Not even a solid jobless claim report could shake the blues pervading wall street this morning. Jobless claims fell to their lowest level in 4 years last week, 350k, but are expected to tick up next week due to seasonal factors. Futures are down mainly because the FOMC minutes gave little evidence that QE3 is right around the corner.
A quick snapshot of the futures has the Dow down 78, the Nasdaq 18 and the S&P nearly 10.
Asian markets were hammered overnight as investors were more risk averse as it looks like the Fed is waiting for deterioration in the markets to move forward with any additional stimulus. Sign Up For Free Stock Alerts
Commodities were also taking a dive this morning with oil and gold both down. Nymex crude futures are down $1.10 to just over $84 per barrel. Gold futures are off $17 to $1558.70 per ounce.
Stocks to Watch
Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is up 3.36% in pre market trading at $42.80. MRK has traded 604 thousand shares this morning and trades 14.6 million shares a day on average. MRK shares are up today as the company stops trial of bone drug following favorable results. The company has a market cap of 125.34 billion.
Supervalu Inc. (NYSE:SVU) is down 32.57% this morning at $3.55. SVU has traded 360 thousand shares so far today and trades 7 million shares a day on average. SVU shares are tanking in pre market after earnings miss. The company has a market cap of 1.12 billion.
Alcatel-Lucent, S.A. (NYSE:ALU) is down 2.67% this morning at $1.46. ALU has traded 386 thousand shares so far today and trades 18.6 million shares a day on average. ALU shares are down more than 5% over the past five days. The company has a market cap of 3.40 billion.
Complete Genomics, Inc. (NASDAQ:GNOM) is up 55.66% today at $3.30. GNOM has traded 308 thousand shares so far today and trades 1.5 million shares a day on average. GNOM shares are set to rally again today after the company announced new technology developed for clinical-grade genomes. The company has a market cap of 99.28 million.
Total SA (NYSE:TOT) is down 2.12% this morning at $43.35. TOT has traded 204 thousand shares in early trading and trades 4.4 million shares a day on average. TOT shares have traded mostly flat over the past four days. The company has a market cap of 99.72 billion. Sign Up For Free Stock Alerts
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) is up 1.24% in pre market trading at $29.50. ORCL has traded 186 thousand shares so far today and trades 28 million shares a day on average. The company has a market cap of 142.72 billion.
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