With August now halfway over, investors have to be wondering if the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Dow futures were pointed slightly higher ahead of opening after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao suggested that his country could further ease monetary policy. Asian markets were mixed overnight, while European indexes were flat in early trading.
Shares of Wal-Mart
Networking giant Cisco Systems
Facebook
On the macroeconomic slate, initial unemployment claims for last week came in at 366,000, essentially even with expectations and an increase of 2,000 from the week before. The Philadelphia Fed will also release its monthly survey on regional manufacturing output at 10 a.m. EDT. Analysts are expecting a figure of -5, which would be the fourth consecutive negative reading, though that would be an improvement over July's mark of -12.9.
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