Dallas, TX 5/12/2011 (PennyPayDay) -- *Stocks in Asia were broadly lower. Australia lost 1.76%, the Nikkei fell one and a half percent, Shanghai lost one and a third percent and the Hang Seng was down more than 0.9%. The same can be said of Europe, with the Dax currently off by 1.5% and the Footsie down about 1.2%. US stock futures a lower by a half percent or so as I write.*The April reading of Australia’s Unemployment Rate was steady at 4.9%, as expected. But the net change in the number of Employed was down 22.1k on the month and this had been forecast to grow by 17.0k. Full-time employment was down 49.1k in April, the biggest one month drop since February 2009; while part-time employment rose 26.9k.
*China raised the reserve requirement ratio for its banks by 50 basis points to 21.0%, a move that becomes effective on May 18.
*The ECB continues to see “upward pressure on overall inflation” and note that they will continue to monitor developments “very closely” in their monthly bulletin editorial. The comments echo those made by Trichet after the May 5 policy meeting.
*The February reading of Greece’s Unemployment Rate is 15.9%, up eight tenths from the month before and the highest in many years.
*The March reading of UK Industrial Production is +0.3% on a month on month basis, well below the estimate for a gain of 0.8%.
*Philly Fed boss Plosser is scheduled to give his economic outlook at 7:30am CDT.
*There are three economic indicators due to be released at 7:30am CDT. The weekly report on Initial Jobless Claims is expected to be 430k. The April reading of the Producer Price Index is forecast to be +0.6% on a month on month basis and the estimate for the PPI Core is +0.2% from the month before. The April reading of Retail Sales is expected to be up 0.6% from March and the Sales ex-autos are forecast to show an increase of 0.6% on a monthly basis as well. The March reading of Business Inventories is due out at 9:00am CDT; the estimate calls for a monthly gain of 0.9%.
*The Senate Banking Committee is holding a hearing on systemic risk at 8:30am CDT. Among those who will testify are Fed boss Bernanke, FDIC boss Bair, Treasury’s Wolin, SEC’s Schapiro and CFTC’s Gensler. Bernanke’s testimony was released last night and has no implications for the markets today.
*The weekly report on Natural Gas inventories is due out at 9:30am CDT, it is expected to show an increase of 71 bcf.
*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasuries today that are due to mature between 11/15/13 and 4/30/15; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CDT.
*The Treasury plans to sell $16 billion 30 Year Bonds today; the results of the auction will be announced just after noon CDT.
*Fed’s Bernanke is scheduled to give brief remarks at 7:00pm CDT at ceremony hosted by the US/Mexico Chamber of Commerce.
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