Update Daily Investment News

Stocks, Euro Drop, Bond Risk Jumps on Growth Concern, Ireland
(Bloomberg) -- Stocks fell for a second day, the euro weakened and bond risk increased as concern deepened the global economic recovery is faltering and Moody’s Investors Service cut Ireland’s debt rating.
http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aT2AWhUpVsWw&pos=1

Soros Says U.S. Shouldn’t Cut Stimulus as Inflation Contained
(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire investor George Soros said U.S. lawmakers should refrain from withdrawing stimulus measures because the economy hasn’t strengthened enough.
http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a3Ehi6ggsJ3g&pos=7

Euro’s Gain Hurts Exports as Spain Sweats Major Rally (Update2)
(Bloomberg) -- The euro’s biggest rally in a year is threatening exporters in Europe’s weakest economies as they grow more reliant on international sales for growth.
http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aqWq.lUtTqJc&pos=2

Hedge Funds Raise Bull Oil Bets Most Since 2007: Energy Markets
(Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds and other large speculators raised bets that oil would gain by the most in more than three years just as it began to slide, the second straight week money managers lined up on the wrong side of the market.
http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZ6puQxrOGs8&pos=7 

Weekahead:
On Monday, the National Association of Home Builders survey is released. Housing starts are reported Tuesday, and existing home sales are released Thursday. FHFA home price data is also reported Thursday. Weekly jobless claims are due Thursday, as are leading economic indicators.


Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on the economic outlook before Congressional committees Wednesday and Thursday, and by the end of the week, the focus will be back on Europe. Friday is the day that the results of stress tests on 91 European banks are scheduled to be revealed.

Monday: IBM, Texas Instruments, Delta, Halliburton, Hasbro, Philips Electronics  and Tupperware.

Tuesday's: Goldman Sachs, Johnson and Johnson, PepsiCo, Biogen Idec, State Street, TD Ameritrade, UnitedHealth, Whirlpool, Peabody Energy  and Illinois Tool. After the bell, Apple, Altera, Boston Scientific, Sallie Mae, Yahoo, Juniper Networks and Seagate Tech.

Wednesday's:  Coca-Cola, United Technologies, Wells Fargo, Abbott Labs, Altria, BlackRock, Eaton, US Bancorp, Manpower, Northern Trust, Genzyme and Quest Diagnostics. After the bell reports include eBay, Starbucks, Netflix, Western Digital and Xilinx.

Thursday: AT&T, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Caterpillar, 3M, Glaxo, Travelers, Lilly, Air Products, Blackstone, Continental Airlines, Medco, Hershey, Xerox, Nokia, PNC, KeyCorp, SunTrust, Union Pacific and UPS. Amazon.com , American Express and Microsoft after Thursday's closing bell, as do SanDisk, Capital One, E*Trade, NCR and Mosaic.

Friday's: Ford , McDonald's, Kimberly-Clark, Honeywell, Schlumberger.