Stock futures are mostly flat this morning after jobless claims showed a modest drop of 6k. This was against expectations of a rise of 5k. The trade gap also narrowed sharply in June. Dropping by more than 10%, the consensus among economists is that this should help boost the second quarter initial GDP estimates of 1.5%.
Weaker Chinese data overnight has done little to dampen sentiment across the global markets as most observers were already expecting a slowdown within the Chinese economy. The numbers pointed to that but nothing approaching a hard landing as of yet.
In commodities, oil prices continue to inch up as OPEC decided to stand firm on production, Currently Nymex futures are up 47 cents to $93.82 per barrel. Gold futures are essentially flat like the rest of the market, up $1.18 to $1617 per ounce.
Stocks to Watch
Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) is up 2.71% in pre market trading at $4.40. EXEL has traded 371 thousand shares in pre market trading and trades about 1.8 million shares a day on average. EXEL shares have lost nearly $2 a share over the past week and fell sharply at the start of the week on news of a stock offering. Exelixis announced this morning it will price 30 million shares at $4.25. The company has a market cap of 637.82 million.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is up 3.90% in pre market trading at $17.83. CSCO trades about 44.5 million shares a day on average. Cisco stock has been in a nice uptrend over the past week and is up more than $2 a share since August 2. Cisco was upgraded by Piper Jaffray to overweight from neutral. The company has a market cap of 91.92 billion.
Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) is up 0.61% in pre market trading at $2.49. SIRI saw huge volume yesterday with 325 million shares, well above its daily average of 53.7 million shares. SIRI shares rose more than $0.20 a share yesterday on news that Liberty Media will spin off the Starz cable network into a separate company, leaving Liberty Media more money to pursue Sirius. The company has a market cap of 9.41 billion.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) is up 5.99% in pre market trading at $2.67. NOK has traded 220 thousand shares so far today and trades 43.6 million shares a day on average. Nokia announced this week it will sell its app-tools unit, Qt, and will now rely on Microsoft Corp for its future software. The company has a market cap of 9.91 billion.
Vodafone Group Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:VOD) is down 1.23% in pre market trading at $29.70. VOD trades 8.6 million shares a day on average. VOD shares are up about $1 a share over the past five days. The company has a market cap of 149.29 billion.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is down 0.97% in pre market trading at $36.80. JPM has traded 106 thousand shares this morning and trades 49.5 million shares a day on average. JPM have jumped nearly $3 a share since August 3rd. The company has a market cap of 141.54 billion.
About Danny Fisher
