Stock Futures Lower amid Greek Jitters. Stocks to Watch: ANR, AMZN, AAPL, MT, BAC, HUM, SOHU, TEN

Published on Monday, 06 February 2012 07:45 Written by Christopher Lynn

New York, February 6^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Stock futures were pointing to a lower open amid increased jitters over a potential disorderly default in Greece, as talks with its private creditors continue to drag without a deal. Concern over China economic growth also weighed on sentiment early on after the IMF cut its outlook on Chinese growth for the year.

In Asia, most stocks closed higher following solid U.S. jobs data, however weakness in the euro due to the lack of progress in the Greek debt restructuring negotiations weighed and capped the upside move. In Japan, the Nikkei jumped more than 1% to close at a 3-month high, while in China, shares closed near the unchanged line after reversing earlier gains, with participants trimming positions on profit taking ahead of economic data later in the week and as the IMF trimmed its economic growth forecast for China to 8.25% from 9%.

In Europe, equity markets were under pressure, falling from a 6-month high, amid increasing worries over a potential disorderly Greek default, as a lack of agreement with its private creditors for a debt restructuring, coupled with politicians struggling to agree on austerity measures needed to secure the bailout package.

The euro was falling 0.50% against the Dollar, trading above the $1.30 level. Crude oil was losing 1.01% to $96.85 per barrel. Also in the energy complex, natural gas was dropping 1.52%, trading below $2.50 per MMBtu. Gold was sliding 1.22% to $1719 an ounce and silver was falling 1.12% to $33.37 an ounce. Meanwhile, copper was losing 1.2%.

Today’s Stocks to watch: Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE: ANR), Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Humana (NYSE: HUM), and Sohu.com (NASDAQ: SOHU).

Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE: ANR), the steam and metallurgical coal producer, was falling in pre-market after the company late on Friday said that it was cutting coal production in central Appalachia due to the decreased demand. Alpha Natural will cut about 4 million tons of production by impacting 10 of its mining operations. The reduced IMF growth forecast for China was also weighing in the commodity and ancillary plays.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), the largest online retailer, was falling 0.47% to $186.80 on a report from Forbes regarding saying that the company was planning to open a store in the Seattle area. According to the report Amazon was looking at the brick & mortar concept as a way for consumers to explore the Kindle family of products and ebooks published by Amazon. Its not clear how the store strategy can be rolled out nationally without impacting the company’s sales tax advantage over competitors. Earlier in the month, Amazon disappointed investors with its quarterly results and guidance for the current cuarter, despite record sales for the Kindle family of products.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), the maker of iPads and iPhones, was falling 0.21% to $458.72 in pre-market. Last week the stock added 2.77% and posted a new all-time high of $460. Apple rival, Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC said that it sees a drop in revenue of abut 36% in the first quarter, as it struggles amid the competitive pressures from Apple and Samsung, with the company facing an uphill battle to prove to investors that it can retain its innovative touch. Last week, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said on CNBC’s Fast Money that the firm’s proprietary research found that Apple has been reaching out to TV component suppliers, which makes the analyst believe that Apple will likely unveil the iTV towards the end of this year. And comScore reported mobile market share for Decmeber, which showed that Apple continued to strengthen its share on mobile equipment with 12.4% share, but still remaining in fourth place below Samsung, LG, and Motorola.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT), the world’s largest steelmaker, was tumbling 3.45% to $20.99 in pre-market amid a retreat in commodity related plays, as the euro weakened and as the IMF reduced its economic growth outlook for China. The company is schedule to report its quarterly results tomorrow, with analysts on average expecting a profit of $0.10 per share on revenues of $22.32 billion. Last year for the same period, ArcelorMittal lost $0.15 per share.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was falling 1.06% to $7.76 in pre-market amid weakness stemming from worries over a potential messy default in Greece. The stock was giving back part of its outsize rally of more than 5% that took the stock to its highest level since September. Pete Najarian one of CNBC’s Fast Money traders noted the increased call buying in the name continued on Friday. Also likely impacting the stock today was reports that the U.S. and State government were closer to a deal that would settle the robo signing abuses in the foreclosure process, while providing billions of Dollars in aid to homeowners who have lost their homes or are at risk of losing it.  Last week, BofA jumped 7.54% following solid jobs data, adding to its yearly gains of more than 41%, making it the best Dow component so far this year.

Humana (NYSE: HUM), the managed healthcare provider, will be in focus as the company posted earnings of $1.20 per share, which might not be comparable to consensus, on revenues that climbed 9.4% year over year to $9.06 billion, falling short of estimates. Humana raised its fiscal 2012 EPS guidance, as it now sees EPS in a range of $7.50 to $7.70 per share. The company said that the increase guidance for 2012 reflects an approximately 40,000-member net increase to the company's previous expectation for Medicare Advantage membership based upon the recent annual election period for seniors.

Sohu.com (NASDAQ: SOHU), the Chinese search engine and Internet portal, was tumbling 8% to $58, trading just below calculated support at $58.88, after the company beat earnings expectations but issued downside revenue guidance for the quarter. Sohu said it earned $1.36 per share, $0.10 better than consensus, on revenues that surged 42% year over year to $246 million, roughly inline with expectations. The company sees EPS for the quarter in a range of $0.50 to $0.55 on revenue of $219 to $225 million.

Tenneco (NYSE: TEN), the manufacturer and distributor of emission control and ride control products and systems, would be in focus on news that Goldman Sachs has added the stock to its coveted Conviction Buy List.