Lehigh Upends Apple Cart;Market Smiles

The Lehigh University Mountain Hawks dismissed the expert opinion Friday evening when they handled the Duke Blue Devils 75-70 at the NCAA college basketball tournament at Greensboro,North Carolina.Lehigh,the number 15 seed,upended number 2-ranked Duke's apple cart with strong defensive play and a superior proficiency in 3-point shots of 33.3% versus 23.1%.The two teams had identical regular season records of 27-7.
Also sustained by the performance of number 5 NCAA scorer C.J. McCollum's 30 points,the Mountain Hawks gave the entire Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania one of the happiest memories of their lives.They also greatly pleased University of North Carolina fans who loudly cheered them on,detesting rival Duke University's team.
Lehigh coach Brett Reed said they ignored the prognosticators and just believed in themselves.Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski felt that his team wasn't a juggernaut.In fact,they hadn't been doing well offensively the last few weeks of the season.
It wasn't just our doing,he added-they played that well.
The stock market also excelled this week,with the S&P 500 Index posting a weekly gain of 2.43% on a decline in new filings for jobless benefits,as well as solid manufacturing reports.On the year,the S&P is up 11.65%.
Next week,the market will evaluate housing numbers,plus earnings reports from General Mills,Oracle and FedEx.The S&P futures tacked on 2.50 Friday evening,while bond index futures slipped in price.
General Mills(GIS),Oracle(ORCL),FedEx(FDX)

Euro-zone Leaders Agree;Montana Grizzlies Win

Leaders of 17 European nations which use the Euro as their currency have agreed to a series of measures designed to prevent the current debt crisis from occurring again;the U.K. rejected the pact,and several other European countries are studying it further.This contented the stock market for now,sending the major averages up on the week.The Dow gained 1.37%,while the S&P rose 0.88 and the NASDAQ added 0.76.The S&P remains slightly down on the year at -0.19.
In college football,the Montana Grizzlies drew on boisterous hometown support at Washington Grizzly Stadium in Missoula to take a quarterfinal game in the NCAA Division I Championship series,crushing the Northern Iowa Panthers 48-10.Student fans cheered on concrete during the game,having destroyed the seats in their enthusiasm.The Grizzlies will play the winner of the Montana State and Sam Houston State quarterfinal match-up for the title.Fireworks were launched in celebration and a gigantic M was lit up on the mountain behind the stadium at elevation 700 feet.It was 23 degrees F at game time,but the Grizzlies went bare-armed anyway.
In golf,Spaniard Alvaro Quiros leads the Dubai World Championship through two rounds at the Earth Course of the Jumeirah Golf Estates in the United Arab Emirates with a twelve under par 64.Luke Donald of England,the current world number one,is in contention to capture the overall European Tour title at the tournament.
Next week,Wall Street will continue to monitor European developments,as well as an OPEC oil cartel meeting in Vienna on Wednesday.FedEx and General Mills will report their earnings.The S&P futures were up a strong 22.80 on Friday evening,while bond index futures declined.
FedEx(FDX),General Mills(GIS)