News Summary for July 8, 2011

This is your Benzinga news summary and traders' outlook for Friday, July 8, 2011, covering headlines from overnight and Friday's pre-market session. Today in domestic pre-market trading, U.S. equity futures and the U.S. dollar are trading slightly higher as traders wait for employment data later this morning. Overseas, European markets were mixed on the session. Britain's FTSE 100 was flat, while France's CAC 40 fell over 0.2% on the session. Asian stocks finished the week higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose over 0.6% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped over 0.8%. On the economic calendar today, employment data including nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate is to be reported at 8:30 a.m. The Street is expecting the national unemployment rate to be 9.1%. Also, wholesale inventories are due at 10:00 a.m. Earlier this morning, Canada reported a 7.4% unemployment rate for the period of June, while adding over 28,000 jobs. On the commodity front, gold and silver futures are slightly lower in pre-market trading. Energy futures are also trading lower with crude oil down over 0.5% and gasoline futures down over 1%; however, natural gas futures are flat on the session. Finally, copper futures are trading flat on the session. On the earnings front, WD-40 WDFC < a href="http://www.benzinga.com/news/earnings/11/07/1746891/wd-40-volatile-following-on-q3-earnings-results">reported yesterday after the close and missed what The Street was expecting in both earnings and revenues. The company affirmed fiscal 2011 guidance. Shares of WD-40 initially spiked lower; however, shares are currently somewhat higher in pre-market trading. Also, railroad equipment supplier Greenbrier GBX reported earnings and revenues for the third quarter earlier this morning which missed what The Street was expecting. The company missed EPS by $0.11 and revenues by over $50 million. In corporate news, NYSE Euronext NYX announced yesterday that its shareholders have approved the adoption of the merger agreement with Deutsche Boerse and related proposals. This concludes your news summary for July 8, 2011.