3 Things To Know Before Trading

Orlando, FL 2/16/12 (StreetBeat) -- Stocks were broadly lower in Asian trade. Australia was among the worst with a loss of 1.7%. the Hang Seng and Shanghai fell 0.4%, while the Nikkei was off by a quarter percent. European indexes are generally weaker this morning, with the Dax off more than one percent and the Footsie down by 0.8%. US stock futures are lower by a quarter to a half percent as I write.

*The January reading of Australia’s Unemployment Rate fell one tenth from the month before to 5.1%; the decline was a surprise as a one tenth increase was the forecast. The net change in January in the number of Employed was +46.3k, more than four times the expected gain.

*Greece President Popoullas asks “Who is Schaeuble (German FinMin) to insult Greece?”, punctuating his comments by saying “I don’t accept it as a Greek.” So overall the talks about Greek debt remain difficult and if possible, more contentious. No deals are apparently imminent.

*There are three bits of data due out at 7:30am CST. The January reading of the Producer Price Index is expected to be +0.4% on a month on month basis and the estimate for the Core PPI is +0.2% on the month. The January reading of Housing Starts is forecast to be up 2.7% from the month before to an annualized rate of 675k units; the estimate for Building Permits is 680k annualized or up 1.3% on the month. The weekly report on Initial Jobless Claims is expected to be 365k. The February reading of the Philly Fed Business Activity Index is due out at 9:00am CST, it is forecast to be 9.0, up from the January result of 7.3.

*Fed boss Bernanke is set to speak on Community Banking at 8:00am CST; unlikely to matter to the market as he usually sticks to the topic at these events.

*The Mortgage Bankers Association will release some data on Q4 mortgage foreclosures and delinquencies at 9:00am CST.

*The weekly report on Natural Gas inventories is due out at 9:30am CST, it is expected to show a decline of 120 bcf.

*The Treasury will announce at 10:00am CST the details of next week’s auctions of 2 Year, 5 Year and 7 Year Notes.

*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasuries today that are due to mature between 2/15/36 and 2/15/42; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CST.

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