subject: 3 Things to Know Before the Market Opens [print this page] Stocks were mixed in Asian tradeStocks were mixed in Asian trade. The Nikkei was among the weakest with a decline of one percent and Australia fell two thirds of a percent, but the Hang Seng added one third of a percent and Shanghai remained closed for a holiday. European indexes are mildly lower at the moment, both the Footsie and Dax are off a slight fraction. US stock futures are a third of a percent higher as I write.
The September reading of China's Business Conditions Survey jumped seven points on the month to 69.54.
The dollar/yen rose about one percent in short order earlier this morning, up to 85.40, on word that Japan had intervened to sell their currency to protect the country's exporters. But there was no official comment, no follow through on the cross, and now the dollar/yen has retraced the entire move from this morning, plus a bit, and is trading essentially unchanged from yesterday afternoon at 84.35.
The August reading of Germany's Import Price Index rose 0.2% on a month on month basis, one tenth under the estimate.
The September reading of Germany's IFO Business Climate Index was up one tenth to 106.8, a fractional decline was forecast.
The usual concerns in Europe this morning about Ireland and Portugal has seen the spreads on their debt widen further this morning to fresh post EMU highs versus German debt. The euro is not fussed by the same old chatter, it is strong against most currencies this morning up 100 pips versus the dollar at 1.3415.
The August reading of Durable Goods Orders is due out at 7:30am CDT. Headline Orders are expected to fall 1.0% on a month on month basis but Orders Less-transportation are forecast to rise 1.0% from the month before. The August reading of New Home Sales is due out at 9:00am CDT. Sales are forecast to be 295k units on a annualized basis, or up 6.9% from the month before.
There are several central bankers who will be speaking today, including: Governor Duke, who will participate in a hearing on mortgages at 8:00am CDT; Richmond Fed boss Lacker who will talk about the financial crisis at noon CDT; Philly Fed's Plosser will talk about monetary policy after the financial crisis at a Swiss National Bank conference at 1:00pm CDT; and Chairman Bernanke is set to give a lecture at Princeton event titled "Fixing Economics: Lessons from the Crisis" at 3:30pm CDT.
