Stock Market 10/23/08 - Pre Market Trading - Potash ( POT ) Earnings, Futures

This morning, Thursday, 10/23/08, the stock market futures are pointing slightly down and Oil is up $1.25 to $68 dollars per barrel.

European stock markets were lower Thursday after Japan's Nikkei index closed at a five-year low and Wall Street's Dow Jones index ended down nearly 6 percent Wednesday over mounting recession fears.

Britain's FTSE 100 index was down 35.24 points, or 0.9 percent, at 4,005.65, while Germany's DAX was 77.34 points, or 1.7 percent, at 4,493.73. The CAC-40 in France was 34.01 points, or 1.0 percent, lower at 3,264.17.

Earlier Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average tumbled 7 percent at the open but recovered to close down 2.5 percent at 8,460.98, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 4.7 percent at 13,603 after falling more than 6 percent earlier. South Korea's market was down more, as the benchmark Kospi fell nearly 10 percent at one point but closed down 7.5 percent at 1,049.71.

Stock to Watch 10/23/08

Potash ( POT ) - Potash beat earnings by .36...coming in with $3.93 per share. Revenues were 3.06 Billion. They expect business to continue to be strong ( Unlike Mosaic ( MOS ) )
Potash ( POT ) shares up up $4 or 6% to $71 in pre market on the NYSE.

Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) net income rose 48% amid continuing popularity of its free shipping service, but the online retailing giant disappointed investors with a tepid outlook for the fourth quarter. AMZN shares are trading at $43 or down 14% in pre market 10/23

Amgen ( AMGN ) reported some outstanding earnings last night.....shares of AMGN are set to open up 5% higher to $52 per share.