Morning Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were suggesting Wall Street would open slightly higher Thursday after China's inflation rate eased in July.

European stocks were mixed while Asian stocks finished Thursday's trading session mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.1% to close at 8.978.60.

China's consumer price index rose 1.8% last month, down from June's 2.2% and well below the highs of last year. Lower inflation gives China more room to cut interest rates or make other moves to stimulate the economy.

---

The economic calendar in the U.S. Thursday includes weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. EDT, and wholesale inventories at 10 a.m.

---

U.S. stocks on Wednesday traded sideways, pausing after a three-day rally.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 7 points, or 0.1%, to 13,176.

The S&P 500 traded sideways at 1402 and the Nasdaq closed down 5 points at 3,011.

---

News Corp. (NWSA) posted a quarterly loss of $1.55 billion, or 64 cents a share, after the media giant recorded a $2.9 billion write-down on its publishing assets.

Excluding the write-down, News Corp. earned 32 cents a share in the quarter, down from 35 cents a share a year earlier, but in-line with analysts' expectations.

Revenue declined 7% to $8.37 billion; analysts were calling for revenue of $8.78 billion.

News Corp. said in June that it planned to separate its struggling publishing business from its entertainment assets by next year.

---

Zynga (ZNGA) Chief Operating Officer John Schappert, is resigning, effectively immediately, according to an 8-K filing from the San Francisco-based social gaming company

---

Nestle saw first-half profit rise 8.9%, but the Swiss food giant said Thursday the rest of the year could be challenging and it warned of a slowdown in the U.S.

---

Several private-equity firms that have been approached to join in a buyout of Best Buy (BBY) are sitting on the fence, private-equity sources told Reuters, citing the lack of a tangible plan by the retailer's founder Richard Schulze.

---

Retailer Kohl's (KSS) is expected by analysts Thursday to post quarterly earnings of 96 cents a share on revenue of $4.21 billion.

---

Wendy's (WEN), the fast-food chain, is expected by analysts to earn 5 cents a share in its latest quarter on sales of $647.9 million.

---

London Olympics Medal Count: U.S. - 81 medals, 34 golds; China - 77 medals, 36 golds; Russia - 53 medals, 11 golds.

-- Written by Joseph Woelfel



>To contact the writer of this article, click here: Joseph Woelfel

>To submit a news tip, send an email to: [e-mail].

Copyright 2012 TheStreet.com Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.