Weekly Roundup: MarketWatch top 10 stories Oct. 31 - Nov. 1

Weekly Roundup NOVEMBER 05, 2011 MarketWatch top 10 stories Oct. 31 - Nov. 1 By MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks ended a tumultuous week down more than 2% after digesting political and economic chaos in Europe, the implosion of a major Wall Street firm and the biggest tech IPO since Google sold shares several years ago. Following big losses Monday and Tuesday, the Dow and other major indexes rallied on Wednesday and Thursday but failed to pick up all the lost ground. Friday's losses of 0.5% on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) left it down 2% on the week. The S&P 500 (SPX) lost 0.% on Friday to close out the week off 2.5% and the Nasdaq Composite's (COMP)  0.4% drop left it down 1.9% for the week. As the week ended in Europe, Greek parliamentarians were getting ready to vote on whether to keep Prime Minister George Papandreou in office. The politician had incurred the wrath of many of his countrymen, as well as his European rescuers when he surprised them with a plan for a referendum on austerity measures associated with the bailout. His about face later in the week may have eased concerns about the fate of the bailout plan, but it left many observers scratching their heads. Read MarketWatch coverage of Greek debt crisis But, win or lose Friday night's confidence vote, Papandreou may have already guaranteed the euro will never be the same, economists said. The first big financial firm since Lehman Bros. blew up this week too when MF Global (MFGLQ) filed for bankruptcy on Halloween. Jon Corzine resigned as chief executive of MF Global Holdings Ltd. on Friday morning, ending the third act of a high-profile career that bridged the corridors of financial and political power from Wall Street to Washington, as regulators ramp up their probe of the firm's spectacular implosion. Corzine in a statement expressed "great sadness" about the firm's sudden downfall and bankruptcy as he said he would step down. He may be sadder in weeks to come as more details of the firm's demise surface. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that an analysis it carried out on the firm's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission suggest that MF may have disguised its debt levels to investors by eliminating the debt just before filing financial statements, and then putting it back on after the filing. On Thursday, the paper reported that Corzine had hired Andrew Levander, a criminal defense attorney well known for handling white-collar case, to represent him in any cases that might spring from the ongoing probe. Read MarketWatch coverage of MF Global's downfall And, in a blast from the past, another big tech IPO rolled out this week. Shares soared Friday in Groupon's (GRPN) debut as a publicly traded company, capping a controversial initial-public-offering process underscored by intense criticism from analysts and experts about the company's viability. Read MarketWatch coverage of Groupon IPO Also please be sure to watch our Week Ahead videos.  U.S. Week Ahead: Europe in Focus  Europe Week Ahead:Bank of England Meeting Greg Morcroft, assistant managing editor Labor market may be better than we think Is the labor market better than we think it is? Quite possibly. It's not well-understood that the monthly employment report is actually derived from two separate surveys — one of businesses and the other of households. The two surveys are telling different stories right now. While the survey of businesses says hiring is anemic, the household survey is showing the best employment gains in nearly five years. Over the past three months, the business survey says nonfarm payrolls have risen by 342,000, but the household survey says employment has risen by 1 million. Read coverage of U.S. labor report on MarketWatch Gold and silver show signs of a bottom When it comes to buying gold or silver, the best buy signals are found in what we refer to as "pocket pivots." These are statistically significant buy signals we have developed and used with great effect in our own handling of the precious metals in 2011 as we ourselves have thus far outperformed the S&P 500 Index over 50-fold as of this writing. Pocket pivots essentially provide a tool that traders and investors can use to gain early entry into a narrow-based ETF such as the SPDR Gold Trust iShares Silver Trust , or an individual stock, and they dovetail quite nicely with our general strategy and approach towards either gold or silver. Read MarketWatch commentary on gold and silver prices 5 reasons it's tough to get lowest mortgage rates Mortgage rates are near historical lows, but the rates lenders are quoting you aren't as eye-popping as those you see in the news. Why is that? First, remember that mortgage rates are moving constantly, and rate surveys are capturing rates from past points in time. For example, Freddie Mac's weekly survey collects rate data over the course of a week. Bankrate.com's survey collects rate data every Wednesday. By the time results are released, they're already outdated.There are other reasons your rate might be higher. Below are five of them. Read Amy Hoak's Home Economics column on MarketWatch The easy money has already been made The easy money has been made and anyone trying to chase this market higher is already late to the game. Last month my column, The Grim reaper turns Bullish on Stocks , told everyone to buy. Now, my tone has changed. The easy money has already been made, and from here anyone interested in this market will need to adopt a proactive approach again. In other words, do not be one-sided. Read on MarketWatch why one investment pro says the easy money's already been made in this round of stock investing 6 things no one will tell you about MF Global Here's a brain-teaser for you.Which corporate honcho bragged recently about his company's strong resources, positive outlook and outstanding "execution" skills? Who said he was "particularly pleased" at recent developments, and predicted "competitive returns to shareholders in the quarters ahead"?Tim Cook at Apple? Alan Mulally at Ford? Mike Duke at Wal-Mart?None of the above. The answer is Jon Corzine, who runs MF Global Holdings Ltd. He made those remarks a week ago. Yesterday the company filed for bankruptcy. One week. No kidding. Read Brett Arends's column on the unanswered questions surrounding MF Global's stunning demise Where to invest in China now The world is all in a dither about there being 7-plus billion people now living on this Earth. But the only people who seem to matter at the moment, really, are the 1.3 billion living, working and consuming in China right now.Yes, China holds the purse strings. It's seemingly controlling the world's agenda. And everyone is talking about the Chinese. "In short, you can't not pay attention to them," said Philip Abbenhaus, the director of the Asian Equity Research Institute. That leaves us asking: What sort of investment opportunities are emerging here in the U.S. and in China given current conditions? Bob Powell tells MarketWatch readers where the hot sectors in the Chinese market are today Apple's Siri is eating Google's lunch Apple's Siri is beginning to eat Google's lunch. Google has spread its wings, but Google's bread and butter is still selling advertising on search pages. Siri from Apple is the start of disintermediation from Google search. In a small study at The Arora Report, the evidence is mounting that users of Siri are consistently bypassing Google. If the results from the small study are extrapolated, in due course as Siri becomes widely available, it will change people's habits. The new habit will be using voice to find exactly what one wants without having to comb through a large number of results, some of which may not be relevant. Further, the display space on mobile devices is limited. Who needs the distraction of side advertisements like those from Google on the small screen? Read MarketWatch story on why Apple's new voice tool is threatening Google's search engine dominance ECB delivers surprise rate cut in Draghi's debut The European Central Bank delivered an unexpectedly early rate cut on Thursday as new chief Mario Draghi warned of a "mild" recession while also insisting that the institution won't serve as a lender of last resort to troubled governments as the debt crisis worsens. Draghi, who succeeded Jean-Claude Trichet as president of the ECB on Tuesday, said the 17-nation euro zone faces "slow growth heading toward a mild recession by year end." See full coverage of surprise European rate cut, on MarketWatch Moatless, rudderless Groupon now worth $12.7 billion Critics can say what they wish about Groupon — and have, in fact, said quite a lot — but the 3-year-old discount-deal outfit is now worth $12.7 billion. So much — for now — for that old saw that Groupon, foolish to have spurned Google and its putative $6 billion takeover bid, would ultimately be forced to offer a deep discount on itself.True, Groupon is unprofitable, and, yes, its executive team is demonstrably short on Fortune 500 experience — and has also cashed in mightily prior to the initial public offering. But much of the invective hurled the company's way — during a time when the company has been (largely) silenced by its statutory quiet period — is as easily deflected as it's been parroted. MarketWatch's Tim Rostan deciphers how hot new Internet IPO outperformed naysayers 7 billion reasons markets will change direction The markets may be full of their usual noise — another twist to the Greek tragedy, poor growth figures, a central bank somewhere printing some more money — but sometimes it is worth raising your eyes above all the day-to-day chatter and concentrating on the really important things that are happening in the world.When the history books get written, 2011 won't be remembered particularly for the overthrow of Col. Gadhafi in Libya, nor for the endless wrangling over the future of the euro, or even for the United States losing its triple-A rating, even though all of those events may manage to merit a footnote. By far the more significant thing to happen in 2011 was the world's population smashing through the 7 billion barrier — as it did on Monday, according to United Nations calculations. Read Matthew Lynn's take on what 7 billion people means for the planet's financial markets Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m MarketWatch has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. To ensure you receive this newsletter in the future, please add marketwatchmail.com to your list of approved senders. Sent to: kumaresan.selva.blogger@gmail.com Unsubscribe | Subscribe Copyright 2011 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (updated 6/26/07). MarketWatch - Attn: Customer Service, 201 California St., San Francisco, CA 94111