Weekly Roundup: MarketWatch top 10 stories Jan. 23 - 27

Weekly Roundup JANUARY 27, 2012 MarketWatch top 10 stories Jan. 23 - 27 By MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks on Friday finished mostly lower, with the S&P 500 managing to extend its winning streak into a fourth week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)  fell 74.17 points, or 0.6%, to 12,660.46, leaving it down 0.5% for the week, its first weekly drop in four. The S&P 50 (SPX)  shed 2.10 points, or 0.2%, to 1,316.33, but managed to remain 0.1% up from the week-ago close The Nasdaq Composite (COMP)  added 11.27 points, or 0.4%, to 2,816.55, up 1.1% for the week. Also please be sure to watch our week Ahead Videos. Greg Morcroft, assistant managing editor  Europe Week Ahead: EU Summitt, Earnings in Focus Economy expands 2.8% in fourth quarter The U.S. economy grew at the fastest rate in a year and a half in the fourth quarter, but a large chunk of the increase was fueled by an unexpected buildup in inventories, according to a preliminary government estimate. Gross domestic product from October through December expanded at a 2.8% pace, up from 1.8% in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch projected GDP would rise 3.0%. See full story on U.S. GDP, on MarketWartch RIM draws tepid reaction with CEO shift Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) drew a tepid reaction from Wall Street this week as analysts questioned the company's surprise appointment of an insider to the CEO post. "The changes appear more cosmetic than substantive," wrote Charlie Wolf of Needham & Co. in a note to clients Monday morning. Earlier this week, the company said Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have stepped down from their management roles at the company, with Chief Operating Officer Thorsten Heins, a former Siemens executive who joined RIM in 2007, to take the CEO reins. Read about RIM shakeup, on MarketWatch Gold ends atop $1,700; Fed extends low-rate pledge Gold prices ended the week higher after breaking to six week highs above $1,700 an ounce, as the Federal Reserve's monetary-policy committee extended its pledge to keep interest rates at exceptionally low levels till late 2014, which will help boost demand for the precious metal as an inflation hedge. "It looks like someone awoke to the fact that loose monetary policy will eventually impact the value of the dollar and allow gold to move higher," said Jeffrey Wright, managing director at Global Hunter Securities. Read about gold's move above $1,700 an ounce this week, on MarketWatch Apple shares hit high on blow-out results Shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) jumped to an all-time high this week following the company's blow-out results for its first fiscal quarter, in which earnings more than doubled on strong sales of the iPhone and iPad. reported that earnings more than doubled in the December quarter, as the company sold more than 37 million iPhones, blowing past analysts' estimates for the period. The typically conservative company also issued a forecast for the current period that was above Wall Street's forecasts. Read MarketWatch coverage of Apple quarterly earnings report Fed pushes out low-rate pledge to late 2014 The Federal Reserve on Wednesday pledged to hold interest rates low until late 2014, a move that surprised markets and showed the central bank is still worried that economic growth is at risk of faltering. The new commitment extends the prior statement that economic conditions were likely to keep rates at the historic low range of 0% to 0.25% until at least mid-2013.The Fed opened a new era of transparency, releasing for the first time the projected path of rates by its 17 members and set a specific inflation goal of 2%. But it was extending the timing of the first rate move that overshadowed all the moves. Read about latest Fed projections and new policy, on MarketWatch Jobless claims in U.S. rise sharply New applications for unemployment benefits rose sharply last week, but initials claims remain at a level usually associated with a modest improvement in U.S. hiring trends.Jobless claims climbed by 21,000 to a seasonally adjusted 377,000 in the week ended Jan. 21, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had estimated claims would climb to 373,000.Claims from two weeks ago were revised up by 4,000. Read about latest jobless claims, on MarketWatch Netflix shares mount comeback on results Investors gave Netflix Inc. (NFLX) breathing room this week, sending the online video provider and DVD-rental company's stock up more than 25% Still, Netflix's shares have turned into a market darling this year, rising more than 67% in less than a month. Read latest developments in the Netflix sags, on MarketWatch 10 income-paying stocks that beat the crowd Shares of high-quality, cash-rich, large-cap companies that yield more than the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index are the new favorites in many portfolios. But many of these success stories have been discovered, boosting share prices and trimming yields. In searching for attractively priced, profitable companies that wouldn't necessarily appear on a high-yield screen, MarketWatch enlisted the help of two researchers: Morningstar's Peters and David Trainer, president of investment researcher New Constructs Inc. in Nashville. Here are 10 companies, culled from the two screens, that are debt-free and have a history of dividend increases. Read about the dividend screens, on MarketWatch Facebook to file for IPO Wednesday: WSJ Facebook may file documents for an initial public offering on Wednesday, eyeing a valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Morgan Stanley is close to winning the IPO deal, while Goldman Sachs is expected to play a key role, according to the Journal, which cited an unnamed source. Read more about the reported Facebook IPO, on MarketWatch Retirement in America is 'endangered' President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union speech, didn't really touch on the subject near and dear to the hearts of millions of Americans — the State of Retirement in the U.S. No doubt he had other pressing matters to address. So allow us the pleasure of issuing — thanks in large part to many experts on the topic — our State of Retirement column.In short: Things are bad and, in the absence of action or in the presence of ill-advised action, could get much worse. Read more about the sad state of retirement in the U.S., on MarketWatch 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