5 Things to Keep in Mind While Trading Today

THE DAY AHEAD

February 9

*Stocks in Asian trade were broadly lower. Shanghai reopened for the first time in about a week with a loss of 0.9%, the Hang Seng was down 1.4% and the Nikkei lost a slight fraction, but Australia managed a gain of 0.3%. European indexes are little changed for the most part, with the Footsie down about a quarter percent and the Dax essentially unchanged. US stock futures are down a fraction as I write.

*The January reading of Japan’s Consumer Confidence was up about one point to 41.1 for the first gain in six months.

*The December reading of Germany’s Trade Balance was a surplus of EU11.9 billion, down about one billion on the month. Both Exports and Imports declined on the month.

*US mortgage applications were down 5.5% in the week ended February 4, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association; applications for purchase were off only 1.4% on the week, but those for Refi fell 7.7%.

*Fed boss Bernanke is set to testify at a hearing of the House Budget Committee at 9:00am CST; the topics are the economy, jobs and the budget.

*The weekly report on energy inventories is due out at 9:30am CST. Stocks of Crude Oil are forecast to increase 2.0 million barrels, Gasoline inventories are expected to rise 2.6 million and the estimate for Distillates is -1.0 million.

*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasuries today that are due to mature between 2/15/15 and 7/31/16; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CST.

*The Treasury plans to sell $24 billion 10 Year Notes today, the results of the auction will be announced just after noon CST.

*There is some late afternoon Fed speak on the calendar. NY Fed markets group head Brian Sack will talk about QE2 at 4:45pm CST and Atlanta Fed’s Lockhart will talk about the outlook at 5:45pm CST.

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