Weekly Roundup: MarketWatch top 10 Feb. 13 to Feb. 17

Weekly Roundup FEBRUARY 17, 2012 MarketWatch top 10 Feb. 13 to Feb. 17 By MarketWatch U.S. stocks closed higher for the week, but not before posting the biggest one day and drop of the new year over the last five days. The Dow (DJIA) and the S&P 500 (SPX) are now about twice as high as their levels during the depths of the financial crisis. On the week, the Dow climbed 1.2%, and the S&P 500 ended 1.4% higher. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP) , though pulling back on Friday, was the week's best performer, adding 1.7% over the last five sessions on kindling speculation of a return to the 3,000 level for the first time in more than a decade. Follow MarketWatch this weekend, and get a jump on the coming week with our Week Ahead videos. — Greg Morcroft, assistant managing editor  U.S. Week Ahead: Jobs Data, Nasdaq nears 3,000  Europe Week Ahead; Greek crisis, earnings on agenda  Asia Week Ahead: Alibaba.com earnings on tap Nasdaq nears 3,000 on wings of Apple, Microsoft The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP), 40 points away from 3,000 and the clear outperformer among the major indexes this year, risks signaling a fresh tech bubble. "If it hits 3,000, it would be one of those things where we might step back, assess the market some more," said Jim Russell, chief equity strategist and U.S. Bank Wealth Management. A rebound above 3,000 would be a first since Nov. 17, 2000, the ebb of the last major tech-stock boom. Read Market Extra on Nasdaq 3,000 Greece seen closer to bailout European leaders expect euro-zone finance ministers to reach agreement Monday on a long-delayed second bailout for Greece, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. Merkel, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti discussed the situation in a conference call Friday and are "confident" that the ministers will "find a solution to outstanding issues," the spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said in a written statement.Renewed expectations for a deal helped lift European equities on Friday, while the euro traded at $1.3159, a gain of 0.3% from Thursday. Read more on European markets. Read MarketWatch coverage of latest developments in Greek crisis Institutional must-owns are gaining traction Where possible, the initial leaders in a bull market should be played for a larger gain than simply a short-term flip. At least when it comes to intermediate-term speculation. Among the names, Apple (AAPL)  , up about 11% since being noted here on Jan. 31 , is a hold. This on the basis of it having put in four months' worth of sideways basing action, viewed as healthy, and subsequently breaking out of the base on major volume, another healthy development. Read Kevin Marder's stock analysis, on MarketWatch Price hikes catch up to U.S. food makers U.S. brand-name food makers raised prices throughout 2011 and it's starting to catch up to them. On Friday, General Mills (GIS) blamed "weak volume performance across U.S. retail food categories in December and January" for cutting their fiscal May 2012 outlook to between $2.53 and $2.55 a share from $2.59 to $2.61. General Mills didn't single out any particular brand in its statement, but it means shoppers haven't been buying enough of its packaged foods. On Friday, H.J. Heinz also highlighted the mind-set of U.S. consumers. Read about what's driving performance at big food firms, on MarketWatch Our prolonged employment gap Everyone knows that the Great Recession has inflicted tremendous damage to the lives and fortunes of millions of Americans. But what you may not know is that most of the suffering is still to come. We're not even halfway done with this mess. The economy has been growing for 31 months now, and employment has risen by 3.2 million over the past two years, but there's still a long way to go before the economy is back to full employment of around 5.5%. Public and private forecasters agree that we'll probably have five, six or seven more years of elevated unemployment, wasted lives and squandered potential. Read Rex Nutting commentary on U.S. employment outlook, on MarketWatch Jeremy Lin dishing out TV pain for Knicks fans Only the New York Knicks could convert the good news surrounding Jeremy Lin into bad news for their fans.While fans — and the city — have been energized by the arrival of Lin and the Knicks' six-game win streak, the 23-year-old point guard's success could hurt because it may prolong a dispute that's seen many Knicks games yanked from televisions screens. Madison Square Garden Co.'s (MSG)  MSG channel hasn't been available to Time Warner Cable Inc.'s (TWC) subscribers since Dec. 31, as the two sides haggle over how much the cable provider should pay for the regional sports network. Read about local cable blackout of Knicks games, at MarketWatch Retail sales in U.S. rise 0.4% in January, to 4-month high U.S. retail sales rose in January by the most in four months as Americans increased spending at big-box stores, department chains and bars and restaurants.Consumer spending accounts for as much as 70% of U.S. growth, so an uptick in retail sales is encouraging, economists say. Retail sales are 5.8% higher compared with one year ago, and they've increased 6.3% in the past three months.Sales at retailers climbed a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in January, the Commerce Department reported, bouncing back from weak spending in December.Yet the increase still fell short of the MarketWatch forecast for a 1.0% gain, mainly because of lower automobile sales. Read about rising retail sales, on MarketWatch Moody's puts big banks on review for downgrade Moody's Investors Service triggered fresh worries for investors after placing 17 major global financial firms review for potential downgrades due to the euro-zone crisis and other issues, as well as putting more than 100 European financial institutions on review.The global capital markets "are confronting evolving challenges, such as more fragile funding conditions, wider credit spreads, increased regulatory burdens and more difficult operating conditions," Moody's said in a statement late Wednesday."These difficulties, together with inherent vulnerabilities such as confidence-sensitivity, interconnectedness, and opacity of risk, have diminished the longer term profitability and growth prospects of these firms," the ratings firm said. Read about Moody's wide-ranging cautionary note on banks, on MarketWatch Give yourself a raise this year Don't wait for your boss to come to his senses, give yourself a raise this year.Workers can spend, on average, about $3,000 a year on coffee and lunch, according to a recent survey by Accounting Principals, an accounting and finance placement firm based in Jacksonville, Fla. But saving and investing that chunk of change can increase your wealth."Don't think of it as $3,000, but rather what $3,000 per year would be in 20 or 30 years if invested at even low interest rates," says Burton Malkiel, an emeritus economics professor at Princeton University in New Jersey. Read Ruth Mantell's On The Job column, on MarketWatch Kiss these 10 once-popular home features goodbye Times are tough in the home-building industry, meaning the 500,000 or so new single-family homes expected to be built this year are going to include more practical and value-conscious features and fewer wish-list items. At the top of the list of least-likely features that builders will include in their 2012 homes: outdoor kitchens. See MarketWatch slide show on passé home amenities 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