Weekly Roundup: MarketWatch's Top 10 stories: Nov. 7-11

Weekly Roundup NOVEMBER 11, 2011 MarketWatch's Top 10 stories: Nov. 7-11 By MarketWatch Political trauma in Italy sent investors both there and in the U.S. on a roller-coaster ride with heart-stopping highs and lows for the major indexes this week. By Friday, it appeared the market thrill ride would pull safely into the round house as the usual benchmarks gained back most of their losses from earlier in the week to put themselves in the black for the year. Meanwhile, a couple of notable candidates hit some rough crosswinds in their race to the Republican presidential nomination, while the current administration got some mildly encouraging news on several fronts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed up 2.2% on Friday and ended the week up 1.4%. The S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (COMP) each were up 2% Friday. The S&P managed almost a 1% gain for the week but the Nasdaq slipped 0.3%. Be sure to watch our Week Ahead videos:  Asia's Week Ahead: Japan's megabanks, rates and GDP.  U.S. Week Ahead: All eyes on progress in Italy.  Europe Week Ahead: Europe's drama far from over. — Russ Britt Berlusconi expected to step down... Italy's debt problems sent markets tumbling mid-week, but by week's end all seemed well as a budget bill was working its way through the country's Parliament, paving the way for scandal-plagued Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to step down. Read MarketWatch's coverage of the developments in Italy. ... as Greece gets a new prime minister Another troubled European nation with heavy debt problems, Greece started to climb out of its hole with the naming of Lucas Papademos as prime minister, replacing controversial George Papandreou. Papademos is a former vice president of the European Central Bank. Read coverage of Papademos's ascension. GOP candidates hit the skids Two Republican candidates hit the skids this week as one-time front-runner Herman Cain found himself defending against charges he sexually harassed at least two women. Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Rick Perry stumbled in a debate trying to remember which agencies of the federal government he would eliminate. It all resulted in former House speaker Newt Gingrich and ex-Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney surging out front for the GOP nomination. Read MarketWatch's election blog. Jobless claims fall as consumer sentiment rises The number of Americans filing for jobless claims hit a seven-month low, dropping by 10,000 to 390,000, the Labor Department said. The data prompted economists to be cautiously optimistic. Meanwhile, consumer sentiment rose to its highest level since June, but remained low. Read coverage on jobless claims and consumer sentiment. Foreclosures on the rise; interest rates drop A 7% sequential rise in foreclosure activity during October left experts believing that a "rain delay" in processing distressed properties is over and that a number of defaults finally will be cleared off the books. Year-to-year, foreclosures were down 31%, however. And Las Vegas lost the top spot as the metro area with the most foreclosures, ceding the title to Stockton, Calif. Meanwhile, 30-year mortgages fell below 4%. Read coverage on foreclosures and mortgage rates . Troubles at Penn State A child-molestation scandal involving a former assistant football coach at Pennsylvania State University metastasized and brought down longtime head coach Joe Paterno. At the Penn State football coaching helm for 45 years, the 84-year-old Paterno was fired by the college for not doing more to stop the alleged abuse by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. The scandal went so far as to bring into question the school's debt rating. Read more about the rating. Black Thursday? Getting a jump on its rivals, retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) said it would offer its traditional specials on Thanksgiving evening instead of the day after. In-store specials will be offered at 10 p.m. on the holiday. Other chains said they will open their doors at midnight on Friday, Nov. 25. Read coverage and a MarketWatch First Take . Third appeals court upholds health-care law The Obama administration is now three for four at the appellate level when it comes to the sweeping 2010 Affordable Care Act, as a noted conservative jurist wrote an opinion for a District of Columbia panel that says the law is constitutional. Read more on the ruling. Biggest municipal bankruptcy... A purported deal to keep Jefferson County, Ala., out of bankruptcy fell by the wayside and so the county that includes Alabama's largest city, Birmingham, filed for Chapter 9 protection. The filing was expected by many, as Jefferson County had talked of filing for bankruptcy for several years, but it was one of several high-profile cases like it this year. Read more on the filing. ...and a corporate bankruptcy Power producer Dynegy Inc. (DYN) said that some of its financial units would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a move that caused the company's shares to rally 40% on Tuesday. Read the coverage and a MarketWatch First Take on the bankruptcy. 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. 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