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U.S. stock futures drifted lower Thursday morning on the heel of another big loss reported by AIG. With reports today that mortgages made in 2007 are going bad at a rapid pace, the blow to the financial system may be even deeper than Wall Street had estimated, and data on June pending home sales could give more information about the recent state of the housing market. Also in focus today will be July same-store sales announced by retailers, which could show a 2.2% gain due to stimulus checks and back-to-school shopping, as well as rate decisions by ECB and BOE. The latter already kept rates the same. Finally, rising oil prices could affect trading as well.

AIG (NYSE: AIG) posted its third straight quarterly loss Wednesday after the close. Analyst believe that this quarter's $5.56 billion recorded loss due to investments related to mortgages could continue in the next few quarters. AIG's results didn't just cause investors to dump the stock, but also caused overall jitters about financials. AIG shares are down over 9% in premarket trading. In Europe, Allianz, Axa, Aegon, three of the biggest insurers, also post lower earnings on asset writedowns.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) reported a 28% profit fall in the quarter, 39% drop in operating profit. The company said the strong yen and rising costs of materials for the decline in addition to soft conditions in the U.S. all contributed to these results. While it said it plans to offset the declines by launching new vehicle models and stepping up production of popular models, it's unclear how successful that would be in light of softening economic conditions worldwide.

Staying with the auto industry, The Wall Street Journal reported that Chrysler and Nissan Motors (NASDAQ: NSANY) are in talks tabout jointly producing midsize cars, where Nissan would produce midsize sedans that Chrysler would sell in the U.S. under its own name.

In the News:
10 Tech Giants to Buy Now
Shares of companies such as IBM, Nokia and Microsoft have taken a hit along with the rest of the market, but they don't deserve to be this cheap. Other tech stocks to consider include Apple, Cisco, Google, HP, Intel, Oracle and Qualcomm.
Ten Tech Giants to Buy Now - Kiplinger.com

New Life for Grocery Store Standbys
Innovation is Pinnacle's lifeblood. The N.J.-based company -- which so far owns or licenses more than a dozen food brands -- specializes in acquiring venerable, but stagnant, brand names in need of TLC. It then works to breathe new life into them with updated formulations, new products, improved packaging, added convenience and smart marketing. Among the brands in Pinnacle's cub bard are Duncan Hines, Lender's Bagels, Log Cabin, Hungry Man, Mrs. Butterworth, Aunt Jemima, Swanson and more.
Pinnacle gives new life to old standbys - USATODAY.com

Analyst upgrades:

• Merrill upgraded shares of AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) to Neutral from Underperform to reflect the company's pipeline momentum and lack of negative catalysts.
  
• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation as they believe DB should trade at a higher multiple.
• Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) was raised at HSBC to Overweight from Neutral.
• American International (NYSE: AIG) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.

Analyst downgrades:

• Merrill cut Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) to Underperform from Neutral as the firm sees better opportunities elsewhere in the sector.
  
• Merriman downgraded Rackable Systems (NASDAQ: RACK) to Neutral from Buy following the company's mixed Q2 results to reflect its customer concentration and fluctuating margins.
• Janus Capital (NYSE: JNS) was downgraded at JP Morgan to Underweight from Neutral.
  
• Fortress (NYSE: FIG) was cut to Sell from Hold at Citigroup.

Analyst initiations:

• UBS believes Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has a competitive advantage and their checks indicate new Macs, new iPhone colors and potentially new iPods may come early on in the second half of 2008. The firm initiated shares with a Buy rating and $195 target. UBS also initiated Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) at Neutral.
• KeyBanc initiated Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) with an Underweight rating and $25 target based on slowing core growth at Bed Bath and likely margin erosion from the ramp in growth at Christmas Tree Shops and buybuy Baby.
• Infineon (NYSE: IFX) was initiated with a Buy rating at Deutsche Bank.

U.S. stock futures were lower Tuesday morning as oil prices continued to decline, with crude falling below $120 a barrel on demand concerns due to the economic slowdown in the U.S. Commodities in general have been declining. Also today, the Federal Reserve will announce its decision regarding interest rates and it is widely expected they will remain unchanged. Similarly, the Fed's outlook statement about outlook and focus may also remain largely the same according to expectations. Meanwhile, overseas, both the ECB and BoE are expected to leave rates unchanged.

One of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO)'s largest shareholders, Capital Research Global Investors, had asked to review the vote in last week's re-election of the Internet giant's board. Specifically, I guess, it was surprising the vote showed strong support -- 85% -- for CEO Jerry Yang. There's no sense dancing around this issue; basically the shareholder implies suspicions of wrongdoings (or really really incompetent tallying of votes).

Bloomberg reports that analysts now expect Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) to report net losses through the first quarter of 2009 as home-loan delinquencies rise to the highest on record. The the biggest U.S. mortgage-finance companies report tomorrow and according to estimates will show a loss of 74 cents and 60 cents per share respectively. The losses may be greater than expected as we've seen before analysts underestimating the credit losses. It will not be pretty.

Well, things played out as I thought and Apple, Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) closed on Friday August 1, 2008 at a price of $156.66 and opened pennies down today. I will be the first one to admit that a few of my calls have been terrible, but this one was right on target.

Quoting from one of last years posts, "However, I thought Apple might be worth up to $150 and a month later was willing to consider $160 and that is where I stood." So I'm on record pegging the stock between $150 and $160. Having made the call on the money I will now tell the world that a lot of this game is luck, but that is all I thought it was worth.

Why two rights? One of our brighter commentors, Beltway Greg had pegged Apple around $200 a year out and it made the number in December 2007 long before even he thought it might and I gave him credit at the time. I was looking farther out and as the current price evidences I was correct also. But what's wrong with this picture? When I wrote, I tried to figure what I thought the stock was worth as did Greg.

Stock futures were lower Monday morning ahead of a wave of economic data, a tropical storm and, most important, the Federal Reserve meeting and decision Tuesday.

Before the opening bell, the economic calendar includes personal income and spending data for June, as well as the core PCE deflator, an inflation gauge the Federal Reserve eyes closely. Factory orders for June are also due after the open. Oil prices were steady near $125 a barrel Monday as the market kept on eye on both tropical storm Edouard that could turn into a hurricane and hit oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, and on further developments in Iran. But most of trading today will likely be affected by expectations the Fed will not change interest rates Tuesday, and issue a neutral statement with the focus changing to the weak economy.

Bank troubles aren't over. HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HBC) reported a significant profit drop as costs for bad U.S. mortgage loans mounted. "HSBC Chairman Stephen Green said the first half of 2008 saw one of the most difficult financial markets for decades." As long as the housing market slump continues, and before the bottom can be seen, no doubt the financial sector will continue to suffer. And given that only about 40% on the $1 trillion expected writedowns were taken, the challenges for financials are far from over. For now, HBC shares are dropping about 3% in premarket trading.

U.S. stock futures were mixed Friday morning after General Motors reported a massive loss and sales decline and ahead of what could yet another worriesome jobs report. Unemployment rate is expected to inch higher to 5.6%, while economists expect nonfarm payroll to show a decline 75,000 jobs during July. Other economic reports as well as July car sales could impact the market throughout the session. Seem, though, that after digesting GM's results, futures turned negative, indicating a lower start on Wall Street.

General Motors (NYSE: GM) will likely see some action as the automaker swung to a second-quarter loss of $15.5 billion, or $27.33 a share, as revenue dropped 18% to $38.2 billion. If you think this number missed analyst estimates because of massive charges, you're right, but earnings excluding special items also missed them -- by a mile. Excluding items GM would have lost $6.3 billion, or $11.21 a share. Ouch! Analysts polled by FactSet Research expected a loss of $2.85 a share on revenue of $42.6 billion. GM has been the subject of rumors it is heading straight into bankruptcy, from a quick glance at the results, these will likely not alleviate any such fears. Even as Wagoner cuts costs by $9 billion this year by another 20% trim of payroll and stopping dividend payment, as he plans to boost cash by $17 billion, at this point, I wonder what GM can do to save itself, if it can do anything at all. GM shares are down 7% in premarket trading.

GM will not be alone in the spotlight as Ford (NYSE: F) and other automakers report their U.S. sales for July. Auto sales tracker Edmunds.com is forecasting a 3.3% drop in auto sales compared to a year ago. This comes a day after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut its ratings for all three of the U.S.-based automakers further into junk status. S&P expects further sales decline for the rest of the year, with car companies mounting cash losses.

After a strong quarterly report, Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) took a dive into the low $150s, much to the surprise of many. It was largely attributed to the worry investors paying close attention to the quarterly call had about the health of Apple's CEO Steve Jobs. Jobs had been treated for a form of cancer in 2004, which he only updated the world about after he'd been successfully treated. This secrecy forced many to wonder if his recent change in physical appearance was related to a recurrence of the cancer. With posts and news stories wondering the same thing out loud, the solid quarterly report played second fiddle to people's fears about an Apple without it's iconic leader.

Although the company and man are intertwined, if Steve is really telling the truth, then Apple has a lot of positive news on the books. One great fear about Apple's profits is that the iPhone would cannibalize iPod sales in a large manner. This quarterly report showed iPod sales were up 12%!

Another reason for the drop in the price is that Apple has announced it will be throwing lots of developmental money at a new project of some sort. While that may depress the price, it does hint that Apple might well have another edgy new product being developed. Between the investment in research and Steve's health scare depressing the price, Apple investors may have a solid entry point for a long term investment play in the stock, and it stands a good chance of beginning a recovery as business as usual continues on.

U.S. stock futures were mixed Thursday morning ahead of the government preliminary report of U.S. second-quarter gross domestic product to be released at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Compare to the first quarter, where GDP grew at an annual rate of 1%, analysts are expecting an annual growth rate in the second quarter of 2.3% according to Briefing.com. Another wave of earnings will also wash Wall Street over this morning, while it's still digesting Wednesday's ones. The market will likely take a clearer direction once GDP is out.

[Update: GDP grew at a 1.9% pace in the second quarter came in well short of the 2.3% forecast. Futures are declining on economy and the XOM miss. Wall Street will likely open significantly lower.]

Reporting/reported this morning:

• Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) is expected to report second-quarter earnings before the open. If ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) and BP (NYSE: BP) results are any indication, XOM will likely post massive profits thanks to oil's skyrocketing prices and even break the record it has set for largest profit by a U.S. company. Analyst on average expect Exxon Mobil to earn $2.52 a share on revenue of $144 billion, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.
• MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) is expected to report earnings of $2.02 per share.
• Kellog (NYSE: K) is expected to post earnings of 81 cents per shares.

Newspapers and blogs have been on fire after Apple reported its earnings with speculation about the health of its chairman and CEO Steve Jobs. Is the pancreatic cancer he dealt with in 2003 back? Why is he so thin?

BloggingStocks' Peter Cohan wrote that "The Times quotes Charles R. Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Company, who suggested that without Jobs, Apple stock could easily lose a quarter of its value in an instant. I agree. And that's why I think it's time for Apple to formally disclose Jobs' condition to shareholders."

That makes perfect sense: Jobs' health is clearly material to Apple shareholders, and it would be good for the company to disclose, in the form of an 8-K, what exactly is going on. It's time to put the rumors to rest.

But here's the problem: How far do you take that? Should companies have to tell their shareholders everything about their top executives' personal lives that could impact their job performance?

This could get messy in a heartbeat. Imagine a proxy statement that, in addition to the usual report of the audit committee, also included an opinion from Dr. Phil on the state of the CEO's marriage, and whether his son's drug problems were depressing him and taking his time and focus away from the company's operations.

If you agree that companies should update shareholders on an important CEO's health, then it isn't such a stretch to suggest that other personal factors impacting job performance should be disclosed too. But who would want to be the CEO of a company where one's personal life is exposed in Perez Hilton-detail in SEC filings?

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) may join the parade of companies that have taken a shot at taking multimedia player market share away from the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPod. The PC company may have a better chance than most.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Launching the player -- along with an online download service and related software -- would be part of a strategy that Dell Chief Executive Michael Dell hopes will move the company into a broader range of consumer markets than it has served before."

The conventional argument is that Apple has over 150 million iPods sold and that its iTunes franchise may be the largest music download service in the world. By some measures, iTunes has 70% of the online digital music market.

Dell has one significant advantage over past challengers: it is already one of the largest online consumer electronics marketers in the world due to its prowess in the PC industry. In terms of revenue, Dell is over twice Apple's size and has an unusually strong balance sheet. It can afford to make a long-term push into digital music.

Dell will have to create its own music store, but based on the number of participants in the field, that should not be a high hurdle. Dell may also be able to use the huge online sites of some of its retail partners like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) to market its new products.

Dell has long odds for picking up business from Apple, but not nearly as long as some other firms that have tried to move into the industry.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

U.S. stock futures are higher Wednesday morning, a day after markets rallied around 2.4% due to declining oil prices. But today, ADP monthly employment data will be released, as well as weekly oil inventories data. Investors will digest the numbers and the slew of earnings due for release.

Already reported this morning (to name a few):

• Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) said its second-quarter profit rose 8% as cable TV rates rose and consumers ordered more digital and premium services. While the results fell short of Wall Street's forecast, CMCSA shares are trading mildly higher.
• Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) said its second-quarter profit more than doubled due to increased production and higher steel prices. It also gave an upbeat outlook for third quarter. The company outperformed consensus by about 20% at the revenue. MT shares, which have already close 7% higher Tuesday, are trading up another 6% in premarket action.
  
• Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN) shares are crashing, trading 11% lower in premarket action after the company reported quarterly profit that was above market estimates, but revenue missed expectations and 2008 outlook was cut due to macroeconomic conditions and high fuel prices that have already impacted growth.
• Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) shares are over 1.7% lower in premarket trading after reporting a second-quarter loss as declining spending by smaller businesses and retail customers hurt sales.
• Siemens (NYSE: SI) reported that "third quarter net profit fell 31% due to a one-time gain a year earlier, but order intake and revenue rose, beating expectations and showing the industrial conglomerate's resilience so far to the economic downturn." SI shares are 3.9% higher in premarket trading.
  
• Corning (NYSE: GLW) shares are down over 2% in premarket trading after reporting inline earnings per share, but revenue slightly below estimates.
  
• IAC/InterActive (NASDAQ: IACI) said it swung to a second-quarter loss, hurt by a $300 million charge in its Cornerstone Brands business. Adjusted earnings were 35 cents per share as revenue rose 7% to $1.6 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected profit of 31 cents per share on $1.6 billion in sales.

After a day that saw U.S. equity markets decline in the neighborhood of 2%, U.S. stock futures earlier this morning pointed to a rough start Tuesday as well. News late Monday the Merrill Lynch said it's selling a big slice of its asset-backed securities and $8.5 billion in stock, renewed concerns over the financial sector health. But futures have started creeping upward, ahead of the latest readings on house prices with the Case-Shiller home price index for May and Conference Board reading of consumer confidence for July.

Meanwhile, we're still in the middle of earnings season and today

• Colgate Palmolive (NYSE: CL) - Colgate-Palmolive 2Q profit rises 19%,
• BP (NYSE: BP) - BP's Second-Quarter Profit Rises on Record Oil Prices - shares are over 2% higher in premarket trading
• Coach (NYSE: COH) - Weaker dollar helps Coach 4th-quarter results
• Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO), United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X)
• Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) will report after the close of tradin

The big story making headlines since late Monday is the bombshell Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) that it is taking an enormous $5.7 billion write-down on losses from mortgage-backed securities (MBSs) and plans to raise $8.5 billion. MER shares already dropped 11.6% Monday before the news was out, and while they're rebounding 2.75% this morning, many are very uncomfortable with Merrill's current situation and actions.

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), the French telecommunications giant, is finally getting rid of its CEO Patricia Russo and Chairman Serge Tchuruk who will both resign later this year. It's no surprise shares are rebounding over 6% in premarket trading. ALU also reported its sixth consecutive quarter of losses. Alcatel-Lucent reported a net loss of 1.1 billion euros ($1.73 billion) for the second quarter including an euro810 million ($1.3 billion) goodwill writedown.

Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) made quite a few changes in 2007. Its founder, Michael Dell, came back to lead the company, it entered the retail market in the U.S. in a large way and it began introducing more appealing laptop PC designs to cater to the consumers who love choice. As a result of all these changes, CEO Michael Dell is now predicting a strong second half for Dell in 2008.

Dell mentioned that the company he founded would "have a big second half" based on numbers so far in 2008. Dell's consumer business sales rose 20% for the Q1 period ended on May 2, and Dell is predicting even stronger growth for the current quarter and the Q3 period as well.

Based on all the strong moves Dell made in 2007 and into the last fiscal period, he could be right. Dell's retail partnering in the U.S. and with Gome in China is going to mean some wicked business the rest of this year. However, competitor Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NYSE: HPQ) recently unveiled one of the largest product refreshes in its history and Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) just moved past Taiwan's Acer to take the third spot in U.S. PC sales. It won't be a simple task for Dell to keep this segment growing like it has predicted.

And that's just the consumer PC business. Dell's efforts in the large market area that includes Russia, China, India and others grew at a 58% pace in the company's Q1 period, and a grouping of emerging markets accounted for 12% of Dell's sales in the Q1 period as well. Add that to its push into a huge "cloud computing" marketing towards customers who order hundreds or even thousands of servers at a time, and Dell has many tricks up its sleeve to keep things growing at a decent pace.

U.S. stock futures were lower early Monday as investors concerns over the banking sector grew. Federal regulator seized two more banks, 1st National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank, which were scheduled to reopen on Monday as Mutual of Omaha Bank branches. The Senate also passed a major housing bill over the weekend, and this could actually give a boost to mortgage lenders like Fannie (NYSE: FNM). Meanwhile, oil prices rebounded as European markets declined. As of 8:00 a.m., it seems Wall Street would start weak.

Reporting earnings today are Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) - Kraft reported 58 cents earnings per share excluding items, beating estimates of 50 cents; Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) - Verizon reported earnings of 67 cents per share, excluding items, beating estimates by 2 cents; and after the close of trading, Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN).

Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) stock is jumping over 17% in premarket trading after announcing late Friday its experimental osteoporosis drug, denosumab, significantly reduced the risk of bone fracture in post-menopausal women in a large trial. Rodman & Renshaw and Jefferies & Co both upgraded Amgen to Market Outperform and to Buy respectively.

Unilever NV (NYSE: UL) will sell its North American laundry detergents business to private equity investor Vestar Capital Partners for $1.45 billion (euro924 million). Unilever said the sale consistent with its strategy of divesting non-core businesses and concentrating on a few core ones.