Before the bell 8-1-06: EBAY, GOOG, MSFT, YHOO

Today we begin a new month, August, the month that historically has been the worst month for the S&P 500 for the past 15 years. Following last week's rally, yesterday's mild profit taking ahead of August made sense.

The question is what will happen today (and this week) as earnings season is nearing its end and the three issues that concern investors most, economy, interest rate and oil prices. Oil prices concerns due to recent turmoil and the UN ultimatum on Iran.

The economy and Interest rates concerns will culminate in the FOMC meeting is next week on August 8th. Even though futures point to a mixed to lower start as of now, the negative sentiment doesn't seem decisive and investors will no doubt watch the economic data that is due out today to get a better feel for state of the economy and the Fed's probable course of action next Tuesday. Job data that is due on Friday will also help gage Fed's policy.

Personal income and spending is due at 8:30 this morning and will influence the way the market opens as this measure is believed by many to be closely watched by the Federal Reserve. Other data out today includes ISM (Institute of Supply Management) July manufacturing index and June construction spending before the bell and July auto and truck sales.

While Whole Foods reported disappointing earnings last night, Burger King is set to report its first earnings since going public. Deutsche Bank also reported disappointing earnings and its share price fell 3.1% in Frankfurt. Verizon reported a 26% rise in revenue, but net income fell.

Oil prices were mixed and bond prices fell as the 10-year note yield went up to 5% after falling to 4.98% yesterday.

Overnight, Asian markets were down, European markets are mixed at the moment.

Here's a look at some key Blogging Stocks:

eBay Inc (EBAY) was down 12 cents to $23.95 as of 7:17 p.m. yesterday. Yesterday, analyst Mark J Rowen of Prudential Financial maintained his "overweight" rating on eBay with a target price of $40.

Google Inc (GOOG) is doown 80 cents in pre-market trading to $385.80 as of 8:21 a.m. A blogger in the United Kingdom says he uncovered what could be a dozen or more new services in development at Google such as "Google Real Estate Search," "Mobile Marketplace," and "Google Online Assessment."

Microsoft Corp (MSFT) is up 27 cents to $24.30 as of 7:53 a.m. Microsoft is going to start charging users who download its Office 2007 Beta 2 version US$1.50, starting August 2.

Yahoo Inc (YHOO) is up 4 cents to $27.18 as of 8:19 a.m. There is an interesting post regarding the differences between Yahoo and Google searches.