Stock Futures Point to a Lower Open, Ahead of Economic Reports. Stocks to Watch: BA, DAL, DVN, GS, UTX, and YHOO

Published on Thursday, 11 March 2010 08:22 Written by Christopher Lynn

New York, March 11^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Stock futures were lower ahead of the weekly jobless claims report. Wall Street seemed poised to open lower, with the prospects of sanpping 2 days of gains.

The Commerce Department will release trade data, with the U.S. trade deficit expected to widen in January for a third month as imports grew faster than exports, pointing to a rebound in global economic growth. Also at 8:30 a.m., the Labor Department figures may show initial jobless applications fell to 460,000 in the week ended March 6.

Overseas, China’s inflation reached a 16-month high, industrial output climbed and new loans exceeded forecasts, adding to speculation that the government will pare back stimulus measures sooner than expected.

Today Stocks to watch: United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX), Boeing (NYSE:BA), Delta Airlines (NYSE:DAL), Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX), and Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO).

 Boeing (NYSE:BA), the maker 2^nd largest aircraft maker in the world, announced that it has completed initial airworthiness testing on the 747-8 Freighter, allowing the remaining two 747-8 Freighter test airplanes to begin flight test. Boeing stock has been on a nice upswing; yesterday the stock led the gains in the blue chip index with a 3.27% jump, on good economic data and on prospects of the airline tanker contract for the military.

Shares of Delta Airlines (NYSE:DAL), the largest airline in the world, could see a boost after the International Air Transport Association (IATA) cut its forecast for industry losses this year in half. The IATA cited a stronger-than-expected economic recovery in emerging markets, especially Asia and Latin America. The international industry group raised its forecast for 2010 passenger traffic growth to 5.6% from 4.5%, compared with a 2.9% decline in 2009. Cargo traffic is now expected to jump by 12% this year, up from a December forecast of 7% growth.

Shares of Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) are jumping more than 3% in pre-market trading, the company announced that that it has entered into agreements to sell all of its assets in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Azerbaijan, and Brazil to BP (NYSE:BP) for $7.0 billion. In addition, BP will assume Devon's leases of the Seadrill West Sirius and Transocean Deepwater Discovery drilling rigs for the duration of the contract terms. Devon has been selling assets to reposition strategically, the company CEO said that given the sales price for the divestitures suggest that the total after tax proceeds for the entire divestiture program will exceed the previously announced range of $4.5 to $7.5 billion.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), the global investment banking and services firm, will be in focus as FBR capital markets reiterates its rating of “Outperform” and maintains stance on Goldman’s shares as an FBR Top Pick. The analysts expect Goldman to create capital faster than anyone in the sector, and said the valuation remains compelling despite regulatory overhangs, with management comments as cautiously optimistic;

United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX), the maker of Otis elevators and Carrier air conditioning systems said late yesterday that its board authorized buying back up to 60 million shares of the company's common stock. The program, worth up to $4.3 billion at current prices, replaces a previous one that was near completion. United Technologies bought back about $1.1 billion in share in 2009, and expects to buy back about $1.5 billion in 2010.

Shares of Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) will be in focus as the company was downgraded to “Hold” from “Buy” at Benchmark. The analyst set a target price of $18, citing competitive environment. It’s apparent that better scaled competitors gain share in search, and both online content fragmentation and display competition have increased, additionally the revenue impact from the Microsoft integration could come slower than expected.