Career News 24/7: 10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell, August 14, 2012

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell, August 14, 2012

View this email online | Add newsletter@businessinsider.com to your address book

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

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

Markets in Asia gained in overnight trade, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 1.1 percent. Shares in Europe are up moderately in afternoon trade and U.S. futures point to a positive open.
Euro area GDP declined by 0.2 percent in the second quarter, flash estimates from the EU's statistics office shows. The euro area core continued to outperform the periphery according to the new data. The world's largest companies reveal what's happening in the global economy >
German GDP rose 0.3 percent from the first quarter, ahead of expectations for a 0.2 percent advance. French GDP was unchanged in the second quarter, better than the 0.1 percent decline forecast.
Nonetheless, German investor confidence unexpectedly declined in August. The monthly ZEW poll fell to -25.5 from -19.6 in July, compared to a forecast for no change.
Greece completed its largest debt sale in two years this morning, raising €4.063 billion through a 13-week treasury bill auction. The short term sale is expected to fund the repayment of bonds held by the ECB next week. The bonds yielded 4.43 percent.
Indian inflation cooled in July, falling to an annual pace of 6.87 percent. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 7.37 percent jump.
Home Depot beat bottom line expectations this morning, earning $1.53 billion, or $1.01 per share. Core product sales boosted the company's sales two percent to $20.57 billion. Analysts were expecting quarterly results of $0.97 on revenues of $20.74 billion.
Groupon also posted better-than-expected net income during the period, even as sales came up light. The company reported earnings per share of $0.08 on sales of $568.3 million. Here's the chart that sent Groupon's stock crashing >
Walmart received approval to buy a majority stake in Chinese e-commerce company Yihaodin, helping the world's largest retailer establish its online presence in China. Walmart did not disclose the cost of the deal.
U.S. economic announcements kicked off this morning with NFIB Small Business Optimism. Optimism fell 20 basis points to 91.2 in July, against expectations for a gain. Still to come at 8:30 a.m.: inflation and sales data. Economists forecast a 0.2 percent sequential PPI increase and for advance retail sales to improve 0.3 percent. Follow it all live on Money Game >