*Stocks were mixed in Asian trade, but of the key indexes only the Nikkei managed a gain, +0.9%. But the Hang Seng was down 1.4%, Shanghai lost almost one percent and Australia fell more than a half percent. European indexes are also mixed, but for the most part little changed, with the Dax and Footsie both lower by a slight fraction. US stock futures a few ticks lower.*The October reading of Japan’s Current Account Balance is +2.9% on a year over year basis; exports were up 8.8% on the year while Imports were up 11.5% over that span.
*The October reading of Japan’s Machine Orders was down 1.4% on a month on month basis, worse than the forecast for a drop of only 0.1%.
*The October reading of Germany’s Trade Balance was a surplus of EU14.2 billion; down from a surplus of EU16.8 billion in September and below the expectation for a surplus of EU15.1 billion. Exports were steady on the month while imports rose a couple billion.
*The October reading of Germany’s Industrial Production was +2.9% on a monthly basis, almost triple the forecast.
*US mortgage applications were down 0.9% in the week ended December 3, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Applications for purchase were up 1.8% on the week and those for Refi were down 1.4%.
*The weekly report on energy inventories is due out at 9:30am CST. Stocks of Crude Oil are forecast to decline by 1.4 million barrels, Gasoline inventories are expected to fall 300k and the estimate for Distillates is -900k.
*The Fed is scheduled to buy TIPS today that are due to mature between 7/15/12 and 2/15/40; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CST.
*The Treasury plans to sell $21 billion re-opened 10 Year Notes today; the results of the auction will be announced just after noon CST.
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