3 Things you need to know before Trading Today

Stocks were generally higher in Asian trade, but were also generally little changed. The Nikkei, Hang Seng, Shanghai and Australia all had a gain on the session but most were just a slight fraction with only the Hang Seng up as much as a half percent. European indexes are also little changed on the day, with the Footsie currently up a fraction and the Dax down a fraction. US stock futures are up just a bit.

*The final October reading of Japan’s Industrial Production was revised down a couple of tenths to -2.0%.

*The December reading of Germany’s ZEW Survey of Economic Sentiment was up two and a half points to 4.3, a few tenths higher than the estimate. But the survey covering the Current Situation was up only one point on the month to 82.6, which was a couple of points shy of the forecast of 84.5.

*SP maintained Belgium’s current rating but has put the country on credit watch negative. They note a better than anticipated 2010 fiscal outcome, but continue to anticipate that prolonged political uncertainty could eventually hurt Belgium’s credit standing.

*The November reading of the UK Consumer Price Index rose 0.4% on a month on month basis or one tenth more than expected. The annualized rate, at 3.3% was also a tenth more than forecast.

*The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index increased to a three year high, it was up one and a half points to 93.2, a point better than forecast. The index however remains below the low levels previously associated with recessions.

*The weekly report on chain store sales from ICSC shows a gain of 0.8% on a week on week basis for the week ended December 11; sales were +3.1% for the week when compared to year ago levels. The Johnson Redbook report on the same thing is due out at 7:55am CST.

*The November reading of Retail Sales is due out at 7:30am CST. Headline Sales are expected to increase 0.6% on a month on month basis and the estimate for Sales Ex-autos is also +0.6%. Also due out at 7:30am is the November reading of the Producer Price Index. The headline PPI is forecast to be +0.6% on a monthly basis and the Core PPI is expected to increase 0.2% from the month before. The October reading of Business Inventories is due out at 9:00am CST, it is expected to rise 1.0% from the month before.

*The FOMC meets today; they will issue a statement at 1:15pm CST, no changes in policy are expected.

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