Tallahassee, FL 4/27/12 (StreetBeat) -- Stocks were mostly lower but little changed in Asian trade. The Nikkei fell 0.4%, while the Hang Seng, Australia and Shanghai were all down about a third of a percent. European indexes are mixed this morning with the Dax and Footsie both up a slight fraction. US stock futures are up a slight fraction as I write.*The March reading of Japan’s Jobless Rate was steady at 4.5%, as expected. However, Overall Household Spending was up just 3.4% on a year over year basis in March, seven tenths under the forecast.
*The March reading of Japan’s Consumer Price Index Ex-fresh food is +0.2% on a year on year basis, twice the expected gain. But, the April reading of that same price measure for Tokyo is -0.5% year on year, that is two tenths more deflationary than forecast and is the most deflationary reading since November.
*Other data released in Japan overnight includes: the preliminary March reading of Industrial Production is +1.0% month on month, only half the expected gain and the March reading of Retail Trade was -1.2% month on month, more than twice the expected decline.
*The Bank of Japan kept their target interest rate steady at 0.10% at their policy meeting earlier today, this was expected. Additionally they expanded their monetary stimulus program by Y10 trillion and they extended the maturity of government bond purchases out to 3 years from 2 years. They say that these moves will better ensure recovery of their economy, something they seem to think is beginning to occur.
*Italy sold debt today; the success or lack of it is in the eye of the beholder. They sold most of what they wanted to, but the yield was much higher, at least sixty basis points, versus that seen a month ago at sales of 5 and 10 year debt.
*S&P downgraded Spain by two notches to BBB+ and maintained a negative outlook; they say “We believe that the Kingdom of Spain’s budget trajectory will likely deteriorate against a background of economic contraction in contrast with our previous projections.”
*Earlier this morning Spain reported that their Q1 Unemployment Rate was 24.44%,, up more than one and a half percent from the previous quarter and six tenths more than the forecast.
*The March reading of Germany’s Import Price Index was up 0.7% on the month, two tenths shy of the estimate.
*The first look at Q1 GDP is due out at 7:30am CDT. Headline GDP is expected to be +2.5%; the GDP Deflator is forecast to be +2.1%; the PCE Core is expected to be +2.1%; and the estimate for Personal Consumption is +2.3%. Also due out at 7:30am is the Q1 reading of the Employment Cost Index, which is forecast to be up 0.5% from the previous quarter. The final April reading of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan is set to be released at 8:55am CDT, it is expected to be steady from the month’s preliminary result at 75.7; in March it was 76.2.
*The Fed is scheduled to sell Treasuries today that are due to mature between 6/15/14 and 4/15/15; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CDT.
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