Asia declines on ECB stimulus disappointment; Europe soars; U.S. futures signal strong opening on jobs report.

International

Asia

●      Asian stock indexes mostly dropped today after the ECB did not take any immediate action regarding the debt crisis, and investors perceived China would be slack in enacting stimulus.

●      The Nikkei slid 1.13 percent; KOSPI tumbled 1.11 percent; Shanghai Composite gained 1.02 percent; Hang Seng fell 0.12 percent; S&P/ASX 200 slipped 1.13 percent.

Europe

●      European stock indexes skyrocketed today as investors accepted the commitment from the ECB to promote growth in the euro area and awaited a poor jobs report from the U.S. that could persuade the Fed to conduct more stimulus. Companies that boosted the gains in Europe included Siemens AG, which announced a 3 billion euro share-buyback program. Look for movements in the Vanguard MSCI Europe ETF (NYSEArca: VGK).

●      The PMI reading for July was 46.5, slightly above the 46.4 reading in June. New orders for European companies dropped by a significant amount in July. Orders books were reduced not only in debt-ridden countries such as Italy and Spain, but in fiscally strong countries such as Germany.

Domestic

●      U.S. stock futures rose as investors awaited payroll and unemployment data and hoped that mediocre data would spur the Fed to provide further stimulus. Analysts estimate that the U.S. added 100,000 jobs in July, up from 89,000 in June, but that the unemployment rate still remained at around 8.2 percent.

Earnings

Procter & Gamble

●      4th Quarter Earnings - 8:30 a.m.

●      Expected EPS = $0.77

●      ETF Movements

○      Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLP)

○      Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (NYSEArca: VDC)

○      iShares Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Goods Index Fund (NYSEArca: IYK)

Commodities

All commodities news is as of 7:00 a.m. ET.

Gold and Silver Rose

●      Gold advanced 0.50 percent, or $7.98, to $1596.60. Expect gains in the SPDR Gold Shares physical bullion ETF (NYSEArca: GLD).

●      Silver increased 0.41 percent, or $0.11, to $27.25. Expect growth in the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV).

WTI and Brent Oil Augmented

●      The September contract for WTI crude oil rallied 1.37 percent, or $1.19, to $88.32 per barrel.

●      The September contract for Brent crude oil advanced 0.79 percent, or $0.84, to $106.74 per barrel.

●      Expect growth in both the United States Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO) and in the United States Brent Oil Fund (NYSEArca: BNO).

Fund Flows

On Thursday, August 2, 2012, the top ETF in nominal inflows was the United States Natural Gas (NYSEArca: UNG), with creations of $187.81 million. The top ETF in nominal outflows was the SPDR S&P 500 (NYSEArca: SPY), with redemptions of $872.10 million.

ETF Launches

None as of yet today

ETF Filings

None as of yet today

Economic Calendar

Domestic

●      Monster Employment Index - TBA

●      Employment Situation - 8:30 a.m. ET

●      ISM Non-Mfg Index - 10:00 a.m. ET

Europe

●      Germany

○      PMI Services Index - 4:00 a.m. ET

●      EMU

○      PMI Services Index - 4:00 a.m. ET

○      Retail Sales - 5:00 a.m. ET

●      U.K.

○      CIPS/PMI Services Index - 4:30 a.m. ET