All eyes will be on Fed chairman Ben Bernanke after China joined the global easing party overnight by cutting lending and deposit rates by 25 bps. Investors are obviously counting on some sort of easing as futures are extending the gains of yesterday’s bull market. Dow futures are up 66 points, Nasdaq futures are adding 16 and the S&P 10 points.
Bernanke is scheduled to testify before a congressional panel at 10am EST. Investors are hoping that he drops further hints about QE3. Analysts say that if he does the risk rally of the past two days will continue.
In Europe, a Spanish debt auction went off without a hitch though borrowing costs continued to rise. Strong demand saw the auction exceed its sale target of one to two billion euros. Sign Up For Free Stock Alerts
On the economic data front, jobless claims are slated for release at 8:30am EST. The employment picture has become bleaker as of late with an uptick in unemployment. It will definitely be an index to continue to watch for those hoping for a return of QE.
Stocks to Watch
Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) is up 0.26% in pre market trading today at $1.92. SIRI has traded 82 thousand shares so far today and trades 55.4 million shares a day on average. SIRI shares have seen choppy trading between $1.84 and $1.92 over the past five days. The company has a market cap of 7.28 billion.
Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) is up 0.86% this morning at $27.04. FB has traded 100 thousand shares in pre market and trades 114.98 million shares a day on average. Nasdaq OMX Group recently announced a $40 million compensation program for financial organizations who lost out in the glitch ridden Facebook IPO last month. The company has a market cap of 57.32 billion.
Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) is up 4.01% this morning at $123.90. BIDU has traded 55 thousand shares so far today and averages 4.52 million shares a day on average. BIDU shares are up about $10 a share this week. There are reports that Apple will add Baidu as iPhone search engine in China. The company has a market cap of 41.61 billion. Sign Up For Free Stock Alerts
Zynga, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZNGA) is up 1.87% in pre market trading at $6.28. ZNGA has traded 102 thousand shares this morning and averages 17.8 million shares a day on average. ZNGA shares rose about $0.60 a share yesterday. The company has a market cap of 4.54 billion.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is up 0.44% in pre market trading at $217.64. AMZN has traded 20 thousand shares so far today and trades 4.8 million shares a day on average. AMZN shares are up about $10 a share over the past four days. The company has a market cap of 98.05 billion.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) is up 1.59% this morning at $18.50. CHK has traded 26 thousand shares so far today and trades 31.5 million shares a day on average. CHK shares are up more than $2 a share this week. Chesapeake Energy is said to be close to selling a pipeline for $4 billion. The company has a market cap of 11.69 billion. Sign Up For Free Stock Alerts
About Danny Fisher
