3 Things To Know Before Trading

Tallahassee, FL 12/8/11 (StreetBeat) --Stocks were lower in Asian trade, but for the most part only moderately so. The Nikkei and Hang Seng both fell about two thirds of a percent, while Shanghai and Australia were off by a slight fraction. European indexes are mixed and little changed, with the Footsie up 0.5% and the Dax up about that much as well. US stock futures are essentially unchanged.

*The November reading of Australia’s Unemployment Rate rose one tenth to 5.3%, but had been expected to be unchanged from the month before. Also, the net change in the number of employed fell 6.3k, missing the forecast for a gain of 10k.

*The Bank of England was steady as she goes, holding their benchmark rate steady at 0.50% and their asset purchase plan unchanged at BP275 billion.

*The ECB has cut their key rate by twenty-five basis points to 1.00%; some were thinking that they could do fifty. ECB boss Draghi is set to begin his post meeting press conference at 7:30am CST, to which the market will listen carefully for any comments or hints on additional ECB efforts in regards to the European debt crisis will.

*The EU pre-summit dinner is set for tonight.

*The weekly report on Initial Jobless Claims is due out at 7:30am CST, it is expected to be 395k. The October reading of Wholesale Inventories is due out at 9:00am CST, it is forecast to be +0.3% on a month on month basis.

*The weekly report on inventories of Natural Gas is due out at 9:30am CST, it is expected to show a decline of 11 bcf.

*The Treasury is set to announce at 10:00am CST the details for next week’s auctions of 3 and 10 Year Notes and 30 Year Bonds.

*The Fed is scheduled to buy and sell Treasuries today. They will buy paper that is due to mature between 2/15/20 and 11/15/21 and they will sell paper that is due to mature between 3/15/12 and 9/30/12; the result of the buy operation is due to be announced just after 10:00am CST and the results of the selling will be announced just after 1:00pm CST.

*The Fed’s Q3 quarterly statistical report, The Flow of Funds, is due to be released at 11:00am CST.

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