Some of the more interesting and important items for February 8th :

• Microsoft Is Said to Reshuffle Management in Search of Technology Skills – Bloomberg – Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer plans to extend a management shake-up aimed at adding senior product executives with an engineering background, two people with knowledge of the decision said.
• Goldman Sachs Turns Bullish on European Banks Bond Market Shuns – Bloomberg – Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is telling investors to buy European bank stocks for the first time in more than 16 months. Bond buyers are taking the opposite view on concern that policy makers will fail to staunch the debt crisis.
• U.N. Food Agency Issues Warning on China Drought – NYTimes.com – HONG KONG — The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization issued an alert Tuesday that a severe drought was threatening the wheat crop in China, the world’s largest wheat producer, and was even resulting in shortages of drinking water for people and livestock.
• Gulf Shares Gain as Egypt Government Meets With Opposition; Emaar Advances – Persian Gulf shares gained, sending Dubai’s index to a week high, as Egypt’s government met with opposition leaders to quell protests, stoking speculation the turmoil in the country may ease. Qatar’s stocks advanced.
• 500 Internal Server Error – 500 Internal Server Error
• One in Five Mortgages Default Again After Modification – Bloomberg – One in five U.S. homeowners whose loans were modified under a federal government program to help reduce foreclosures were at least 60 days late in their payments a year after their mortgages were reworked.