3 Things to Consider While Trading Today

Dallas, TX 5/19/2011 (PennyPayDay) -- Stocks were mixed in Asian trade. Australia was up one and a third percent and the Hang Seng added half that much, but Shanghai and the Nikkei both fell about 0.45% on the session. European indexes are broadly higher, with the Dax up about 1.25% and the Footsie is better by one percent. US stock futures are up about a quarter percent as I write.

*The February reading of Australia’s Average Weekly Wages was +3.8% on a year over year basis, as was forecast.

*The Q1 reading of Japan’s GDP was twice as weak as expected, with an annualized decline of 3.8%. The Q1 GDP Deflator fell 1.9% from a year ago, one tenth lower than the estimate.

*The final March reading of Japan’s Industrial Production was revised down by a couple of tenths to -15.5% on a month on month basis; a record decline for which the earthquake can be blamed.

*The April reading of Japan’s nationwide Department Store Sales was -1.5% month on month, not good but a big improvement over the 14.7% monthly decline seen in March.

*The May reading of Switzerland’s ZEW Survey of Economic Expectations fell sharply to -11.5 from +8.8 the month before, according to Credit Suisse.

*The April reading of UK Retail Sales was up 1.1% on the month, three tenths more than expected; warm weather and the Royal wedding are said to be important factors for the gain.

*DSK quits IMF.

*Greece continues to say they don’t plan any kind of debt restructuring, despite the chatter that that is where they are headed. But just in case, ECB boss Trichet is quoted in the FT Deutschland saying that Greek debt would no longer be acceptable as collateral at the ECB if there was any type of restructuring or re-profiing.

*The weekly report on Initial Jobless Claims is due out at 7:30am CDT, it is expected to be 420k. There are three reports due out at 9:00am CDT, including: April Existing Home Sales, forecast to be 5.20 million units, which is an increase of 2.0% from the month before; the May reading of the Philly Fed is expected to rise to 20.0, up from 18.5 from April; and the Leading Economic Indicators, which is estimated to be +0.1%.

*The Mortgage Bankers Association will be a Q1 update on foreclosures and delinquencies at 9:00am CDT.

*The weekly report on inventories of Natural Gas is due to be released at 9:30am CDT, it is expected to show an increase of 90 bcf.

*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasuries today that are due to mature between 8/15/21 and 11/15/27; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CDT.

*The Treasury will announce at 10:00am CDT the details for next week’s auctions of 2 Year, 5 Year and 7 Year Notes.

*There is a smattering of Fed speak on the calendar today. NY Fedster Dudley appears to be making a tour of upstate New York the next couple of days and he will make comments at several of the stops along the way, but will likely confine himself to the state of the local economy as opposed to taking a broader view. Dallas Fed boss Fisher is set to talk about the economy at 12:30pm CDT and Chicago’s Evans will speak at a forum of corporate treasurers at 12:40pm CDT.

*The Treasury plans to sell $11 billion re-opened 10 Year TIPS today; the results of the auction will be announced just after noon CDT.

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