Rough patch for stocks will continue this week

By Ryan Vlastelica, Reuters

NEW YORK -- Wall Street navigated some potent obstacles last week -- Greece's elections and the Federal Reserve's slashing its U.S. economic growth forecasts -- but the drama is not over.

Investors say big gains will be hard to come by amid signs of slowing growth and economic headwinds from the euro zone.

The S&P 500 posted its second-biggest daily decline of the year last week. Trading is likely to be volatile in the final week of the quarter as headlines from Europe drive sentiment.

The market also is awaiting a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Obama administration's healthcare overhaul, and there are certain to be winners and losers in the healthcare sector, depending on how the justices decide.

European Union leaders will begin a two-day meeting on long-term plans for fiscal and banking union on Thursday.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said the euro zone countries faced "escalating speculative attacks" unless a lasting solution to Europe's financial crisis is found at the summit.

Spain's bond yields have been steadily rising, and investors urged a faster pace by European leaders toward greater fiscal union and helping the peripheral economies.

"We're starting to run up against Spain and Italy having trouble financing -- Spain for sure," said John Mauldin, president of Millennium Wave Investments, an investment advisory firm in Dallas. "Europe is up against that moment when it has to do something."

David Joy, who helps oversee $571 billion as chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Boston, said the overseas issues "are things over which we have no control ... makes this time particularly challenging."

For the week, the Dow lost 0.9 percent and the S&P 500 fell 0.6 percent. But the Nasdaq was up 0.7 percent.

Despite the S&P 500's weekly loss, signs of market resilience exist. The CBOE Volatility index, a measure of investor anxiety, has fallen for the past three weeks, dropping about 30 percent. The S&P 500 is up 1.5 percent so far this month.

The problems in Europe have been largely telegraphed, somewhat explaining the market's ability to bounce back, said Ted Weisberg, a trader with Seaport Securities who works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

The market "has been somewhat discounting them," Weisberg said.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare overhaul passed by Congress in 2010 that has faced a number of court challenges.?

For health insurance companies and hospitals there are several different scenarios for the impact of the ruling. Some on Wall Street have devised complex strategies -- betting on one sector against another -- depending on how the ruling comes out.

Stocks of health insurers that specialize in Medicaid programs for the poor, like Centene Corp or Molina Healthcare Inc, could be hit if the law is struck down. Large insurers like Aetna Inc or WellPoint Inc could benefit.

Data has pointed to slowing growth in the United States, a view corroborated by the Fed. Corporate earnings have also pointed to strained conditions as more companies signal disappointing results than at any time over the past decade.

"The data suggests we're going into a global slowdown, and as investors position for the end of the quarter the volatility and weakness we saw this week could prove to be an appetizer for what's coming," said Carl Kaufman, who helps manage about $2 billion at the Osterweis Strategic Income fund in San Francisco.

This week will provide data on consumer sentiment, new home sales and other housing figures, which could shed light on whether the housing market is finally healing. Major companies scheduled to report financial results include Nike, Monsanto Co and General Mills Inc.?

Below, CNBC's Tyler Mathisen looks ahead to what are likely to be next week's top business and financial stories.

More money and business news:

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Key events in Egypt's uprising and transition

CAIRO (AP) ? Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood was declared the winner Sunday of the first free presidential elections in Egypt's history, making him the successor to ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Here are some key events from 16 months of turmoil and transition.

Jan. 25, 2011 ? Egyptians hold nationwide demonstrations against the authoritarian rule of Mubarak, who has led the country for three decades, in what would become known as the Arab Spring.

Jan. 26 ? A large security force moves into Cairo's Tahrir Square, beating and arresting protesters, using rubber bullets and tear gas. Three protesters are killed ? among the first of what will become about 900 dead in clashes in the uprising.

Jan. 28 ? Amid continuing unrest, protesters burn down the ruling party's headquarters and the military is deployed. Police virtually vanish from Egypt's streets, leading to a wave of looting, robbery and arson.

Jan. 29 ? Mubarak makes his first public appearance since the protests began, saying he asked his cabinet to resign. The move is met with scorn from protesters.

Feb. 1 ? Mubarak says he will not run again for president as tens of thousands converge in Cairo, responding to a call for 1 million Egyptians to unite against him.

Feb. 2 ? Mubarak supporters clash with anti-government protesters. Soldiers stand by without intervening, and more deaths and injuries result.

Feb. 10 ? Mubarak transfers power to his vice president while retaining his title and promises constitutional changes. The move falls short of protesters' demands.

Feb. 11 ? Mubarak steps down and turns power over to the military. Two days later, military leaders dissolve parliament and suspend the constitution, meeting two key demands of protesters.

April 13 ? The prosecutor general announces the detention of Mubarak pending inquiries into accusations of corruption, abuse of authority and the killings of protesters during the uprising. Mubarak's two sons, Gamal and Alaa, also are detained.

Aug. 3 ? Mubarak goes on trial, appearing in court in a hospital bed, with his two sons beside him.

Nov. 28 ?Voting begins in Egypt's first parliamentary elections since Mubarak's ouster. The election is staged over a period of several weeks and concludes in January with nearly half the seats won by the previously banned Muslim Brotherhood.

April 20, 2012 ? The presidential campaign officially begins, with the election commission announcing the candidates running for president. The commission had earlier disqualified 10 presidential hopefuls, including three considered to be potential front-runners.

May 23 ? The first round of voting for president begins with 13 candidates on the ballot, with Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under Mubarak, emerging as the top two vote-getters.

June 2 ? Mubarak is convicted for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising and is sentenced to life in prison, but cleared of corruption charges.

June 14 ? The Supreme Constitutional Court orders the Islamist-dominated parliament dissolved and rules that Shafiq can stay in the presidential race. The rulings by the Mubarak-era judges escalate the power struggle between the Muslim Brotherhood and the military.

June 16-17 ? Egyptians vote in a runoff election between Morsi and Shafiq. The military council that has ruled since the uprising issues an interim constitution, giving the generals sweeping authority to maintain their grip on power and limiting the powers of the president.

June 18 ? Morsi declares victory, but so does Shafiq.

June 19 ? Thousands of Morsi supporters gather in Tahrir Square to protest the interim charter issued by the military and the dissolution of parliament.

June 24 ? Election officials declare Morsi the winner of Egypt's first free election with 51.7 percent of the vote, as his supporters celebrate wildly in Tahrir Square.

Associated Press

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Cyanide-Producing GM Grass Linked To Texas Cattle Deaths

Peristaltic writes "Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are trying to determine if an unexpected mutation in a popular GM grass, Tifton 85, is responsible for the sudden deaths of a small herd of cattle in Elgin, Texas three weeks ago. The grass has been used for grazing since 1992 without incident, however after a severe drought last year in Texas, the grass started producing cyanide in sufficient quantities to kill a small herd of cattle in Elgin, Texas. Testing has found the cyanide-producing grass in nearby fields as well." Update: 06/23 22:59 GMT by T : Reader Jon Cousins writes with a correction that means the headline above is inaccurate for including "GM." Tifton 85, he writes, is "absolutely not genetically modified. It's a conventionally bred hybrid."

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Take advantage of India training: PSC urges (Fijilive)

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Former principal charged in fatal Fla. stabbings

LEALMAN, Fla. (AP) ? A former Tampa Bay-area middle school principal who lost his job over a drug arrest five years ago went on a rampage Friday, stabbing several people ? killing at least two ? and then driving his car into a crowded porch before attacking two others at a motel, authorities said.

Anthony Giancola, 45, was taken into custody Friday afternoon and charged hours later with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office reported. Authorities said there were 11 victims in all, and several are being treated at area hospitals for injuries ranging from minor to life-threatening.

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Giancola told his mother in the morning that he was "going to kill all the drug dealers."

The crime spree began shortly before 11 a.m. in Lealman, a small city in Pinellas County, about 20 miles west of Tampa.

That's when Giancola went to a group home for the hearing impaired, where authorities said he stabbed four people. Officials said Justin Lee Vand, 27, died at the scene, and Mary Anne Allis, 59, died at a nearby hospital. Injured were Danielle Whitney Gilbert, 25, and Janice Denise Rhoden, 44. Of the two wounded, one person was reported to be in serious condition. There was no immediate indication that the victims were involved in criminal activity. A child who lived there was not home at the time, said neighbors were stunned by the day's events.

"It's crazy," sighed Ken Seidl, 52, who lives down the street from the group home. "There's always problems in this neighborhood, drugs, prostitution. But never (anything) this drastic."

Pinellas County Sheriff's spokeswoman Cecelia Barreda said officers are still piecing together the timeline.

"It appears at this moment, this is all random," said Barreda, stressing that the details of the story could change throughout the evening.

However, she said, investigators believe that after the stabbings at around 11:30 a.m., Giancola pulled up in front of a house in the nearby city of Pinellas Park and asked residents where he could find women. The residents told him to go away, and Giancola drove away angry. He soon returned and crashed his car into their porch, injuring three women and one man, police said. The women were taken to a nearby hospital, but the man refused treatment.

Giancola also hit a 13-year-old boy on a bike as he was fleeing, officials said. The boy's injuries were minor.

Soon after, investigators reported, Giancola went to the Kenvins Motel in Pinellas Park, where he attacked the married couple who own the motel with a hammer. Kanu and Indiranden Patel, both 57, were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. The husband is in critical condition, officials said.

By that time, officers had spoken with victims who were able to communicate and had pieced together the name of the suspect, Barreda said. A police dog tracked Giancola to near a storage facility and that's where he was arrested.

Giancola was first arrested in 2007. Authorities said he bought $20 of crack cocaine from an undercover police officer during the school day in his office at Van Buren Middle School in Tampa. Giancola eventually pleaded guilty to purchasing crack cocaine, possessing crack cocaine and possessing marijuana. Court records show he was sentenced to a year in jail and three years of probation.

A message left at a telephone listing for Giancola seeking comment from his family wasn't immediately returned. It wasn't clear if he had an attorney.

The sheriff's office said the Florida Highway Patrol was investigating the hit-and-run, and Pinellas Park police were investigating the motel attack. It wasn't immediately clear if charges had been filed in either of those cases.

___

Associated Press writer David Fischer in Miami and researcher Judith Ausuebel in New York contributed to this report.

Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush

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Pension Giant Dumps $73 Million Caterpillar Stock Over Israel Ties

Pension fund giant TIAA-CREF has removed Caterpillar, Inc. from its Social Choice Funds portfolio. As of May 1, 2012, financial data posted on TIAA-CREF?s website valued Social Choice Funds shares in Caterpillar at $72,943,861. Today it is zero.

?We applaud this decision,? said Rabbi Alissa Wise, Director of Campaigns at Jewish Voice for Peace and National Coordinator of the We Divest Campaign. "It?s long past time that TIAA-CREF began living up to its motto of ?Financial Services for the Greater Good? when it comes to the people of Israel and Palestine.?

Since 2010, We Divest has been urging TIAA-CREF to drop Caterpillar and other companies profiting from and facilitating Israel?s 45-year-old military occupation and colonization of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip.

?By selling weaponized bulldozers to Israel, Caterpillar is complicit in Israel?s systematic violations of Palestinian human rights,? said Rabbi Wise. ?We?re glad to see that the socially responsible investment community appears to be recognizing this and is starting to take appropriate action.?

Caterpillar has come under increasing criticism from human rights organizations in recent years for continuing to supply bulldozers to Israel, which uses them to demolish Palestinian civilian homes and destroy crops and agricultural land in the occupied territories, and to build illegal, Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land.

In the coming weeks, many will be watching the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly taking place in Pittsburgh, where church commissioners will vote on a motion to divest from Caterpillar and two other companies, Motorola Solutions and Hewlett-Packard, that remain in TIAA-CREF?s Social Choice Funds.

Last month, Friends Fiduciary, a Quaker institution, divested $900,000 worth of shares in Caterpillar stating: ?We are uncomfortable defending our position on this stock.?

* * *

Caterpillar D9 model tractors used by the Israeli Defense Forces. (Limor Edri)

* * *

Israel's Ha'aretz reports:

[...] TIAA-CREF?s divestiture amounted to $72 million in funds, dwarfing previous divestitures by liberal religious groups such as Friends Fiduciary, a Quaker group that divested $900,000.

The news of the delisting comes ahead of the biennial general assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), where divestment from Caterpillar and other companies selling products used by the Israeli army, will be considered. [...]

The death in 2003 of Rachel Corrie, an American pro-Palestinian activist, while she was protesting such a demolition in Gaza, helped spur the BDS movement forward. Corrie?s parents and witnesses say she was caught beneath an armored tractor. The army denies fault and maintains she was killed by debris.

MSCI-ESG ? ESG stands for Environment, Social or Governance ? has as its clients a number of progressive groups that base their investments in part on social justice issues, including care for the environment, the treatment and safety of employees, and involvement in human rights abuses.

MSCI-ESG?s decision, made in February and effective as of March 1, came to light this week because of claims by groups associated with the BDS movement that a decision by TIAA-CREF ? a pension fund for teachers and other academics ? to divest from Caterpillar was a result of their pressure.

"It?s long past time that TIAA-CREF began living up to its motto of ?Financial Services for the Greater Good? when it comes to the people of Israel and Palestine,? Rabbi Alissa Wise, the national coordinator for ?We Divest,? a coalition of several groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace, where Wise is director of campaigns. [...]

Rebecca Vilkomerson, the Jewish Voice for Peace spokswoman said she was ?confident? that representations by the We Divest coalition and other groups both to MSCI-ESG and to TIAA-CREF played a role.

In any case, she said, activism by groups such as hers has resulted in a ?consensus in the human rights community because of its role in human rights abuses in Palestine, Caterpillar is not an ethical actor.?

Pro-Palestinian groups have for a decade campaigned against the sale of the tractors to Israel. Caterpillar sells the tractors to the U.S. military for resale to allies. Caterpillar says it does not determine to which countries the tractors are resold and how they are refitted for military use.

The pro-Palestinian groups, backed by a number of human rights NGOs, say that Israel uses the tractors to destroy Palestinian homes as a means of inhibiting growth and as collective punishment. Israel says the tractors are used to destroy illegal structures, and in Gaza were used until 2005, when Israel pulled out, to destroy tunnels used by terrorists for smuggling purposes.

* * *

And a press release from Jewish Voice for Peace:

TIAA-CREF Drops Caterpillar from Social Choice Funds
Biggest U.S. Victory Yet for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement

June 21, 2012?Over the objection of Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), pension giant TIAA-CREF?s Social Choice Funds have divested from Caterpillar.

Ackerman, the top Democrat on the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, has strongly condemned the TIAA-CREF divestment campaign, calling it ?ill-conceived and dangerous.?

Ackerman attacked nearly 200 New York University (NYU) faculty and staff for signing a letter urging TIAA-CREF President/CEO Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., to ?divest funds from companies that profit from Israel?s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories.?

Ackerman remarked, ?It would take a great deal of education to rationalize such utter nonsense. But somehow, I feel sure this bunch at NYU will manage it.?

TIAA-CREF ignored Ackerman and did exactly as the NYU faculty asked?divesting more than $72 million of shares in Caterpillar from their social choice funds. Caterpillar shares (NYSE:CAT) are down 1.25% as of 12 p.m. ET today.

TIAA-CREF?s move is yet another sign of surging momentum for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Last month, Friends Fiduciary, a Quaker institution, divested $900,000 worth of shares in Caterpillar stating: ?We are uncomfortable defending our position on this stock.?

Ackerman is not alone in fighting TIAA-CREF?s divestment. The Israel Action Network is a $6 million project of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, devoted to undermining divestment campaigns like this one. TIAA-CREF was clearly not convinced by either Ackerman or the Israel Action Network.

?The Israel Action Network is a cynical effort to divide the Jewish community and silence one of the most important moral policy debates in our country,? said Rabbi Alissa Wise, Director of Campaigns at Jewish Voice for Peace and National Coordinator of the We Divest Campaign (www.wedivest.org).

TIAA-CREF had resisted calls for divestment since the We Divest Campaign launched in 2010. The change comes less than a month before TIAA-CREF?s annual meeting, which will take place July 17th in New York.

The We Divest Campaign will continue to urge TIAA-CREF to divest other funds from Caterpillar and to divest from all companies that profit from the Israeli occupation?including Northrop Grumman, Veolia, Elbit, Motorola Solutions, and Hewlett-Packard. The campaign was initiated by Jewish Voice for Peace and now includes six organizations, including the American Friends Service Committee, Adalah-NY, Grassroots International, the US Palestinian Community Network, and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.

Jewish Voice for Peace is a national grassroots peace organization dedicated to promoting a US foreign policy in the Middle East based on peace, democracy, human rights and respect for international law. With over 115,000 online supporters, 35 chapters and a Rabbi's Council, JVP?s board of advisors includes Tony Kushner, Ed Asner, Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky, Eve Ensler and others.

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