7 Gut Checks pre open

	Need to Know AUGUST 15, 2013 7 gut checks before the stock market's opening bell By Shawn Langlois   20th Century Fox Good morning. "See that star, son? Did you know that it might not even exist anymore?" Bam! With that, my dad had totally blown my eight-year-old mind. The same concept applies to these 13F filings that roll out every quarter. What you see isn't necessarily what's going on in the here and now. Rather, they provide a snapshot of holdings from 45 days ago. Yet we squeeze them for every nugget we can and try to draw some actionable conclusions. Of course, there were plenty of newsworthy chunks to chew on in this recent batch, like Icahn's plunge into Apple and the massive gold exodus , and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway cut back on Coca-Cola (fear of fizzy drinks? ) and took a fresh stake in Dish Network. But only one verged on mind-blowing territory -- George Soros's big bet against the U.S. stock market . Like that shooting star, his billion-dollar S&P  put position may have burned out already. But if it hasn't, there's a rich old guy out there somewhere rubbing palms over what Cisco or some weak economic numbers could do to stocks today. Key market gauges: Futures on the Dow  and the S&P and Nasdaq 100 are all getting dinged premarket, poised to extend yesterday's declines. In Japan, the Nikkei  closed 2.1% lower to keep pressure on the rest of Asia . Europe  is starting off lower, as well. Gold , a popular topic in today's onslaught of SEC filings, is heading just slightly north early. Oil is well higher as Egypt turmoil rages . The economy: It's a big, big day for the data hounds, and it started off with a bang. First-time jobless claims unexpectedly fell in the week ended Aug. 10 to 320,000 -- a drop of 15,000.  Meanwhile, July consumer prices rose 0.2% in July. Goldman Sachs says weekly jobless claims and the upcoming Philly Fed release are the two most useful indicators, but they're just the tip of Thursay's economic-data iceberg. For the whole list of what's yet to come, swing on over to the Capitol Report blog . Earnings: Wal-Mart missed consensus for same-store sales and also cut its full-year outlook. Shares are off 2% in premarket.  Read more on why "as Walmart goes, doesn't go the economy." The buzz:If Cisco  is any indication, things could get ugly in a hurry once tech stocks start trading. The Dow component is getting punished premarket for a less-than-inspiring quarterly report . Not even job cuts are helping. Throw in a cautionary tone from CEO John Chambers, and an opening drop awaits. J.P. Morgan  is still a top story on Google's business page after two of its former employees were charged with four counts of fraud relating to the firm's "London Whale" fiasco. Here's a recap from the press conference . Apple  is holding strong to the top spot on StockTwits trending list, joined by the likes of NetApp , MannKind  and a host of gold-related tickers. The call of the day: Dick Bove, fresh off his gutsy call  on Tuesday for shares of Citigroup  and BofA  to double, is at it again. This time, he's ringing the buy bell for bitcoin . At $50. One of them just sold for $112.75. With bulls like that in your court who needs bears? But the crux of his point is that bitcoin isn't going away and might actually be worth owning. Eventually. "If I could buy them at a low enough price, like $50, then I think it would be worthwhile speculating with a few of them," he told MarketWatch's @saumvaish . Can't you just taste the enthusiasm? The chart of the day: More evidence that Google  is taking over the world, especially in South America, where almost two-thirds of Internet users opt for Chrome. Safari is holding strong -- Africans love it, apparently -- but I'm surprised at just how many people are still using Microsoft  Explorer. Statista Random reads: How Google search suggestions vary by country. Five charts illustrating why there's never been a better time to be a car owner  in America. Good, because I just ditched the Tube for the L.A. freeways. The vicious, isolating cycle of retail therapy . Ah yes, the old spoon-in-the-underwear-to-avoid-marriage trick . The hearts of gay men and women "should be buried in the ground or burned as unsuitable for the continuation of life," says the Russian TV host . Good thing we have no major global events planned for that backward country. I am all for the Olympic boycott. For lots of reasons. I would have boycotted China too. Bad people don't deserve ski races. — Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) August 15, 2013 And speaking of the Olympics, a fatal last jump  for the stuntman who parachuted into the opening ceremony in London last year as James Bond. Need to Know starts early and is updated as needed until the opening bell, but sign up here  to get it delivered once to your e-mail box. Be sure to check the Need to Know item. The e-mailed version will be sent out at approximately 8:45 a.m. Eastern. Follow @slangwise  on Twitter. Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m MarketWatch has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. To ensure you receive this newsletter in the future, please add marketwatchmail.com to your list of approved senders. Sent to: alanrussell@princetoncap.com Unsubscribe | Subscribe Copyright 2013 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc. 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