3 Thing To Know Before Trading

Tallahassee, FL 10/31/2011 (StreetBeat)--*Stocks were mixed in Asian trade, but most of the major indexes were lower on the session. Australia was among the weakest in the region with a decline of one and a quarter percent, the Hang Seng fell three quarters of a percent, the Nikkei was down almost that much and Shanghai lost a slight fraction. European indexes are generally weak this morning with the Dax off about 1.8% and the Footsie lower by a bit more than one and a quarter percent. US stock futures are down about one percent as I write.

*The world’s population is said to have hit 7 billion earlier today; if everyone could just shift over a bit to make room, if you please…

*Soon after the dollar/yen set another post World War II low the Bank of Japan intervened to weaken the yen. No amounts were stated but all accounts say the yen sale may have been close to a record. The dollar/yen traded as low as 75.57, but post the intervention it traded up at 79.54 and is currently 77.90. Japanese FinMin Azumi said “I’ll continue to intervene until I am satisfied.”

*In the wake of last week’s visit from the EFSF boss Regling China stressed that it will not act as a “saviour” to Europe. But European Commission President Barroso and European Council President Van Rompuy have urged G20 leaders to address the European debt crisis at this week’s gathering in Cannes, France.

*The September reading of German Retail Sales was weaker than forecast at +0.4% on a monthly basis, but had been expected to be up one percent.

*The September reading of Swiss Retail Sales was down 0.9% on a month on month basis, the second negative result in a row.

*MF Global is said to be in talks with Interactive Brokers Group that would include a deal for the latter to purchase some assets of, or the entire company. But there is additional talk that a bankruptcy filing by MF is still possible. This morning the NY Fed said that MF Global can no longer conduct new business with the Fed.

*The October reading of the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index is due out at 8:45am CDT, but three minutes earlier for the subscribers; it is expected to be 59.0, down a bit from the September result of 60.4.

*The October reading of the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity Index is due out at 9:30am CDT, it is expected to be -5.0; it was -14.4 the month before.

*The New York Fed will release the next Operation Twist schedule at 1:00pm CDT.

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