There WILL Be a Quiz

The Academy Awards don't give golden statuettes to stocks, and stocks weren't handing out a whole lot of glittery awards themselves last week.

In what seemed like one long epic, major indices seesawed between positive and negative growth throughout the week. Weighing on the markets was the familiar cast of interest rate-hike fears and oil spikes. Signs of a slowing housing market and the inverted yield curve didn't do stocks any favors either, as the Treasury's 10-year note reached a one-year high of 4.69%. Nevertheless, markets turned in adequate performances, even if not providing blockbuster returns. For final applause, Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM), announced, after Friday's closing bell, that it agreed to pay $612.5 million to NTP Inc. to settle its patent dispute. Shares of the Blackberry device maker soared in after-hours trading.

Employment data may steal the show this Friday. In the meantime, let's enjoy the action and hope there aren't any tearjerkers. Stay market-tuned and Foolish!

Capital Markets Summary:

U.S. Equities

Commodities

Foolish Quiz:

1. The Dow:

__ (a). broke new year-to-date highs in February.

__ (b). closed above 11,000 nine times during February.

__ (c). declined for the month of February.

__ (d). components will open late today because of last night's Oscar ceremonies.

2. The Nasdaq Composite broke new highs for the year despite Intel's (NASDAQ:INTC) woes.

___ True ___ False

3. The stock market's red carpet winners included:

__ (a). Wendy's (NYSE:WEN)

__ (b). HJ Heinz (NYSE:HNZ)

__ (c). Novell (NASDAQ:NOVL)

__ (d). Finisar (NASDAQ:FNSR)

4. Sectors showing weakness this week included:

__ (a). auto parts

__ (b). retail

__ (c). housing stocks

__ (d). automobiles

5. Last week, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) played the part of diva by doing all of the following:

__ (a). gagging on Tuesday, slipping over 7% following its CFO warning of slowing monetization opportunities for search.

__ (b). gaining on Wednesday, rising almost 3% following its CEO speaking of a "deep pipeline of monetization opportunities."

__ (c). grandly announcing on Thursday at its annual analyst meeting that it considers Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) its top competitor.

__ (d). gamely closing on Friday at $378.18, up 0.2% for the week.

6. Silver hit 22-year highs because of traders cornering the market.

___ True ____ False

7. Oil prices rose:

__ (a). for the past four consecutive days.

__ (b). because of overseas instability.

__ (c). and settled at a three-week high.

__ (d). because of below-average U.S. inventories.

8. Financial restatements by U.S. public companies have declined during recent years.

___ True ___ False

9. The Northeast's record-setting blizzard last month took the heat for disappointing February retail sales numbers, which showed same-store sales data slipping and falling for the following stocks, except:

__ (a). Gap (NYSE:GPS)

__ (b). Costco (NASDAQ:COST)

__ (c). Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF)

__ (d). Target (NYSE:TGT)

10. Exchange-traded funds can now boast their own star appeal.

___ True ___ False

Answers

1. (a) and (b). The Dow hit a closing high of $11,137.17 on Feb. 22, and closed the month 1.2% higher than January. Bravo!

2. False. The Nasdaq hit new highs this week for February, but never broke January's closing high of $2331.36, achieved on Jan. 11. However, don't blame Intel. Despite a Friday revenue warning from the chipmaker, which sent the stock down 3% at one point to a 17-month low, Nasdaq ended the week up fractionally.

3. (a), (b), and (d). Let's hear the applause for all our nominees, except for Novell, which tumbled 17% last Friday following disappointing first-quarter earnings and a lackluster outlook. As for our winners, Wendy's gained 2.9% for the week after it announced that it would both add three directors nominated by investor Nelson Peltz to its board of directors, and explore alternatives for its Baja Fresh Mexican Grill chain. After billionaire Peltz also announced nominees for Heinz's board, the company gained 1.9% for the week. Finally, Finisar, an optical equipment maker, reported a fiscal third-quarter profit of $8.3 million, compared to its prior-year $33 million loss, and accordingly reaped more than a 40% jump in share price.

4. (a), (b), (c), and (d). Each of these sectors suffered last week. Disappointing same-store sales for last month hurt a broad spectrum of retailers, while a disappointing new home sales report showed that sales dropped 5% in January, as opposed to an expected 0.1% increase. Auto parts and automobiles continued to veer off course, with news such as Dana (NYSE:DCN) filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the weakening market share of General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) contributing to their decline. If all this is enough to drive you to drink, note that the Dow Jones U.S. Distillers & Vintners Index climbed 4.8% last week.

5. (a), (b), (c), and (d). Gadzooks! This was not a week for the faint-of-heart Google shareholder as the company staged its own theatrics. Since going public in August 2004, its share price has soared over 400%, but there appears no consensus now as to whether it will continue its meteoric rise or come crashing down to Earth. One sure bet is that the melodrama will continue, especially as the company still hesitates to provide explicit guidance.

6. False. Relax, as far as we know there aren't any shenanigans going on in the silver market. Instead, prices are rising over expectation of a new silver ETF from a division of Barclays Bank PLC, although it has not yet been formally approved by the SEC.

7. (a), (b), and (c). Despite above-average U.S. oil inventories, oil continues to rise over concerns about instability in Nigeria and Iraq's nuclear activities.

8. False. The Wall Street Journal reports that the number of restatements almost doubled last year, in part because of greater scrutiny of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance requirements. Whether or not this is good news depends on whether you're the type who wonders why so many companies seemingly still can't set their business out straight or whether you prefer to believe that financial reforms are succeeding. In either case, restatements often lead to short-term price gyrations.

9. (b) and (d). February's retail sales numbers (reported last Thursday) showed weaker data for most retailers, except for membership warehouses and discounters. Same-store sales for Gap slumped a numbing 11%, much greater than the anticipated 6.9% drop, causing it to slide 2% that day. Teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch spiraled down 9.2%, following its report of a 5% rise in same-store sales, well below an expected 13.6% increase. The sun did shine on Costco, which saw sales at stores open for a least a year increase 8%, and helped its shares rise 1.2%. Target's same store sales rose 3.6%, as expected.

10. True. Last Friday, Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) launched a service similar to its mutual fund ratings, where ETFs are assigned one to five stars based on various criteria.

Scoring:

8-10 correct: Foolishly impressive.

6-7 correct: Almost Foolish.

1-5 correct: OK, but just barely.

0 correct: Really?! Keep reading the Fool and watch your scores improve!

Microsoft and Gap are Motley Fool Inside Value recommendations. Gap and Costco are Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations.

Fool contributor S.J. Caplan owns shares of Google. The Fool has a disclosure policy .