Tomahawk, WI 9/15/2011 (PennyPayDay) – THE DAY AHEADSeptember 15
*Stocks indexes in Asia were generally strong today. The Nikkei gained one and three quarters percent, Australia added 1.6% and the Hang Seng rose 0.7%; Shanghai was among the losers, it fell a slight fraction. European indexes are well bid this morning, with the Dax up by about two and a half percent and the Footsie better by almost one percent. US stock futures are up more than a half percent as I write.
*The EU sees euro-area growth at “close to a stand-still” at the end of this year, and that the current outlook is uncertain, they say in the European Economic Forecast that was published today. Also, European financial leaders have gathered in Wroclaw, Poland for meetings today and tomorrow.
*The Swiss National Bank left their target interest rate steady at zero, as they were expected to do at today’s policy meeting. They took the opportunity to reiterate their resolve on reversing the “massive overvaluation” of their currency saying they will defend the minimum franc rate with all consequence; they also say they are ready to take further measures if needed.
*The Q2 reading of Switzerland’s Industrial Production was +3.6%, reversing the sharp Q1 decline and beating the estimate.
*London police arrested a 31 year old UBS employee this on “suspicion of fraud by abuse of position”. The arrest is related to a trading loss of $2 billion from unauthorized trades at the bank.
*The August reading of UK Retail Sales is -0.2% on a monthly basis, one tenth better than forecast.
*There are four bits of data due to be released at 7:30am CDT, including: the weekly report on Initial Jobless Claims is expected to be 411k; the August reading of the Consumer Price Index is forecast to be up 0.2% on a month on month basis and the estimate for the Core CPI is also +0.2%; the September reading of the Empire State Manufacturing Index is thought to have improved to -4.00 from the August result of -7.72; and the Q2 reading of the Current Account Balance is expected to be a deficit of $122.4 billion. The August readings of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization are set to be released at 8:15am CDT; Production is forecast to be unchanged on the month and Cap. Util. is also expected to be unchanged on the month at 77.5%. The September reading of the Philly Fed Business Activity Index is due to be released at 9:00am CDT, it is expected to be -15.0, up from the August result of -30.7.
*Fed boss Bernanke is scheduled to give some brief opening remarks at 7:45am CDT at a Fed conference on systemic risk. Fed Governor Tarullo will speak at that conference at 12:45pm CDT.
*IMF leader LaGarde is set to speak on the economic outlook at 9:00am CDT.
*The weekly report on Natural Gas inventories is due out at 9:30am CDT, it is expected to show an increase of 82 bcf.
*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasures today that are due to mature between 9/30/15 and 2/28/17; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CDT.
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