3 Things To Know Before Trading

Tallahassee, FL 2/13/12 (StreetBeat) -- Stocks were generally higher in Asian trade. Australia added almost one percent, while the Hang Seng and Nikkei were both up about a half percent, but Shanghai was flat on the session. European indexes are broadly higher this morning, with the Footsie up one percent and the Dax higher by 0.8%. US stock futures are up about three quarters of a percent as I write.

*The Q4 reading of Japan’s GDP was much weaker than expected at -2.3% on an annualized basis, the estimate was for -1.3%.

*The Greek parliament passed the budget containing the new austerity measures on Sunday and will now bring the finished product to Brussels for approval at a Wednesday meeting of the EuroGroup. There were riots in the streets in response to the vote. And speaking of voting, there will be national elections in April to replace the interim government led by Papademos, a government official reiterated today.

*The Obama administration is set to issue its fiscal year 2013 budget proposal today.

*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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