3 Things To Know Before Trading

Tallahassee, FL 2/2/12 (StreetBeat) -- Stocks were strong throughout Asian trade. The Hang Seng and Shanghai were both up about two percent, Australia added one percent and the Nikkei rose 0.75%. European indexes are little changed this morning, with the Dax and the Footsie both down a slight fraction. US stock futures are down a slight fraction as well as I write.

*The December reading of Australia’s Trade Balance was a wider surplus than expected at A$1.709 billion.

*The December reading of the Euro Zone Producer Price Index was down 0.2% on the month, one tenth more of a decline than forecast.

*The December reading of Switzerland’s Trade Balance saw the surplus fall by almost one third to SF2.07 billion, well short of the estimates. Exports rose, but Imports rose more.

*No resolution on Greek debt…yet.

*The Challenger Group reports that in January there were 53,486 job cut announcements. That is up 11,701 from December and 39% more than last January; it is the highest number of such announcements since September.

*Chain stores are releasing their January same store sales results this morning, some of the early reports include: Stein Mart -3.9%; Bon Ton -3.5%; The Wet Seal -13%; The Buckle +7.4%; Fred’s Stores -0.8%; Target +4.3% and Limited Brands +9%.

*The weekly report on Initial Jobless Claims is due out at 7:30am CST, it is expected to be 371k. The preliminary Q4 reading of Non-farm Productivity is also due out at 7:30am; Productivity is forecast to be +0.8% for the quarter and the estimate for Unit Labor Costs is +0.8% as well.

*Fed boss Bernanke is scheduled to testify at 9:00am CST before the House Budget Committee about the economy. Other Fedsters that are on the calendar today include: Chicago Fed’s Evans will talk to reporters at 8:00am CST and Dallas Fed’s Fisher speaks at a dinner at 6:15pm CST.

*The weekly report on inventories of Natural Gas is due out at 9:30am CST, it is expected to show a decline of 129 bcf.

*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasuries today that are due to mature between 2/15/20 and 11/15/21; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CST.

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