3 Things to Know Before Trading

Palm Beach, FL 6/25/12 (StreetBeat) -- Stocks were broadly weaker in Asian trade. Shanghai fell 1.6%, the Nikkei was down 0.7%, while the Hang Seng and Australia were a half percent lower on the session. European indexes are also weaker this morning, with the Dax off 1.8%, the Footsie down 0.7% and Spain is more than two and a half percent lower this morning. US stock futures a down by almost one percent as I write.

*Spain has formally requested the euro zone bank bailout loan, even though they continue to debate is who liable for the repayment of the loan; their ailing banks or the government. Spain’s argument that it should be their banks that are responsible for the loans may be weakened later on today because there is chatter that Moody’s is set to downgrade “almost all” Spanish banks by two to three notches this afternoon. Spain’s 10 Year Bond yield is up about twenty basis points this morning, at about 6.45%.

*The Troika visit to Greece has been postponed for the time being pending the medical conditions of the PM and FinMin, both of whom were hospitalized last week. EU officials say they have received no notification that the Greek leaders will be unable to attend this week’s summit in Brussels.

*Fitch cut the rating on euro area member Cyprus to BB+, or junk, earlier this morning; the outlook is negative says the rating agency.

*There is some anticipation that the US Supreme Court ruling on the ObamaCare case will be announced today.

*The May reading of the Chicago Fed National Activity Index is due out at 7:30am CDT, it is expected to be -0.30, it was 0.11 in April.

*The May reading of New Home Sales is due out at 9:00am CDT. Sales are expected to be 347k units at an annualized pace, or up 1.2% from the month before.

*The June reading of the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity Index is due out at 9:30am CDT, it is expected to be -2.0, it was -5.1 in May.

*The Fed is scheduled to sell Treasuries today that are due to mature between 3/15/14 and 10/31/14; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CDT.

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