Peter Schacknow, Senior Producer, CNBC Breaking News Desk
The stock market is on somewhat of a downward trend — “somewhat” because over the last week or so, Wall Street’s up sessions have seen gains considerably larger than the losses posted on down days. That trend was also in place in July, where the major averages had more down days than up days, yet finished the month higher. The Dow and S&P 500, however, are entering the Thursday session with 3-day losing streaks.
Today’s most watched U.S. economic report is likely to be the Labor Department’s initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. New York time, coming just a day before the July employment report. Economists look for initial claims to rise to 370,000 for the week ending July 28, compared with 353,000 the prior week.
At 10 a.m. New York time, consensus forecasts call for a 0.5 percent rise in June factory orders, compared to May’s 0.9 percent increase.
At 10:30 a.m. New York time, the EIA will be out with its weekly look at natural gas inventories.
Europe will get some early attention, with the Bank of England out with its latest rate decision and policy statement at 7 a.m. New York time, and the European Central Bank doing the same at 7:45 a.m. New York time. Investors will also closely watch ECB president Mario Draghi’s post-decision news conference, set to begin at 8:30 a.m. New York time.
It’s another busy day for corporate earnings, with Becton Dickinson (BDX), Beam (BEAM), Cardinal Health (CAH), Cigna (CI), DirecTV (DTV), Duke Energy (DUK), Kellogg (K), and Time Warner Cable (TWC) among the companies out before the opening bell. Dow component Kraft Foods (KFT) leads out after-the-bell list, along with AIG (AIG), Activision Blizzard (ATVI), CBS (CBS), Pitney Bowes (PBI), and Sunoco (SUN).
Dow component Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has won a court victory over Oracle (ORCL), with a judge ruling that Oracle had an obligation to continue updating software for an HP server. Oracle has
vowed to appeal.
Green Mountain Coffee (GMCR) is also among our stocks to watch today. The Keurig coffee maker posted a better than expected quarterly profit but lowered its outlook for 2012, as growth in its Keurig business slows. Green Mountain also authorized $500 million in stock repurchases over the next two years.
We’ll continue to follow shares of trading firm Knight Capital (KCG), after they plunged 33 percent yesterday to a 9-year low. That followed the glitch in Knight’s computerized trading algorithms which resulted in irregular trading in a number of stocks.
MetLife (MET) reported second quarter profit of $1.33 per share, nine cents above estimates. The insurer was able to negate the effects of low interest rates through its use of derivatives.
Prudential Financial (PRU) earned an adjusted $1.34 per share for the second quarter, below estimates of $1.54, but many one-time items make the comparison unclear. Prudential’s revenues did beat consensus, though core profits did slip as results in retirement solutions and investment management slipped.
Yelp (YELP) reported a second quarter loss of $0.03 per share, narrower than the $0.06 loss analysts were expecting. Revenues beat analyst forecasts, and the customer review website operator raised its revenue forecast for the remainder of 2012.
Boston Beer (SAM) reported second quarter profit of $1.19 per share, excluding certain items, below estimates of $1.27, with revenues also falling short of estimates. The brewer of the Sam Adams brand was impacted by increased ingredient costs and brand development spending.
American Eagle (AEO) has raised its second quarter guidance to $0.19-$0.21 per share, versus analyst estimates of $0.15. The teen retailer says sales are stronger than it had previously expected.
Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), an American Eagle competitor, is not faring quite as well. It’s warning that second quarter profit will be about half of what analysts had been expecting, as it experiences a double-digit drop in same store sales.
Monsanto (MON) has been awarded $1 billion in a patent suit against DuPont (DD). The case involved Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” seed technology. DuPont has countersued, and that case is set to go to trial next year.
Sony (SNE) is reporting a larger quarterly loss for the April through June period, and has lowered its full-year earnings forecast in the face of a stronger yen and falling sales of LCD television sets.
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