3 Things to Consider When Trading Today

Tallahassee, FL 4/2/12 (StreetBeat) -- Stocks were mixed in Asian trade. The Nikkei was up a quarter percent, but the Hang Seng and Australia each fell a slight fraction; Shanghai was closed on Monday. European indexes are mostly lower on the day, but the Footsie and Dax are essentially unchanged this morning. US stock futures are down a slight fraction as I write.

*The March reading of China’s manufacturing sector Purchasing Managers Index was up a couple of points on the month to 53.1, a slight decline had been forecast; this is the official government version. The HSBC version of the China manufacturing PMI was down 1.3 points from the month before to 48.3.

*The Q1 reading of Japan’s Tankan report on Large Manufacturers was steady from the previous quarter at -4; it had been expected to improve to -1.

*Earlier this morning in a Reuters report the Bundesbank denied that they had stopped accepting Euro Zone peripheral’s sovereign debt as collateral. They did say though that they will no longer accept bank bonds from that is guaranteed by governments, such as those in the periphery I guess. However, Reuters also has a story about Japan’s Kokusai Asset Management saying “it is reluctant to invest in Italian and Spanish bonds.”

*The final March reading of Germany’s manufacturing sector PMI was revised up three tenths to 48.4.

*The March reading of Switzerland’s manufacturing sector PMI was up two points from the month before to 51.1, well above the half point increase that was estimated.

*The March reading of the UK manufacturing sector PMI was up six tenths from the month before to 52.1, a slight decline was the forecast; it is the best result since last April.

*The March reading of the ISM Manufacturing Index is due out at 9:00am CDT, it is expected to be 53.0, up from 52.4 the month before; the Prices Paid component is forecast to be 63.0, it was 61.5 in February. The February reading of Construction Spending is also due out at 9:00am CDT, it is forecast to be +0.6% on the month.

*St. Louis Fed boss Bullard is set to speak at Tsinghua University in China at 9:00am CDT. Also on the calendar today is Cleveland Fed boss Pianalto who will talk about monetary policy at 11:35am CDT, and Dallas Fed’s Fisher is set to do a CNBC interview at some point this morning.

*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasuries today that are due to mature between 5/15/20 and 2/15/22; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CDT.

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