Jobless situation looks better
Investors may be rejoicing today as the number of people requesting job insurance from the government for the first time dropped more than economists than analysts had expected, adding to a series of signs that the U.S. economy is stabilizing after a deep recession. The weekly jobless claims report for the week ending July 31 was released today at 8:30 a.m. by the U.S. Department of Labor. Claims fell 38,000 to a much better-than-expected level of 550,000. The current level is right at the four-week average of 555,250.

Britain 'Prints' more cash
The Bank of England today boosted the amount of funds available to purchase bonds, essentially “printing” 50 billion more pounds to boost the existing program to 175 billion pounds in an effort to help the U.K. Economy overcome the current recession. It also kept its key interest rate steady. Also today, the BoE and European Central Bank kept their key interest rates steady at record low levels of 0.5 percent and 1.0 percent as the Euro Zone economy is expected to remain weak for the rest of the year.

'Cash for Clunkers' Day of Truth in the U.S. Senate Today
The U.S. Senate will vote today on an extension of $2 billion for the Cash for Clunkers program, an initiative to boost auto sales and replace the U.S. fleet with more fuel efficient vehicles. The program is expected to pass without any changes.

Comcast on watch after beating expectations
 Investors may be tracking shares of Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) more closely today, up 4 percent in pre-market trading, after the top U.S. cable provider reported second quarter earnings per share results which beat analysts expectations. The firm said today net profit was 33 cents per share, or $967 million, up from 21 cents a share, or $632 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Analysts had expected 26 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates. Revenue rose 4.5 percent to $8.94 billion. See Full Article here.

Fed to release Balance sheet report
The Fed's balance sheet report is scheduled to be released today at 4:30pm EST. The report shows factors supplying reserves into the banking system and factors absorbing reserve funds.

Natural Gas report
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its Natural Gas Weekly Update today.

Money supply indicator to be released
The money supply indicator will be released today at 4:30pm EST. The monetary aggregates are alternative measures of the money supply by degree of liquidity.

Costco looks to drop on lower sales
 Another stock likely to be on investors’ radar today is Costco Wholesale Corp (COST), down slightly more than 1 percent in pre-market trading, which reported that sales for stores open at least one year fell 7 percent in July, more than analysts had expected, hurt mostly by a stronger U.S. dollar. Analysts had expected a 6.7 percent fall, according to Thomson Reuters. See Full article here.

First fruits of Chrysler-Fiat alliance
 The first fruits of the new Chrysler Group LLC and Fiat SpA alliance may be to scrap Chrysler’s platform for building the popular 300C sedan in favor of new technology from the Italian automaker, Bloomberg reported today, citing two people familiar with the situation. The production changes won’t come until 2014 or 2015, an analyst told the news agency.

El Paso Corp. 2Q earnings
El Paso Corp., owner of the largest network of natural gas pipelines in the country, will release its second quarter earnings.

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