePleaseturntopageA4

BY PETER LOFTUS

Monthly change in retail sales Consumer-sentiment index

Sources: Commerce Department (retail sales); Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan (index)The Wall Street Journal

20112011 ’12 ’13 ’12 ’13

$6 billion

–4

–2

0

2

4

100

40

60

80

Three-monthmovingaverage –$1.8B

April: 72.3

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n A mortgage-refinancingboom that helped fuel asurge in bank profits is fiz-zling. J.P. Morgan and WellsFargo reported revenuedrops in the first quarter. B1n The U.S. said it wouldpress Japan to refrain fromengaging in a competitivedevaluation of the yen. A1n Gold fell into bear-marketterritory, at one point slip-ping below $1,500 an ounce,succumbing to investors’push for higher yields. B1n The Dow ended nearly flatFriday at 14865.06, just offits new record. The S&P andNasdaq posted their biggestweekly gains since the firstweek of the year. B6n U.S. consumers have re-cently cut spending, suggest-ing a renewed skepticism inthe economy after a strongstart to the year. A1n BlackBerry maker RIMasked regulators to probe anegative analyst report thatsent its shares tumbling. B3n EU finance ministersagreed to allow Portugal andIreland more time to repaytheir bailout loans. A11n The FDA is taking the un-usual step of reassessing theevidence of safety risks fromGlaxo’s onetime blockbusterdiabetes drug Avandia. B3

What’sNews

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Business&Finance

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CONTENTSBooks. ....................... C5-16Cooking...................... D6-8Corporate News. B1,3,4Heard on Street.......B14Ideas Market............... C4Letters to Editor.... A14

Opinion.................. A13-15Sports............................ A16Stock Listings..... B11,13Style & Fashion.... D4-5Travel........................... D1-3Weather Watch...... B14Wknd Investor.... B7-10

s Copyright 2013 Dow Jones & Company.All Rights Reserved

>

InsideINTERVIEW A13

Will Google’sRay KurzweilLive Forever?

n Korea’s crisis is exposinga flaw in U.S.-China ties.The peninsula’s tensionshighlight the lack of a regu-lar military dialogue betweenWashington and Beijing.Kerry aims to assure Chinathat a plan to boost missiledefenses is directed at NorthKorea and say it is in Bei-jing’s own security intereststo rein in Pyongyang. A8The risk is that China willinstead expand existingplans to strengthen itsown nuclear arsenal.n The U.S. and South Koreaoffered to return to negotia-tions with North Korea in abid to reduce tensions. A9n U.S. officials played downa report that said Pyongyangis capable of building a nu-clear-armed missile. A8n A coalition of U.S. unionsand employers is proposingchanges to the law govern-ing pension plans that couldcut retirees’ benefits. A2n U.S. farm workers andemployers reached a deal ona new visa program. A4n The RNC reaffirmed thatthe Republican Party seesmarriage as the union of aman and a woman. A4n French lawmakers ap-proved legislation allowingsame-sex couples to marryand adopt children. A10n Died: Jonathan Winters,87, actor and comedian ...Maria Tallchief, 88, long-time prima ballerina forGeorge Balanchine at theNew York City Ballet. A6

SPRING BOOKS 2013......... C5-16

Pressure on Obama.................... A5 Gold slips to ‘bear’ territory... B1

The Obama administrationused new and pointed language towarn Japan not to hold down thevalue of its currency to gain acompetitive advantage in worldmarkets, as the new governmentin Tokyo pursues aggressive poli-cies aimed at recharging growth.

In its semiannual report onglobal exchange rates, the U.S.Treasury on Friday also criticizedChina for resuming “large-scale”market interventions to hold downthe value of its currency, calling ita troubling development. The U.S.stopped short of naming China acurrency manipulator, avoiding adesignation that could disrupt re-lations between theworld powers.

The Chinese Embassy didn’t im-mediately respond to a request forcomment. A Japanese governmentofficial reached early Saturday inTokyo declined to comment di-rectly on the Treasury report, butsaid, “We will continue to abideby” recent commitments by globalfinancial policymakers to avoid in-tentional currency devaluation—“as we have done until now.”

The Treasury report appears tobe part of a broader strategy bythe Obama administration in re-sponse to a sharp shift in eco-nomic policy in Japan under newPrime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Hours before the currencywarning, the White House said ithad acceptedMr. Abe’s request to

join negotiations to create an am-bitious pan-Pacific free trade zone,despite objections from the Ameri-can auto industry and other do-mestic sectors worried about newcompetition from Japan. The U.S.government is welcoming eco-nomic reforms in Japan while try-ing to discourage Tokyo from re-verting to prior tactics of trademanipulation.

The Bank of Japan kicked offthe latest drop in the yen byshockingmarkets last week by an-nouncing plans for a massive in-crease inmoney supply, pledging asharp increase in purchases ofgovernment bonds and other as-sets. The dollar has risen nearly 7%against the yen since then, and isup 15% since Mr. Abe came intopower on Dec. 26.

Policy makers in Japan sensi-tive to currency complaints andwarnings have repeatedly insistedin recent days that the yen’s sharpfall hasmerely been a byproduct ofits stimulus policies, not a goal.

“We have no intention to con-ductmonetary policy targeting theexchange rate,”Haruhiko Kuroda,the new Bank of Japan governorwhose policies have helped pushdown the yen, said in a Tokyo

PleaseturntopageA9

BY THOMAS CATANAND IAN TALLEY

TreasuryWarnsJapanOn Yen

The BOJ last weeksurprised marketswith plans for amassive increase inmoney supply.

CM Y K CompositeCompositeMAGENTA CYAN BLACK

P2JW103000-8-A00100-10FEEB7178F CL,CX,DL,DM,DX,EE,EU,FL,HO,KC,MW,NC,NE,NY,PH,PN,RM,SA,SL,SW,TU,WB,WEBG,BM,BP,CC,CH,CK,CP,DN,DR,FW,HL,HW,KS,LG,LK,MI,ML,NM,PA,PI,PV,TD,TS,UT,WO

P2JW103000-8-A00100-10FEEB7178F