Stock Futures Lower after European Elections. Stocks to Watch: AIG, AAPL, BHI, BAC, DISH, HFC, DIS

Published on Monday, 07 May 2012 07:31 Written by Christopher Lynn

New York, May 7^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Stock futures were pointing to a lower open, as Wall Street seems poised to join a global retreat after elections results in France and Greece showed voter dissatisfaction with austerity measures. The results spurred concern over the general response to the region’s debt crisis.

In Asia, stocks got hammered, with Japan and Korea hitting a three month low on reaction to the election results in France and Greece where the incumbents were defeated, raising fears that the response to the euro zone debt crisis might be in jeopardy. Adding to the woes was the much weaker than expected jobs data in the U.S. The Nikkei tumbled 2.25%, making its biggest single session drop in six months, while the Shanghai Composite closed flat for the session. 

In Europe, markets were seeing weakness, posting new lows for 2012 after both elections in France and Greece resulted in the defeat of the incumbents, as they reflected the general discontent over the handling of the debt crisis and the austerity measures implemented. The results raised concern over the region’s ability to fix its debt crisis.

The euro was gaining against the Dollar, trading above the $1.30 level. Crude oil was losing 0.67% to $97.83 per barrel. Also in the energy complex, natural gas was jumping 2.24% to $2.333 per MMBtu. Gold was dropping 0.18% to $1642.20 an ounce, and silver was falling 0.22% to $30.365 an ounce. Meanwhile, copper was retreating 0.11%.

On economic news, at 3 pm March Consumer Credit data will be released.

Today’s Stocks to watch: American International Group (NYSE: AIG), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI), Dish Networks (NASDAQ: DISH), HollyFrontier (NYSE: HFC) and Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS).

American International Group (NYSE: AIG), the insurer, was tumbling more than 7% to $30.40 in pre-market on reaction to news that the U.S. Treasury will reduce its stake in the company to 63%, by selling 163.9 million shares for about $5 billion, with AIG agreeing to buy $2 billion worth of stock. The Treasury said that it plans to sell shares in the offering at $30.50 per share, 7% lower over Friday’s closing price, but a little higher from the prior sale at $29 per share.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), the maker of iPads and iPhones, was sliding 0.48% to $562.20 in pre-market amid broad weakness on concern over Europe. Last week, the stock lost 6%, breaking below its 50day moving average, and its nearly 12% down from its all-time high of $644. Technically, the stock is not poised to test its April low of $555 per share.

Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI), the solutions provider for the oil and gas industry, will be in focus after providing its international rig count for April. The company said that its rig count for April was for April 2012 was 1,178, down 14 from March, and up 49 from the 1,129 counted in April 2011. The average U.S. rig count for April 2012 was 1,961, down 18 from March, and up 171 from the 1,790 counted in April 2011.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), a proxy for the U.S. economy, was falling 1.29% to $7.64 in pre-market amid worries over Europe after voters rejected austerity measures. The stock was seeing little positive reaction from comments from Warren Buffett that stressed that the U.S. lenders have sufficient liquidity and that they are in a different class from their European rivals. Warren Buffett, who’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has more than $20 billion invested in U.S. banks, said that the American banking system is in fine shape. The stock declining 200day moving average is currently at $7.31, while its 50day moving average is at $8.73.

Dish Networks (NASDAQ: DISH), the second largest direct broadcast satellite provider in the U.S., will be in focus in the session as participants react to quarterly results that beat earnings expectations on revenues that were inline with consensus. Dish said it earned $0.80 per share, $0.09 better than consensus, on revenues that jumped 11% from a year ago period to $3.58 billion.

HollyFrontier (NYSE: HFC) will be in focus after the company’s earnings missed expectations on revenues that were above consensus. HollyFrontier said its earned $1.16 per share, $0.07 worse than consensus, on revenues that surged 112% from a year ago period to $4.93 billion. The company said first quarter results benefited from strong product margins, improved heavy crude oil differentials and robust differentials between inland and coastal crude oils.

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS), the world’s largest media company, will be in focus amid news reports that the company’s Marvel studios film The Avengers made a record $200 million in its North American box office debut. The five-superhero film has collected a massive $641.8 million since it opened in international markets on April 25^th amid Disney’s aggressive marketing. Walt Disney is scheduled to report its quarterly results tomorrow after the close. On average analysts expect a profit of $0.55 per share on revenues of $9.56 billion.