3 Things To Know Before Trading

Orlando, FL 12/14/11 (StreetBeat) --Stocks were generally weaker on the day in Asian trade. Shanghai fell to another new low for the move with a decline of 0.9%, the Hang Seng lost a half percent, the Nikkei fell 0.4% and Australia lost a slight fraction. European indexes are broadly lower this morning with the Dax off about 1.0% and the Footsie down 0.9%. US stock futures are down a slight fraction as I write.

*The December reading of Australia’s Consumer Confidence Index was down about nine points on the month to 94.7, according to Westpac.; the lowest result since August.

*The final October reading of Japan’s Industrial Production was revised down a couple of tenths to 2.2%.

*OPEC has agreed to maintain their output ceiling at 30 million barrels per day, according to the Venezuelan minister at the group’s meeting in Vienna.

*The November reading of Switzerland’s Producer and Import Prices was -09.8% on a month on month basis and -2.4% year on year; both results were much more deflationary than expected.

*The December reading of Switzerland’s ZEW Survey of Economic Expectations fell about eight points to -72.0, according to Credit Suisse; it is the second lowest result in the last couple of years.

*The October reading of the UK Unemployment Rate was steady at 8.3% as forecast. In November the net change in the number of jobless claims was +3.0k, below the forecast for an increase of almost 14k.

*There continues to be market chatter about an imminent SP downgrade of France, but there is no news to back that up. But if SP is to make cuts to European ratings, France won’t go down alone.

*US mortgage applications were up 4.1% in the week ended December 9, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The Purchases component was down 8.2% on the week, but Refis gained 9.3%.

*The November reading of the Import Price Index is due out at 7:30am CST, it is expected to be +1.0% month on month.

*The weekly report on energy inventories is due out at 9:30am CST. Stocks of Crude Oil are forecast to decrease 2.5 million barrels, Gasoline inventories are expected to increase 1.2 million and the estimate for Distillates is +1.0 million.

*The Fed is scheduled to sell Treasuries today that are due to mature between 10/15/12 and 5/31/13; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CST.

*The Treasury plans to sell $13 billion re-opened 30 Year Bonds today; the auction results will be announced just after noon CST.

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