Stocks Look Up Ahead of Jobless Claims

The S&P 500 has edged down over the past two days, but the loss has been slight enough that this morning’s pre-session trading is looking to erase the 0.72% loss with a 0.8% gain. 

The expected climb at the opening is due to positive earnings reports this morning. 

Motorola cut production costs and shipped more phones than expected, allowing the company to record a profit of $26 million, or 1 cent per share, compared with a loss of $231 million, or 10 cents per share, in Q2 2008. 

Travelers Companies, the insurance company, said net income fell 21% in the quarter, but that too was better than forecasts. Earnings per shares were $1.27, two cents higher than the market forecast.

Aside from several Treasury auctions, the only macroeconomic news today is the weekly jobless claims report to be released at 8:30. But investors will also be trading in anticipation of tomorrow’s first official estimate for second-quarter GDP, which has forecasters posting pins all over the map. The median is for GDP to drop 0.7%, but the range is wide, from -2.8% to +1.0%.

Also in the news: RealtyTrac has issued a report ranking cities with the highest number of foreclosures. Twenty-nine of the top 30 come from four states â€