10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

Mamta Badkar

 Oct. 25, 2012

Steven Lawton/Getty Images

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

• Asian markets were mostly higher in overnight trading, with the Nikkei hitting a four-week closing high on speculation of Bank of Japan easing. Europe is rallying and U.S. futures are modestly higher.

• UK GDP grew 1 percent in the third quarter, beating expectations of a 0.6 percent gain. The Olympics helped boost economic growth which accelerated to a 5-year high. 

• In earnings news, Apple is expected to report earnings of $8.85 per share after the closing bell. Meanwhile, Procter & Gamble reported earnings of $0.96 per share in line with expectations. The company raised its full-year guidance to $3.80 to $4.00 a share.

• As the presidential election nears, Obama's campaign has released a 27-point plan on how he intends to use his second term in office. The plan is broken up into seven different parts that include manufacturing, energy, small businesses, education, taxes and the deficit, healthcare, and Medicare and Social Security.

• Zynga missed expectations when it reported third quarter loss of $0.07 per share, but beat on revenue. It confirmed the layoff of 150 employees and announced a $200 million share repurchase plan. The stock is up over 15 percent in pre-market trading.

• Credit Suisse said it will layoff more workers as it tries to reduce costs by $1.1 billion. The bank's profit fell 63 percent in the third quarter.

• Lending to eurozone companies fell 0.8 percent year-over-year in September.  Loans were also $26 billion lower than in August, showing that ECB efforts to boost lending have had little impact.

• Durable goods for September and initial jobless claims will be out at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists polled by Bloomberg expect new orders to rise 7 percent month-over-month, and initial claims are expected to decline to 372K. 

• Pending home sales for September will be out at 10 a.m. ET, followed by the Kansas city Fed manufacturing index for October at 11 a.m. ET. Analysts polled by Bloomberg expect pending home sales to rise 2.5 percent MoM and for the manufacturing index level to rise to 4. 

• Sudan has accused Israel of launching an air strike on a military factory near Khartoum that killed two people. Sudan has asked the UN security council to condemn the attack and a Sudanese official has threatened to retaliate.