NEW YORK (Reuters) Stocks have strayed from their recent link to euro moves, and the start of U.S. corporate earnings next week could help shift investor focus back to U.S. fundamentals from Europe.

Stocks have traded in line with the euro over the autumn, with both experiencing sharp swings on headlines from the euro zone.

That trend may be changing, and it comes just as investors get their first glimpse at fourth-quarter U.S. earnings.

Aluminum company Alcoa (AA.N) is expected to report Monday after the closing bell, unofficially starting the reporting period for U.S. corporations. JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) is due to report on Friday, but the bulk of Standard & Poor’s 500 (.SPX) earnings will come in the weeks ahead.

“I think this month we’re probably going to break away and see the pattern of U.S. market trade on U.S. fundamentals rather than in reaction to the euro movement,” said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist, D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

“I think we’re in a time-out period for that (dollar) carry trade, and it will stay a time out for a while.”

The correlation between S&P 500 E-mini futures and the euro, which moved in near lockstep in the fall, has receded. A 22-day moving average of the correlation shows almost no relation between the movements of the two assets.

While the corporate results will be searched for evidence of the European crisis’ impact on overseas sales, they should also bring back more of a focus on what’s happening in the United States, where the economy has been northward bound.

Friday’s U.S. jobs reports was the latest data to suggest the recovery is gathering momentum, with non-farm payrolls rising in December and the jobless rate dropping to a near three-year low of 8.5 percent.

S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings are expected to have risen 7.8 percent from a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data. But that number is down from a July 1 forecast for growth of 17.6 percent in the quarter.

“We’re going to need good, strong positive news on earnings to lift all three of the market averages out of their trading ranges,” Dickson said. “They’re bumping into some overhead resistance, and it’s going to take fundamental news to do it.”

The S&P 500 ended virtually unchanged for 2011, even though most strategists had expected gains for the year.

The index has been unable to pierce through 1,285, the closing high set in late October.

Stocks ended with gains for the first trading week of the year, as the mostly upbeat U.S. economic data offset lingering worries about the euro zone. The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was up 1.2 percent for the week, the Standard & Poor’s 500 (.SPX) was up 1.6 percent and the Nasdaq (.IXIC) was up 2.7 percent.

Next week’s economic calendar includes data on U.S. retail sales and consumer sentiment.

Even with a focus on earnings, investors will be watching Italian and Spanish government bond sales next week.

Both are seen as the year’s first big funding tests for struggling euro zone countries. Italy is to pay out 100 billion euros in bond coupons and redemptions in the first four months of 2012.

“Ultimately, the market is still progressing towards a test of the (European Central Bank’s) reluctance to be a lender of last resort. I don’t know that the test will get that far, but I think it will,” said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Boston,wholesale Ed hardy underwear, where he helps oversee $571 billion in assets under management.

On the earnings front, while all 10 S&P 500 sectors have seen profit estimates cut since July, materials and financials have been the hardest hit. Based on a July forecast, the financial sector was expected to show year-over-year growth of 36.6 percent in the fourth quarter, but the latest forecast is for growth of just 10.1 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Natalie Trunow, chief investment officer of equities at Calvert Investment Management in Bethesda, Maryland, which manages about $13 billion, said she has been overweight U.S. equities since the autumn and is considering shifting money into some smaller and midcap names.

“Additional positive momentum in the U.S. can offset additional negative momentum in Europe in terms of earnings impact on U.S. companies,” she said.

“Net net it might spell somewhat better relative performance for U.S. small and midcaps versus the large caps,” she said. “Large caps may give up some of their leadership this year as the U.S. economy continues to gain momentum and small caps start to benefit from that acceleration.”

(Reporting By Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. A lawsuit brought by the parents of Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old Irish immigrant in Massachusetts who committed suicide after relentless bullying, was settled for $225,000, according to documents made public Tuesday.

The settlement with the town of South Hadley and its school department was reached more than a year ago, but the details were kept under wraps until a journalist won a court order for the release of the information.

The documents show that Prince’s parents settled claims against the town and its school department for $225,000. In return, the parents promised to release the plaintiffs from any further claims.

The documents were released by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, which represented Slate reporter Emily Bazelon in her bid to for the disclosure of the settlement.

“This is a victory for the public’s right to know and for transparency in government,” said Bill Newman, an attorney with the ACLU’s legal office in western Massachusetts.

Prince hanged herself in January 2010 after classmates taunted her after she dated a popular boy. She had recently moved from Ireland to South Hadley, a rural town about 100 miles west of Boston.

Five students later accepted plea deals in criminal cases connected with bullying that preceded her death. None involved prison time.

Prince’s death drew international attention and was among several high-profile teen suicides that prompted new laws aimed at cracking down on bullying in schools. All school districts in Massachusetts are now required to develop bullying prevention plans.

After unsuccessful attempts to gain access to details of the settlement,wholesale Ed hardy jeans, which was reached with the town and its insurer in November 2010, Bazelon sought a court order to release the information under the state’s public records law.

In an order dated Dec. 23, Superior Court Judge Mary Lou-Rup ruled in favor of Bazelon, saying the town had not shown what harm would be caused by disclosure of the settlement. The judge noted that the Prince family had not registered an objection to releasing the details.

Edward Ryan, lawyer for the town, did not immediately return an after-hours call Tuesday seeking comment.

Ryan had argued in court that the settlement was not a public document and that all parties involved had agreed to keep it confidential.

NEW YORK Nick Cannon is spending the first week of the new year in the hospital, with wife Mariah Carey by his side.

Carey tweeted that Cannon is suffering from “mild kidney failure.” His representative confirmed Cannon’s hospitalization. He is in Aspen, Colo., where he and Carey were vacationing.

Carey posted a picture on her website of a miserable-looking Cannon in a hospital bed as she lay beside him. She asked for prayers and said Cannon’s situation was “very painful.” She later called it a “serious moment that’s very tough on all of us.”

The pair became the parents of twins a boy and a girl last year.

Cannon is 31. His representative had no further information Wednesday about his condition,wholesale Ed hardy underwear, but said he is still hospitalized.

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Online:

http://www.mariahcarey.com