3 Things To Know Before Trading

Tallahassee, FL 1/17/12 (StreetBeat) --Stocks were quite strong throughout Asia today. Shanghai was among the best with a four percent gain, the Hang Seng rose three and a quarter percent, Australia added 1.6% and the Nikkei was up one percent. European indexes are broadly higher this morning, with the Dax up nearly 1.9% and the Footsie better by three quarters of a percent. US stock futures are up by about one percent as I write.

*The Q4 reading of China’s GDP growth rate was down two tenths from the previous quarter to 8.9%, but that was two tenths better than the forecast.

*The December reading of Chinese Retail Sales was +18.1%, or about one percent better than expected.

*SP followed up their downgrades of France, Austria and Italy, et al, with a downgrade of the debt issued by the rescue fund that these countries, and others, back; they now rate the EFSF credit at AA+, down one notch from the AAA rating they previously held. The outlook for EFSF debt is fully dependent on the ratings of the countries that back it, SP says.

*The January reading of Germany’s ZEW Survey of Economic Expectations improved sharply on the month to -21.6 from a December mark of -53.8; only a four point gain was forecast. The ZEW Survey of the Current Situation also improved, up 1.6 points to 28.4, beating the forecast for a three point decline. The Euro Zone ZEW Survey of Economic Sentiment also gained considerably, up twenty-two points to -32.5.

*The December reading of the UK Consumer Price Index matched the expectations; +0.4% month on month and +4.2% year on year.

*Citigroup and Wells Fargo are among the companies due to report their earnings today.

*The January reading of the Empire State Manufacturing Index is due out at 7:30am CST; it is expected to rise to 11.00, up from 9.53 in December. The NY Fed will also release its 2011 annual revisions for this survey.

*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasuries today that are due to mature between 2/15/36 and 11/15/41; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CST.

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