Stock Futures Rise With A Major IPO and CPI Numbers for Friday; Stocks To Watch: AAPL, AMZN, BAC, RRR, RIMM, ADBE

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Futures on the Dow Jone Industrial Average are up 39 points to 11,861. S&P 500 futures are currently up nearly 6 points to 1217.50. Nasdaq 100 futures are adding nearly 10 points in early pre-market trading at 2,233.

Investors are anxiously awaiting a second round of economic data after yesterday’s data dump. The economic data calendar for today is fairly light with CPI numbers releasing at 8:30am EST.

Financial stocks are likely to be under the gun today after Fitch’s late-Thursday downgrades of several big US banks. Ban of America, Barclays and Goldman Sachs all saw their long-term debt ratings slashed. While not a catastrophic move by Fitch, this will end up costing the banks as they continue to navigate the sovereign debt crisis still gripping the EU.

One bright spot on the market today is the IPO of Zynga, the social game maker. With the initial pricing at $10 it is expected to be one of the most heavily traded stocks as investors get a chance to trade a company that works closely with Facebook. It is widely expected that Facebook will have its own IPO in the coming year. Possibly in the spring.

European markets continue to mired in their sovereign debt crisis with major markets turning negative this morning. Germany’s DAX 30 Index is modestly lower at this hour, losing about .30% to 5,715.

Asian markets rebounded overnight with the Shanghai Composite leading the charge, up nearly 2%. Most of the gains were due to strong US economic data and relief buying after a string of losses. Trading was thin, however, as investors worried over the EU going into the weekend.

Gold is ending the week by edging higher after this week’s rout in prices. Currently up nearly $11 to 1,588 the metal is working to recover after steep losses throughout the week. It is expected the pricing of gold can be resilient thanks to strong physical purchases and the looming threat of QE 3. Any additional monetary easing out of Europe will also help stabilize the price.

Stocks to watch today include Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), RSC Holdings Inc. (NYSE:RRR), Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM), Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is up slightly in pre market trading at $381.43. AAPL trades 14.13 million shares a day on average. Apple is struggling to take a bigger share of China’s booming smartphone market. While their share has risen dramatically in the past few years, other companies such as Samsung are doing better than Apple in China. This is due in part because the network infrastructure there doesn’t fully support the iPhone and iPad capabilities. AAPL has a market cap of 352.19 billion.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) closed yesterday up 0.5% at $181.26. AMZN trades 6.51 million shares a day on average. AMZN has recovered some over the past two trading days after hitting a low of around $170 a share on Wednesday. Amazon.com has a market cap of 82.43 billion.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) is up 1.33% in pre market trading at $5.33. BAC trades 263.89 million shares a day on average. Fitch downgraded Bank of America by one notch yesterday. Look for BAC stock to continue to follow the overall market trend. The company has a market cap of 53.31 billion.

RSC Holdings Inc. (NYSE:RRR) closed yesterday up 3.36% at $11.37. RRR trades 910 thousand shares a day on average. United Rentals, Inc and RSC Holdings announced this morning that United Rentals will acquire RSC at $18 per share, valuing the deal at $4.2 billion. The company has a market cap of 1.18 billion.

Reserach In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) is down 9.45% in pre market trading at $13.70. RIMM trades 20.77 million shares a day on average. RIMM is heading down this morning after announcing third quarter earnings fell 71%. The company also delayed the release of a new generation of BlackBerry devices. Research In Motion has a market cap of 7.93 billion.

Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) is up 5.56% in pre market trading at $27.93. ADBE trades 6.66 million shares a day on average. Adobe announced quarterly results yesterday that beat Wall Street’s expectations. The company has a market cap of 12.99 billion.