*Stocks were mixed in Asian trade, but many of the main indexes managed a gain. Shanghai and the Nikkei were both up about a third of a percent and the Hang Seng rose a fraction, but Australia was lower by a slight fraction. European indexes are broadly higher on the day, with the Dax and Footsie both up about 0.9%. US stock futures by a half percent.*The Reserve Bank of Australia kept their key cash target rate steady at 4.75%, as expected.
*The January reading of China’s manufacturing sector Purchasing Managers Index was down one point on the month to 52.9, it had been expected to fall just a few tenths; this is the second decline in a row.
*Jordanian Prime Minister Rifai has resigned, after weeks of protests calling on the government to step down. King Abdullah II has asked a fromer prime minister, Marouf Bakhit to form a new government.
*Egypt continues to be in a state of flux; mass rallies continue, financial markets remain closed and Mubarak is still trying to hold on to power.
*The EU is said to be near, but not at, agreement on buying sovereign debt in private placements. They would need to make rule changes to the EU440 billion EFSF to buy bonds directly for governments rather than using the fund to offer bailout loans.
*The January reading of Germany’s Unemployment Rate fell one tenth to 7.4%, the forecast was for unchanged. Also, the net change in the number of Unemployed was down a few thousand more than expected at -13k.
*The final January reading of Germany’s manufacturing sector PMI was revised up three tenths to 60.5, down a couple tenths from the month before.
*The December reading of Switzerland’s Retail Sales is -0.4% on a year over year basis, well below the +1.8% seen the month before.
*The January reading of Switzerland’s PMI was down seven tenths on the month to 60.5, but this was from a sharply higher revision for December.
*UK house prices fell 0.1% on the month in January, according to Nationwide; on a year over year basis prices are -1.1%.
*The January reading of the UK manufacturing sector PMI was much better than forecast, up more than three points to 62.0, which is four points higher than the estimate and the highest result since the survey began in 1992.
*In December there were 42.6k UK mortgage approvals, according to the Bank of England; down almost 5k on the month and four thousand under the expectation.
*The weekly report on chain store sales from ICSC showed a 1.0% decline on a week on week basis for the week ended January 29; the four consecutive decline by this measure. The Johnson Redbook report on the same thing is due out at 7:55am CST.
*The January reading of the ISM Manufacturing Index is due out at 9:00am CST. The headline ISM is expected to be 58.0, down a half point from the revised higher December result. The ISM Prices Paid component is forecast to rise one point on the month to 73.5. Also due out at 9:00am is the December reading of Construction Spending, which is expected to be +0.1% on a month on month basis.
*The automakers will be releasing their January sales figures this morning; total vehicle sales are expected to be 12.60 million units at an annualized rate, up from 12.53 million the month before.
*The Fed is scheduled to buy TIPS today that are due to mature between 4/15/13 and 2/15/40; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CST.
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