U.S. stocks face lowered earnings bar By: MarketWatch January 14, 2012 at 00:01 AM EST The U.S. stock market faces the heart of the fourth-quarter earnings season in the days ahead, with the bar substantially lower and Europe’s troubles in play Read More >> Related Stocks: American Express American International Group Bank of America Citigroup Fifth Third Bancorp General Electric Goldman Sachs Group Google, Inc. Intel Corp JPMorgan Chase & Co Microsoft Standard & Poors 500 SunTrust Banks U.S. Bancorp Wells Fargo