Weekly Roundup: MarketWatch top stories April 23 - 27

	Weekly Roundup APRIL 27, 2012 MarketWatch top stories April 23 - 27 By MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks ended the week meaningfully higher as the tech heavy Nasdaq led all comes on the back of a slew of strong earnings reports. Apple Inc. blew past analyst estimates in a style the market has become accustomed too, and regained much of the losses it suffered during the last week and a half. Amazon, which reported earnings on Thursday, was more of a surprise, posting a smaller profit than it did a year ago, but one still well ahead of analyst estimates, as margins improved. The Nasdaq Composite ended the week 2.3% higher for the week. The S&P 500 ended the week higher, rising 1.8% also helped by Apple and Amazon, which are both Index members. The Dow, a narrower gauge of market performance limited to just 30 stocks, also rose. It ended the week up 1.5% Also please be sure to watch our Week Ahead videos.  U.S. Week Ahead: More U.S. Data  Europe Week Ahead: Spanish GDP, ECB Rate Decision Greg Morcroft, assistant managing editor Apple earnings surge as iPhone sales top target Apple Inc. (AAPL) said Tuesday that its earnings surged 93% in the March quarter, largely powered by stronger-than-expected sales of the iPhone. IPhone shipments of 35.1 million units easily surpassed Wall Street's estimated range of 31 million to 33 million for the period. Shipments of the iPad came in at 11.8 million — on the low side of analysts' targets, as the company's newest version of the tablet did not launch until late in the quarter. "They obviously just blew it away again on the iPhones," said Scott Sutherland of Wedbush Securities. Read MarketWatch coverage of Apple results Amazon wins back Street with margin gains Despite a 35% drop in net income, Amazon.com (AMZN) managed to win a lot of Wall Street praise Friday for posting a second straight quarter of improving profit margins. At least four brokers upgraded Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) to a buy rating Friday, following the company's first-quarter results the previous afternoon. The reaction helped drive the stock up more than 13% to $222 in morning trades — its highest point this year. Read MarketWatch coverage of Amazon earnings Business spending drop limits U.S. growth to 2.2% The U.S. economy downshifted in the first quarter as business and defense spending fell, raising fears the expansion could lose traction in coming months.bIn its first estimate Friday, the Commerce Department said gross domestic product rose at a 2.2% annual rate between January and March, slower than the 3.0% pace in the prior three months. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a 2.7% growth rate. See Marketwatch coverage of U.S. economy Inflation or deflation? Be ready for either Neither an inflationist nor a deflationist be. That, to mangle one well-known quote, sums up the view of some investment professionals who are struggling to make sense of current market conditions. "We are not currently forecasting a global deflationary environment, but rather an environment where subdued economic growth results in contained inflationary pressure," said Jeff Witt, director of research at Private Asset Management, Inc. "This view is somewhat contrary to the markets bipolar assessment that we are either going into an inflationary or deflationary spiral." Read MarketWatch's Robert Powell column Health law's demise would save big bucks, for some Whatever their opinion of the health-care reform law, wealthy Americans have a lot of money at risk in the Supreme Court's coming decision on the law's constitutionality. If the court decides the law is unconstitutional, high-income taxpayers would avoid a 3.8% tax hike on investment earnings, plus a 0.9% increase in their payroll taxes, come 2013. See full story, on MarketWatch Lock in gains or let winners ride? The Nasdaq Composite put in its first accumulation day in more than four weeks Wednesday, a positive development, but not consequential in the bigger picture. Shares appear to be experiencing a normal correction of the sort that occurs several times during a typical bull market. Such pullbacks in the averages present a quandary of sorts for the speculator sitting on paper gains. Should the gains be locked in or should they be allowed to run in order to compound them during the subsequent market upleg? Read more on Marketwatch S&P cuts Spain Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Thursday lowered Spain's long-term sovereign credit rating by two notches to BBB+ from A with a negative outlook. The ratings agency said the downgrade reflects concerns about mounting risks of the country's government debt against the backdrop of a shrinking economy as well as increased likelihood of additional support for the banking sector. Read more about Spain downgrade on MarketWatch Wal-Mart accusations make signal buying opportunity When does $1 equal $720? When Wal-Mart Stores Inc.(WMT) loses $720 in market value for every $1 of alleged bribes in Mexico. But maybe the larger question is whether or not that loss provides an opening for investors. I think that it does. Read more about Wal-Mart bribery accusations on the Trading Deck What market must do to avoid sell signal A big — and potentially worrisome — divergence has emerged in the stock market. It's now been nearly ten months since the Dow Jones Transportation Average 5% hit its bull-market high. Its persistent weakness stands in marked contrast to the behavior of the better-known indices, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)  and the S&P 500 Index (SPX)  — each of which in early April hit a new bull-market high and is now close to hitting yet another. Read full story on MarketWatch Black weekend for Europe economic, monetary union It's was a black weekend for economic and monetary union (EMU). The first round of the French presidential elections has torpedoed German Chancellor Angela Merkel's strategy for guiding cash-strapped EMU members out of trouble. The euro area's No. 2 creditor country after Germany, the Netherlands, is without a functioning administration after the government fell on Saturday in another row over shoring up the single currency's faltering framework. Read David Marsh commentary, 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