Northern, WI 5/2/12 (StreetBeat) -- Stocks were broadly higher in Asian trade. Shanghai was among the best with a gain of one and three quarters percent, the Hang Seng added one percent, the Nikkei was up 0.3% and Australia rose a slight fraction. European indexes are mixed this morning; the Dax is better by a slight fraction, but the Footsie is down 0.6% and Spain is off by more than two percent at the moment. US stock futures are down a slight fraction as I write.*The April reading of the HSBC version of China’s manufacturing sector PMI was up one point from the month before to 49.3, but this has been below fifty for six months running and seven of the last eight.
*The April reading of Germany’s Unemployment Rate unexpectedly came in at 6.8%, a tenth more than forecast and the previous month was revised up one tenth to 6.8% as well. The net change in the number of unemployed rose 19k, but had been expected to fall by 10k.
*The March reading of the Euro Zone Unemployment Rate was up one tenth on the month to 10.9%, as expected; this is the highest of the euro era.
*The final April reading of Germany’s manufacturing sector PMI was revised down one tenth to 46.2; it is the lowest result since July 2009.
*By the way, the yield on the German Bund set a new low today, below 1.63% at the moment. The 2 Year Shatz yield fell below 0.07%, also a new low.
*The April reading of Switzerland’s manufacturing sector PMI unexpectedly fell 4.2 points to 46.9, a decline of just one tenth was the estimate; this has now been below fifty for seven of the last eight months.
*In March in the UK there were 49.9k mortgage loan approvals, according to the Bank of England; this was up 0.9k from the month before, beating the forecast for a decline of one thousand.
*US mortgage applications were up 0.1% in the week ended April 27, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The applications for Purchase were up 2.9% in the week, but those for Refinancing fell 0.7%.
*ADP is set to release at 7:15am CDT its estimate for the net change in April for private sector payrolls; it is expected to be +170k. The March reading of Factory Orders is due out at 9:00am CDT, it is forecast to be -1.7% on a month on month basis.
*The Treasury is set to announce at 8:00am CDT the details for next week refunding auctions of 3 Year and 10 Year Notes and 30 Year Bonds.
*The April reading of the New York ISM is set to be released at 8:45am CDT; it was 67.4 in March.
*The weekly report on energy inventories is due out at 9:30am CDT. Stocks of Crude Oil are forecast to increase 2.5 million barrels, Gasoline inventories are expected to decline 1.5 million and the estimate for Distillates is -350k.
*The Fed is scheduled to sell TIPS today that are due to mature between 4/15/13 and 4/15/15; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CDT.
*A bit of Fed speak on the calendar today, including: Governor Tarullo at 7:00am CDT; Richmond Fed boss Lacker at 11:30am CDT; and Chicago Fed’s Evans at 5:00pm CDT.
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