Stock Futures Higher on Chinese Stimulus Hopes. Stocks to Watch: AAP, AAPL, CSCO, KSS, MNST, NWSA, JWN, AUY

Published on Thursday, 09 August 2012 07:45 Written by Christopher Lynn

New York, August 9^th (TradersHuddle.com) –  Stock futures were pointing to a higher open after a series of Chinese data, boosted confidence that the central bank will introduce further stimulus measures to boost economic growth.

In Asia, stocks received a boost after Chinese inflation data signaled that still there is room for additional policy easing and after Australia reported an improvement in the labor market. The Nikkei gained for the fourth straight session, while the Shanghai Composite climbed 0.6% despite Industrial Production and Retail Sales missed expectations. Chinese data encourage participants to continue to bet on further stimulus measures.

In Europe, markets were struggling, erasing earlier gains. The sharp gains since June have helped markets across Europe to near technical resistance. The U.K. trade balance data was worse than expected, while the ECB's monthly report provided nothing incremental, largely echoing Draghi's comments from the last meeting.

The euro was falling against the Dollar, trading just above the $1.23 level. Crude oil was climbing 0.30% to $93.63 per barrel. Also in the energy complex, natural gas was dropping 0.68% to $2.913 per MMBtu. Gold was sliding 0.08% to $1611.60 an ounce, and silver was slumping 0.28% to $27.995 an ounce, meanwhile copper was retreating 0.09%.

On economic news, at 8:30 am, the Labor Department will release its Weekly Jobless Claims report, while the Commerce Department will release figures on June’s trade balance. At 10 am, June Wholesale inventory data will be available and at 10:30 am natural gas inventories will be released.

Today’s Stocks to watch: Advanced Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS), Monster Beverage (NASDAQ: MNST), News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA), Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN), and Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY).

Advanced Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP), the auto parts and accessories retail chain, will be in focus as it reports its quarterly results later this morning. On average analysts expect a profit of $1.39 per share on revenue of $1.49 billion. The highest earnings estimate is $1.55 and the lowest is $1.26.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), the maker of iPads and iPhones, was climbing 0.12% to $617.93 in pre-market, as the stock gives back some of its recent rally, which erased all of the pullback from its big earnings miss last month. The stock has been trading amid increased expectations on its short-term product refresh cycle, which includes the new iPhone 5, a potential iPad mini in the fall, and a potential iTV sometime next year. An analyst from Bernstein said yesterday on CNBC that it expects upside in the stock ahead of the unveiling event, which appears to be scheduled for September 12^th. He expects that both the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini will be announced on this date. Many analysts and TV pundits believe that the all-time high of $644, might be breached in the next weeks ahead of the September event.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), the networking giant, was jumping 2.56% to $17.6 in pre-market after Goldman Sachs added the stock to its coveted Conviction Buy List. Cisco was one of the worst Dow performers in the second quarter, down more than 20%.

Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS), the family oriented department store, will be in focus after the retailer beat earnings expectations on revenues that were inline with consensus. Kohl’s also provided inline guidance for the current quarter. Kohl’s said it earned $1 per share, $0.04 better than consensus, on revenue that fell 1% from a year ago to $4.21 billion. The company acknowledged that sales performance for the quarter was disappointing, but that its gross margin was better than expected.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ: MNST), the maker of energy and alternative drinks, was plunging 10% to $60.99 in pre-market after its quarterly results missed expectations. Participants were disappointed; as the miss stocked fears that the impressive growth rates enjoyed in the past are being challenged in future quarters. Monster said it earned $0.59 per share, $0.02 worse than consensus, on revenues that jumped 24.8% from a year ago to $593 million versus consensus of $596 million.

News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA), the media company owner of the Fox News Channel and the Wall Street Journal will be in focus after tumbling 3.5% in after hours, following quarterly results that were inline with earnings expectations but shy of revenue consensus. The company said it earned $0.32 per share, excluding non-recurring items, on revenue that fell 6.6% from a year ago to $8.4 billion versus consensus of $9 billion. According to the results the good results from its Cable Network Programming segment was more than offset by declines at the News Corp's remaining segments.

Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) will be in focus as the company is scheduled to report its quarterly results after the closing bell. On average analysts expect a profit of $0.74 per share on revenue of $3.02 billion. The highest earnings estimate is $0.80 and the lowest is $0.70.

Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY), the Canada based gold producer with exploration properties in South America, will be in focus after the company missed expectations on both the top and bottom lines. The gold miner said that it earned $0.18 per share, $0.04 worse than consensus, on revenue that fell 6.6% from a year ago to $535.7 million versus consensus of $562.73 million.