3 Things to Know Before Trading

Orlando, FL 3/21/12 (StreetBeat) -- Stocks were mixed in Asian trade. The Nikkei and Australia both lost about a half percent and the Hang Seng was lower by a slight fraction, but Shanghai was essentially unchanged. European indexes are mixed and for the most part little changed, with the Dax and Footsie both up just a slight fraction this morning. US stock futures are up just a bit as I write.

*The January reading of Japan’s All Industry Activity Index was -1.0% on a month on month basis, a touch weaker than expected.

*The Bank of England policy committee members Posen and Miles voted in favor of an additional BP25 billion in bond purchases at the last meeting of the group, say the minutes from the session, but seven others voted for no change in the size of their quantitative easing program. The BOE sees risks to the economy, but there is less certainty now amongst them on the path on inflation over the medium term; oil prices for instance are a wild card.

*Minneapolis Fed’s Kocherlakota doesn’t see the need for more policy accommodation now, he said in a speech last night. He thinks the unemployment rate will continue to decline and could be in the “high sevens” by the end of the year. It’s possible, he says, that the Fed could begin their exit from accommodation this year or in 2013.

*US mortgage applications were down 7.4% in the week ended March 16, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Applications for purchase were down just one percent on the week, but those for Refinancing fell 9.3%.

*Fed boss Bernanke and Treasury’s Geithner are both set to testify at 8:30am CDT on Europe’s debt crisis before the House Oversight Committee. Bernanke’s testimony was pre-released; in it he says that while financial stresses have eased somewhat in Europe, risks remain and contagion is still a concern.

*The February reading of Existing Home Sales is due out at 9:00am CDT; expected to be an annualized sales rate of 4.61 million units, or up 0.9% from the month before.

*The weekly report on energy inventories is due out at 9:30am CDT. Stocks of Crude Oil are forecast to increase 2.2 million barrels, Gasoline inventories are expected to decline 2.0 million and the estimate for Distillates is -1.5 million.

*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasuries today that are due to mature between 3/31/18 and 2/15/20; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CDT.

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