Weekly Roundup: MarketWatch top 10 stories June 4 - 8

	Weekly Roundup JUNE 08, 2012 MarketWatch top 10 stories June 4 - 8 By MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks recovered from steep losses this week as a rally on Tuesday helped carry the major indexes higher and move the Dow Jones Industrial Average into positive territory for the year. Earlier in the week, stocks jumped following an emerging sentiment that the market had edged into oversold territory, and a Chinese rate cut got investors thinking a stimulus in the world's second largest economy would lift all boats. That sentiment cooled, but stocks managed to hold on to gains. For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)  tacked on 3.6%, moving it to a 2.8% gain for the year-to-date. The S&P 500 Index (SPX) added 3.7% this week and the Nasdaq Composite rose 4% for the week. Also, please be sure to watch our Week Ahead videos.  U.S. Week Ahead: Apple in focus  Europe Week Ahead: Elections and data from China Greg Morcroft, assistant managing editor Europe has 3 months to address crisis: Soros The European Union has three months to address its financial crisis before the markets stop giving it time, but in the end the euro is likely to remain, said George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC. Europe is struggling with a fundamental flaw of its original design: that it's a monetary and economic union but not a political or fiscal one, Soros said at the Festival of Economics in Trento, Italy, according to remarks posted Sunday on Soros's website. Read more George Soros on Europe, on MarketWatch Why your portfolio doesn't need gold After sliding 6% in May, the price of gold jumped 3.7% last Friday. Skeptics say it is a temporary rise in a longer downturn. Fans of the metal say it is the start of another glorious run. Picking a side is pointless. Gold defies efforts to calculate its worth — or even to describe how it behaves as an investment. That means there isn't a clear reason to invest in it. If you must own some gold to sleep better, stick with a multivitamin approach: A little bit won't hurt. A lot can prove toxic. Read more about perils of gold investing, on MarketWatch Commentary: Will Apple roll out iPhone 5 next week? Not likely Apple Inc. (AAPL) is hosting its World Wide Developer Conference next week, and fans on both East and West coasts are speculating on what the company has in store.On Monday, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook will kick off the event in San Francisco with a keynote address. Some investors might be expecting an announcement on the widely anticipated iPhone 5 at the developer conference in the wake of Wall Street chatter about declining iPhone sales. Not so, according to some analysts. Read more about Apple's plans for next week, on MarketWatch Fed ready to act if stresses mount: Bernanke The Federal Reserve stands ready to act to protect the financial system and the economy in the event that stresses from the European crisis escalate, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday. "The situation in Europe poses significant risks to the U.S. financial system and economy and must be monitored closely," Bernanke said in testimony prepared for delivery to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. He called on European leaders to do much more to stem the crisis. Read about Bernanke's congressional testimony this week, on MarketWatch Five reasons to buy stocks now It would be easy to join the herd investors who, say some, are overreacting to the news of the day by selling stocks and buying bonds. The harder thing to do now, especially in the face of political uncertainty in Europe and economic weakness in the U.S. and elsewhere, would be to buy stocks. Here's what some bulls — many of whom we might note say such things for business reasons — had to say. Read Robert Powell's Your Portfolio, on MarketWatch Commentary: Correction close to being over A tradeable low is close at hand.That is the conclusion reached by contrarian analysis, given that some sentiment measures are now showing more doom and gloom than in close to two years. To be sure, you may be inclined to dismiss what contrarians have to say at this point, given that contrarian analysis failed to anticipate the severity of the market's decline — which for the S&P 500 has measured 10.1%, and 9.3% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Indeed, my analysis of the sentiment data had suggested as recently as May 9 that a correction in excess of 10% was unlikely. But one misstep does not justify discarding contrarian analysis altogether — unless you think that, after years and years of being far more wrong than right, the average market timer is now worth following. Assuming you don't think that, the intelligent bet right now is that we are close to a tradeable bottom. Read Mark Hulbert commentary on the correction, on MarketWatch Commentary: Obama hopes dim with results of economic missteps The chances that Barack Obama will be limited to one term as president increased significantly with last week's unemployment report.The report for May showed a new uptick in unemployment, to 8.2%, and seemed to indicate that economic and employment growth will remain sluggish between now and the election in November, especially as the situation in Europe continues to worsen.There's not much Obama can do about it at this point. He can continue to blame the Bush administration and Republican policies. He can point a finger at an obstructionist Congress, which has blocked many of his measures. He can question whether Mitt Romney can do any better. Read Darrell Delamaide commentary, on MarketWatch Facebook catches more flak with new sell call Facebook Inc. (FB)  got another slap in the proverbial face Monday, when a Bernstein Research analyst raised questions about the company's revenue and business-growth opportunities as he initiated coverage of the social-networking giant. Analyst Carlos Kirjner assigned a rating of underperform, or sell, and set a price target of $25 a share. He ranks as one of the first major analysts to take such a glum view of Facebook. In a research note, Kirjner said that due to several factors, "It is difficult to argue for owning the stock today." Read about latest Facebook analysis, on MarketWatch Obama takes more strident tone with Europe President Barack Obama on Friday took a more strident tone with Europe, urging the region's leaders to aid the troubled banking sector and warning of the fallout if Greece were to leave the euro zone.He said he has tried hard over the past two years not to scold Europeans and be constructive. But in his comments to reporters in the White House briefing room, Obama basically gave Europe a "to-do" list. "The good news is there is a path out of this challenge," Obama said. Read about the president's words on Europe, on MarketWatch OPEC draws fine line between oil balance and chaos Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold their first meeting of the year on Thursday and, following steep declines in oil prices and ahead of European Union sanctions on Iran, they should have plenty to talk about. "A month ago, it seemed like the quota meeting would be pretty boring, but maybe not now," said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research and a scheduled speaker at the coming OPEC conference. "The recent drop in prices is causing some pain in countries, like Venezuela and Iran, and they will push for an earlier reduction in production quotas than the Saudis are likely to agree to," he said. 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