3 Things You Need to Know Before Trading

Stocks were up throughout Asia. The Nikkei was the strongest with a gain of two and a quarter percent, Australia was up almost two percent, the Hang Seng added a bit more than one percent and Shanghai was up a fraction. European indexes however are mixed; the Dax is currently up about three quarters of a percent but the Footsie is down a fraction. US stock futures are up a third of a percent as I write.
*The Q2 reading of Australia’s Import Price Index was up 1.9% on a quarter on quarter basis and the Export Price Index for the quarter was up 16.1%; both results were higher than forecast.

*The July reading of Germany’s IFO survey of the Business Climate jumped more than four points to 106.2, a fractional decline was expected; the index is at the highest level in three years.

*The Q2 reading of the UK GDP was twice as strong as forecast, posting growth of 1.1% on a quarter on quarter basis after a rise of 0.3% in the previous quarter.

*The results of the European bank stress tests are due to be released at 11:00am CDT. German bank, Hypo Real Estate which is already in custody of the government, is expected to fail, and there are reports out this morning that some of the Spanish Cajas also should have studied harder but most of the banks are likely to pass either outright or pass with qualifications; it was, after all, an open book exam.