| | Weekly Roundup MAY 18, 2012 MarketWatch top 10 stories May 14 - 18 By MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks fell again this week as concern about Greece's possible exit from the euro zone kept investors on edge, weighing the impact of global uncertainty against evidence that the domestic economy is holding steady and looking up a bit.Greek politicians failed Tuesday to agree on a coalition government in a final round of talks among party leaders in Athens. A caretaker government was installed Wednesday to lead the country to a fresh vote. In the U.S., home-builder sentiment improved in May to the highest reading since the recession on an upturn in sales and traffic, a trade group said Tuesday. In a separate report, the government said housing starts climbed in April and beat expectations, putting some confidence about that troubled sector in play. Also reported this week, U.S. industrial production surged in April, data that may dispel concerns about the health of the factory sector. Overall production at the nation's factories, mines and utilities rose 1.1% Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast a 0.7% gain.Markets also remained jittery about the continuing saga of J.P. Morgan Chase's big trading loss last week. News reports said that trading losses at J.P. Morgan grew at least 50% in the first few days from the firm's original estimate of $2 billion.That news, the resignation of the chief of the unit where the losses occurred, as well as the ramped up calls in Congress for more answers and more investigation of the incident made for a tough week for the bank.After all that, plus Friday's Facebook IPO, the biggest in tech history and one wrought with embarrassing technical problems at the Nasdaq exchange, the major U.S. indexes closed lower.The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed the week off 3.5%. The S&P 500 Index (SPX) shed 4.3% and the Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) ended the week down 5.3%.Also, please watch our Week Ahead video Europe Week Ahead: G-8 Summit German Bonds, M&S Greg Morcroft, assistant managing editor Facebook volumes are huge in marred debut More than 575 million shares of Facebook Inc. changed hands on Friday following its debut on the market, helping to swell the volume of Nasdaq-listed shares to about 2 billion, above its 30-day average. Facebook sold more than 421.2 million shares after pricing its initial public offering at $38 a share to raise in excess of $18.4 billion. The debut was marred by technical trading issues and extremely rapid trading as the market digested the largest tech IPO in history. The shares ended up 23 cents, at $38.23.Read MarketWatch's complete coverage of Facebook IPO Hollande ousts Sarkozy in French vote French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday became the latest in a long line of European leaders to lose his job in the wake of the euro-zone debt crisis, conceding defeat to Socialist challenger François Hollande after polls closed in the final round of France's presidential election. Hollande, 57, said the vote marked a turn against a focus on austerity in response to Europe's long-running sovereign debt crisis. "Austerity is not an inevitability," Hollande told supporters in Tulle in central France, saying the election marks a "new start" for Europe. "This election is a rebuke to Germany''s austerity-focused approach to managing the euro zone crisis," said Nicholas Spiro, managing director of Spiro Sovereign Strategy, in London. Read about French election, on MarketWatch What's next for Avon after Coty withdraws bid Avon Products Inc. shares slumped 10% on Tuesday in their biggest decline since October after fragrance maker Coty Inc. withdrew its $10.7 billion bid for the world's largest direct seller of beauty products. Avon (AVP) dropped to $18.60, the biggest decliner in the S&P 500 (SPX) , on a day when the broader markets saw gains. Read MarketWatch coverage of the deal's collapse Moody's downgrades 16 Spanish banks Moody's Investors Service downgraded 16 Spanish banks and Santander UK PLC, a U.K.-domiciled subsidiary of Banco Santander SA (STD) ((ES:SAN) the latest blow for a country already facing economic recession, surging unemployment and a five-year property bust. Moody's said the downgrades — which range from one to three notches — primarily reflect the concurrent downgrades of most of these banks' stand-alone credit assessments. For five banks, the downgrades also reflect Moody's view that the Spanish government's ability to provide support to these banks has been reduced. Read MarketWatch coverage of Moody's downgrade actions Germany will blink and won't let Greece exit euro It doesn't take long for an idea to become an accepted fact in the markets. Six months ago, Greece leaving the euro was seen as so unlikely that nobody had to think seriously about it. Now the "Grexit" — as a Greek exit from the euro zone has been dubbed — is increasingly seen as a done deal. There's just one snag with that analysis. It isn't going to happen. Germany will realize the risks involved, eat its words and come up with a mega-bailout. Instead of a "Grexit" we'll see a "Grashall Plan" — as a Marshall Plan for Greece may quickly be dubbed — to reflate its economy and keep the euro staggering on for a couple more years, at least. Read Matthew Lynn commentary, on MarketWatch The insurance policies you don't need We buy insurance to protect ourselves from liabilities or loss that would be far too expensive to cover on our own. But some policies really don't offer protection and only add frustration. Which policies are worth paying a premium for? Here are a few you may want to skip and some policies to make sure you get. Read about insurance you need, and don't need, on MarketWatch How to handle ETFs' double-edged sword Exchange-traded funds open the door to just about every investment sector and style. They're readily available anywhere, anytime, and they're cheap.That's the appeal of ETFs — and the problem. While the price of admission is low, the cost of the products can be high for those who misuse and abuse them. Any investment can be mishandled, of course, but ETFs are especially easy to trade, temptingly so. Read Jonathan Burton's column on ETF investing Trading Deck: The fallacy of dollar-cost averaging Throughout my career, I have heard financial people talk about "dollar-cost averaging" as if it were a way to cut risk. It isn't. But, because the idea of dollar-cost averaging being somehow good is repeated over and over, people think it must be true. In fact, most financial consultants even believe this nonsensical idea, because frankly, they don't understand finance or math anywhere near the level that they should. Don't believe the hype. Dollar-cost averaging is nothing more than a well-constructed sales pitch. It is a method for getting people to do what a sales person wants them to do, generally open an account, move an account or buy a product. Read Trading Deck opinion on dollar-cost averaging, on MarketWatch New Yahoo plan could feature Alibaba IPO Third Point LLC's triumph at Yahoo Inc. has heightened speculation that the new board will move quickly to sell the Internet company's Asian assets, particularly its prized stake in Alibaba Group. But other observers say that Loeb, the Third Point chief who is now on Yahoo's (YHOO) board of directors, will likely push for a more carefully crafted strategy — one that could focus on Alibaba going public. Read MarketWatch report on Yahoo's possible paths forward Barney Frank on derivatives, J.P. Morgan: Q&A Derivatives regulation currently being drafted by regulators and a tougher Volcker rule will be enough to prevent other banks from suffering losses similar to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s surprise $2 billion-plus trading loss, the co-author of the financial reform law told MarketWatch on Friday. Rep. Barney Frank, whose name is shared on the Dodd-Frank Act implemented in the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis, said that so far he doesn't see a need for legislation to break up the big banks, and took issue with concerns raised by critics that argue there would be political pressure to bail out financial institutions in another crisis. Here's what the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee said. Read MarketWatch Q&A with Barney Frank 
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 |  |  |
No comments:
Post a Comment