Before the bell 8-29-06: EBAY, GOOG, MSFT, YHOO

Today begins the four-day marathon of economic data that will undoubtedly influence the market as investors try to determine the direction of the economy and Fed policy. However, yesterday's gain (mostly due to lower oil prices), was reached in light volume, which is expected to remain until after Labor Day, lending itself to higher volatility.

The first economic indicator of the week will be released at 10:00 a.m. by the Conference Board - August consumer confidence. Consensus of economists forecast the index to fall to 102.5 from 106.5 in July. Then, at 2:00 p.m. the FOMC minutes from the last Federal Reserve policy meeting in August 8 will be released. The Fed left rates unchanged for the first time in more than two years that meeting and investors could get a better feel for the reasoning behind that move.

Corporate: Barnes & Noble subpoenaed over stock options, Boeing approved a stock buyback plan of up to $3 billion, BP is facing oil and gas price manipulation probe according to The Wall Street Journal.

Bonds were typically flat yesterday after yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note reached a five-month low on Friday at 4.79% .

Overseas Asian markets closed higher as is the case in Europe at the moment.

Futures are positive in early morning trade (8:00 a.m.), pointing to a similar start for stocks.

Here's a look at some key Blogging Stocks:

EBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) shares are up 12 cents in pre-market trading to $25.91 as of 8:04 a.m. More on the Google-eBay deal from BusinessWeek Online. Dow Jones is examining if these deals (with Google and Yahoo) are good for sellers.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) shares are up 84 cents in pre-market trading to $381.79 as of 8:19 a.m. BusinessWeek Online also looks at the suite of products Google offers, directly competing with Microsoft Office.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) shares were down 1 cent in after hours trading to $25.94 as of 6:19 p.m. yesterday. Can Microsoft handle the threat from Google to its Office suite of products?

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) shares are down 1 cents in pre-market trading to $28.90 as of 8:13 a.m. CNNMoney.com's Business 2.0 Magazines is examining the secret behind Yahoo! Answers that comes despite Yahoo's latest stumbling.