Before the bell 9-14-06: EBAY, GOOG, MSFT, YHOO

Yesterday I wondered whether Lehman's earnings would have the same effect on the market as Goldman's earnings did the day before. Well, after both Goldman Sachs (GS) and Lehman Brothers (LEH) beat the street estimates, could Bear Stearns (BSC) do the same today?

The market is currently hovering at a four-month high after rising for the fourth straight day yesterday. This is largely due to falling oil prices, which despite pushing back up again yesterday, have given investors reason for optimism especially with regards to consumer spending.

However, today and tomorrow, investors will also have some economic reports to ponder, specifically today's release of August retail sales at 8:30 a.m. and tomorrow's release of August CPI numbers before the bell.

Retail sales are expected to slow by 0.2%, affected by weak auto sales. Ex-autos, the consensus calls for retail sales to post a gain of 0.3%. Also due at 8:30 a.m. today are the weekly initial claims as well as August import and export prices. July business inventory will also be released this morning.

Bond prices continued to rise yesterday with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.76% from 4.77% late Tuesday. This morning, Treasuries continued to edge higher with the 10-year note yield easing to 4.75%.

Overseas, Asian markets were mostly higher as is the case in Europe at the moment.

Futures were positive in early morning trade but are trending downward (8:00 a.m.), pointing (at least for now) to a higher start for stocks.

Here's a look at some key Blogging Stocks:

EBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) closed at $28.00 yesterday. Bloggers reported yesterday that a PayPal shopping cart was seen in Yahoo! search ads. I've tried, but haven't seen one yet.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) last traded at $405.55 in pre-market trading, down from yesterday's close of $406.57. Released yesterday: Google released Featured Content for Google Earth.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) last traded at $26.07 in pre-market trading, up from yesterday's close of $25.98. Microsoft raised its quarterly dividend by a penny, to 10 cents, payable Dec. 14 to holders of record Nov. 16.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) last traded at $29.10 in pre-market trading, down from yesterday's close of $29.17. Yahoo has signed a multiyear distribution deal with Acer Taiwan. Acer would feature Yahoo's Internet search on all its personal computers there.