3 Things To Know Before Trading

Oxford, MS 3/17/2011 (PennyPayDay) -- Stocks were generally lower in Asian trade. The Hang Seng was among the worst with a decline of 1.8%, the Nikkei lost 1.4% and Shanghai was lower by more than one percent. Australia was off just a slight fraction. European indexes are however broadly higher on the day, with the Dax and Footsie both currently up more than a half percent. US stock futures are three quarters of a percent higher.

*Japan’s leader of the upper house of Parliament is reported to have said that Japan should close the stock and forex markets in order to avoid a tumble in value.

*The focus of the efforts to correct the nuclear reactors situation in Japan has been on the water levels in the cooling tanks, which are said to be desperately low.

*The January reading of Japan’s Tertiary Industry Index was stronger than expected with a month on month gain of 2.1%.

*The situations in Libya and Bahrain are ongoing, but Bahrain has eased the curfew by about four hours in a sign that things have gotten more quiet if not resolved.

*The February reading of the Consumer Price Index is due out at 7:30am CST. Headline CPI is expected to be up 0.4% on a month on month basis and the estimate for the Core rate is +0.1%; these inflation measures are forecast to be +2.0% and +1.0% on an annualized basis, respectively. Also due out at 7:30am is the weekly report on Initial Jobless Claims, which is expected to be 388k. The February readings of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization are set to be released at 8:15am CST. The forecast for Production is +0.6% from the month before and Utilization is expected to be 76.5%, up four tenths from the January result. The March reading of the Philly Fed Business Activity Index is due out at 9:00am CST, it is expected to be 28.8, it was 35.9 the month before. Also due out at 9:00am is the February reading of the Leading Economic Indicators, a rise of 0.9% is the estimate.

*The weekly report on inventories of Natural Gas is due out at 9:30am CST, it is expected to show a decline of 42 bcf.

*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasuries today that are due to mature between 9/30/13 and 2/28/15; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CST, but, of course, that was the supposed schedule yesterday too.

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