3 Things to Know Before Trading

Northern, WI 5/8/12 (StreetBeat) -- Stocks were mixed in Asian trade, but mostly little changed on the session. The Nikkei was among the best with a gain of 0.7% and Australia added 0.3%, but the Hang Seng was down a quarter percent and Shanghai last a slight fraction. European indexes are generally lower this morning, with the Dax down 0.8% and the Footsie is down a slight fraction, but France is off by one and two thirds percent at the moment. US stock futures are down between a third and a half percent as I write.

*The March reading of Australia’s Trade Balance was a deficit of A$1.587 billion, or about twenty percent greater a deficit than forecast. Additionally the deficit from the previous month was revised to –A$754 million from –A$480 billion.

*The March reading of German Industrial Production was much better than expected, up 2.8% month on month.

*Alexis Tsipras, leader of the far left Syriza party in Greece has been given the mandate to form a government there. His party came in second place in Sunday’s vote with 16.8% of the total; he has to find partners to get to 50% plus one. Tsipras wants to renegotiate the bailout agreement; German foreign minister Westerwelle is among those reminding all who would listen that a renegotiation is not up for negotiation.

*The April reading of the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose two points on the month to 94.5, a fourteen month high.

*The weekly report on chain store sales from ICSC showed a decline of 0.8% on a week on week basis for the week ended May 5; the second weekly decline in a row and the third in four weeks. The Johnson Redbook report on the same thing is due out at 7:55am CDT.

*The May reading of the IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index is due out at 9:00am CDT, it is expected to be 48.0; it was 49.3 in April.

*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasuries today that are due to mature between 5/15/18 and 2/15/20; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CDT.

*The Treasury plans to sell $32 billion 3 Year Notes today; the auction results will be announced just after noon CDT.

*There are a couple of Fed speakers on the calendar today, including: Richmond Fed boss Lacker at 8:45am CDT and Dallas Fed’s Fisher at 11:45am CDT.

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