Weekly Roundup: MarketWatch top 10 stories Jan 17 - 20

Weekly Roundup JANUARY 20, 2012 MarketWatch top 10 stories Jan 17 - 20 By MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks closed higher for the week on Friday as the earnings season hit its stride and improved sentiment about a Greek debt agreement buoyed investor spirits. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP)  closed the week up 2.8%, the best performance of the three major U.S. indexes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) ended the week up 2.4% and the S&P 500 Index added 2%. Also please watch our Week Ahead videos.  U.S. Week Ahead: Apple, Yahoo and the Fed Greg Morcroft, assistant managing editor France and the death of the sovereign debt market So where was the carnage? Late last Friday night, the ratings agency Standard & Poor's delivered its downgrade of French debt, stripping one of the world's biggest economies of its AAA rating. What the French downgrade really signaled was the slow death of the sovereign bond market — and each chapter in that saga is a bit less surprising. Japan's AAA rating is gone. So is the U.S.'s. Italy's went a long time ago, and now France's. The U.K. can't be far behind. Neither can Germany. Read Matthew Lynn's London Eye column, on MarketWatch 3 cheap stocks to snap up under $10 Sometimes you get what you pay for. Like a premium pair of shoes, high-priced Apple (AAPL) stock has made plenty of investors light on their feet for the last several years. On the flip side, bargain hunters in Bank of America (BAC)  have been burned. But not all cheap stocks are ugly investments that will whipsaw you around with volatility. Some low-price shares are indeed screaming bargains worth your cash. Here are three low-priced stocks to consider. Read about the trio of stocks to consider now, on MarketWatch Kodak files for bankuptcy Iconic U.S. photo-equipment maker Eastman Kodak Co.(EKDKQ)  said early Thursday that the company and its U.S. subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The firm said the move "is intended to bolster liquidity in the U.S. and abroad, monetize non-strategic intellectual property, fairly resolve legacy liabilities, and enable the company to focus on its most valuable business lines." Read MarketWatch coverage of Kodak bankruptcy Romney was a businessman, not a job creator he Republican Party is on the verge of nominating a candidate who represents its wildest dream, or perhaps its worst nightmare.After years of telling us that businesspeople are "job creators," it looks like the Republicans are going to nominate a successful businessman, Mitt Romney, as their presidential candidate. Now that wealthy business owners have been elevated into the American pantheon, joining flag, Mom and apple pie, the Republican job-creation rhetoric could be put to the test. How? Because Mitt Romney's notable successes at Bain Capital show that businesses don't create jobs. That is to say, businesses aren't in the business of creating jobs. Read Rex Nutting commentary, on MarketWatch CEO of the Year: Cloud, Fire lifted Amazon's Bezos For his imagination, his long-term focus and his sheer optimism in the face of the most uncertain of economic times, Amazon's (AMZN) Jeff Bezos has been named MarketWatch CEO of the Year. His moves in 2011 gave millions of customers new and faster ways to consume books, music and more from Bezos and from all manner of other vendors in his galaxy. They gave thousands of workers new jobs. And they significantly added value to long-term investors, even as they gave nearsighted investors plenty of new jitters. Read MarketWatch's CEO of the year story on Jeff Bezos For Citi investors, the waiting continues Citigroup (C) investors can be forgiven for seeing the glass as half-empty. For as much as the full-year results show progress, the fourth quarter was a reality check that showed the bank is still unable to meet even the most restrained Wall Street analysts' expectations. Chief Executive Vikram Pandit argued that the fourth quarter results — analysts had expected earnings of 50 cents a share, compared to the reported 38 cents — were driven by the bank's reduction of assets at CitiHoldings. That unit is the so-called "bad bank" set up to dispose of risky and devalued securities and loans that the bank held at the time of the financial crisis. Read MarketWatch coverage of Citigroup earnings China growth cools, easing seen as likely China's economy expanded in the fourth quarter at the slowest pace since the middle of 2009, setting the stage for what could be a further easing in monetary policy and selective loosening on home purchase restrictions in some cities, according to analysts.Gross domestic product between October and December rose 8.9% from the year-ago quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Tuesday, with the result beating expectations of 8.6% growth tipped in a Dow Jones Newswires poll of economists. Read about cooling Chinese GDP growth, on MarketWatch Where to put your money if the bond bull stumbles Bond buyers enjoyed another banner year in 2011, with total returns in all classes outperforming the broad U.S. stock market, and investors continuing to pile into bonds and shun stocks. The celebrity status for bonds troubles some investors and investment strategists. They sense that this great bond bull market will slow in 2012. Not that sticking with bonds at this juncture is a recipe for disaster, but with more of their nest-egg tied to fixed-income securities, investors need to ask some hard questions. Read MarketWatch's Weekend Investor column Investors, prepare for tax headache on cost basis Investors who buy and sell stocks have a new tax form and new reporting rules to contend with this year when they do their tax returns — and some tax pros say the new rules could cause confusion. Thanks to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, starting in tax year 2011, if you sell a stock, your broker must report to the IRS the amount you paid for that stock — that is, your cost basis. (You subtract that cost basis from the stock's price at the time you sell to calculate your gain or loss.) Read about new tax rules for stock sales, on MarketWatch No SOPA for you Under pressure from lawmakers and Internet companies, Senate and House lawmakers postponed a vote on Internet anti-piracy legislation known as Protect IP Act, or PIPA in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had planned to bring it up for a procedural test vote Tuesday, but said Friday he plans to take more time to adjust the bill and he plans to work on a compromise legislation. Also, Rep. Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas, said Friday according to reports that he would postpone efforts to bring his bill, SOPA, up for a vote. Read latest development on SOPA legislation 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 2012 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