3 Things to Consider When Trading Today

Atlanta, GA 4/17/12 (StreetBeat) -- Stocks were mostly lower in Asian trade. Shanghai fell by almost one percent, Australia was down one third of a percent, the Hang Seng dropped a quarter percent and the Nikkei was down just a slight fraction. European indexes are generally strong this morning, with the Dax up about one and a quarter percent and the Footsie better by 0.9%. US stock futures are up a half percent or so, as I write.

*The Reserve Bank of Australia thinks the labor market there remains “subdued” and, according to the minutes from their latest policy meeting, they thought the case for easing policy could be made if the inflation outlook moderates.

*Foreign Direct Investment in China declined for the fifth consecutive month on a year over year basis in March; it was down 6.1% from the same month last year.

*The March reading of Japanese Consumer Confidence was up four tenths from the month before to 40.3; beating the estimate for 40.0.

*The March reading of the Euro Zone’s Consumer Price Index is +2.7% on a year over year basis, one tenth higher than forecast.

*The April reading of the Euro Zone’s ZEW Survey on Economic Sentiment was up two points from the month before to 13.1.

*The April reading of Germany’s ZEW Survey of Economic Sentiment was up one point from the prior month to 23.,4; it had been expected to fall about three points.

*Fitch affirms Austria’s AAA rating and keeps outlook as stable.

*Spain was able to sell more 12 and 18 month debt than planned earlier today, EU3,.18 billion versus an expected EU3.0 billion; talk of domestic demand and some unconfirmed chatter of ECB activity in Spanish debt.

*The March reading of the UK Consumer Price Index was up 0.3% on a month on month basis, as expected; but the annualized rate of 3.5% was one tenth higher than forecast.

*Goldman Sachs, Coca Cola and J&J are among the companies reporting their earnings before the open today. IBM and Intel are among those that will be out with their story after the close today.

*The weekly report on chain store sales from ICSC shows a decline of 1.0% on a week on week basis for the week ended April 14: sales were up 3.2% for the week when compared to the corresponding week from last year. The Johnson Redbook report on the same thing is due out at 7:55am CDT.

*The March reading of Housing Starts is due out at 7:30am CDT. Starts are expected to be up one percent from the month before to an annualized rate of 705k units; Building Permits are forecast to be down 0.7% on the month to a rate of 710k units. The March reading of Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization are due to be released at 8:15am CDT. Production is expected to be +0.3% on a monthly basis and the estimate for Utilization is 78.5%, up one tenth from a revised February result.

*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 CDT.

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