Tallahassee, FL 1/5/12 (StreetBeat) --Stocks were mixed in Asian trade. Australia and Shanghai were both down about one percent and the Nikkei lost 0.8%, but the Hang Seng gained almost a half percent. European indexes are weaker this morning. Italy is among the worst with a three percent loss, the Dax is currently down 0.6% ant he Footsie is off by 0.5%. US stock futures are down a half to three quarters of a percent as I write.*The November reading of Australia’s Trade Balance is a surplus of A$1.38 billion, down slightly from the month before and more than fifteen percent under the forecast surplus.
*The December reading of China’s service sector Purchasing Managers Index was steady from the month before at 52.5, according to HSBC.
*The November reading of German Retail Sales was well below the estimate at -0.9% on a monthly basis and the previous month’s report was sharply revised, from +0.7% to -0.2%.
*The December reading of the UK’s service sector PMI rose two points on the month to 54.0; much better than the slight decline that was expected.
*The Challenger Group reports that in December there were 41,785 job cut announcements; that is down slightly from the November reading, but up 30.6% from a year ago.
*Chain stores are announcing their December same store sales results this morning, some of those who have already reported include: Fred’s -0.4% when compared to the year before; Limited Brands +7.0%; Cato -1.0%; Wet Seal -3.7%; The Buckle +8.9%; Bon Ton -0.7%; and Costco +7%.
*ADP is scheduled to announce at 7:15am CST their estimate for the net change in December for private sector non-farm payrolls; it is expected to be +178k. The weekly report on Initial Jobless Claims is due out at 7:30am CST, it is forecast to be 375k. The December reading of the ISM Non-manufacturing Composite Index is due out at 9:00am CST; it is expected to be up one point from the month before to 53.0.
*Both weekly reports on energy inventories are due out this morning. Natural Gas inventories will be reported at 9:30am CST, expected to be a decline of 81 bcf. The report on petroleum based inventories is set for 10:00am CST. Stocks of Crude Oil are forecast to be a decline of 1.0 million barrels, Gasoline inventories are expected to increase 1.0 million and the estimate for Distillates is +1.0 million.
*The Treasury is scheduled to announce at 10:00am CST the details for next week’s auctions of 3 year and 10 Year Notes and 30 Year Bonds.
*The Fed is scheduled to sell TIPS today that are due to mature between 4/15/12 and4/15/14; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CST.
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