10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

Mamta Badkar

Aug. 7, 2012

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Good morning. Here's what you need to know.

• Asian markets were up in overnight trading with the Bombay Stock Exchange up 1.08 percent closing at its highest since July 11. Europe is mixed and U.S. futures are modestly higher. 

• Italian prime minister Mario Monti secured a confidence vote on a bill to cut spending by an extra €4.5 billion this year. The bill is aimed at cutting the nation's deficit and delaying increases in the sales tax. 

• German factory orders unexpectedly fell 1.7 percent in June from the previous month.

• Some horrible data out of Italy, the nation's GDP contracted 0.7 percent in the second quarter. The Italian economy contracted for the fourth consecutive quarter. Meanwhile industrial output fell 8.2 in the June from a year ago.

• In earnings news MGM Resorts is expected to report a loss of $0.15 per share, while Walt Disney is expected to announce earnings of $0.93 per share. Express Scripts, Zillow, and Sotheby's are also reporting earnings today. 

• Chesapeake Energy beat expectations when it reported revenue of $3.39 billion, against expectations of $2.42 billion, but missed on core earnings per share. The company announced that it aims to sell $11.7 billion in assets during the third quarter. 

• Retail sales including stores open less than 12 months, climbed 2 percent in June from the previous year boosted by the Olympics. Meanwhile, industrial production fell 2.5 percent in June from the previous month.
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• Australia's central bank kept interest rates unchanged for a second month pointing out that the economy was expanding despite the global slowdown. The Australian dollar reached a 4.5 month-high.
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• Shares of UK investment bank Standard Chartered are getting cremated today -- down over 20% -- after yesterday a New York regulator threatened to revoke its New York banking license for doing business with Iran.

• The consumer credit report for June will be out at 3 p.m. ET. Consensus is for consumer credit to increase $10.3 billion from the previous month.