subject: 3 Things To Know Before The Market Opens [print this page] Most key indexes in Asia were closed for one holiday or another; Australia was open however and its shares rose a fraction on the session. European indexes are generally down, with both the Footsie and Dax off by 0.8% at the moment. US stock futures are down by about three quarters of a percent.
*The preliminary September reading of the manufacturing sector Purchasing Managers Index was down three points on the month to 55.3, the lowest result since January and more than two points below the forecast. The service sector PMI is 54.6, down from 57.2 in July, which was also the expectation.
*In August there were 31,767 loans for house purchase in the UK, according to the British Bankers Association; the result was well below the 34,000 loans that were forecast.
*The weekly report on Initial Jobless Claims is due out at 7:30am CDT, it is expected to be 450k. The August reading of Existing Home Sales is due out at 9:00am CDT; sales are forecast to be 4.1 million on an annualized basis, or up 7.1% from the July result that was the lowest in the decade-long history of the data series. Also due out at 9:00am is the August reading of Leading Economic Indicators, it is expected to gain +0.1%.
*The weekly report on inventories of Natural Gas is due out at 9:30am CDT, it is expected to show an increase of 79 bcf.
*The Treasury is expected to announce at 10:00am CDT the details of next week's auctions of 2 Year, 5 Year and 7 Year Notes.
*White House economic adviser Paul Volcker is scheduled to speak at a Chicago Fed banking conference at noon CDT.
