9 Things You Need to Know Before Trading Today

*Stocks indexes in Asia again had mixed results overnight. Shanghai continued its recent run with a gain of one percent and the Hang Seng rose a half percent, but Australia was down more than 0.8% and the Nikkei lost two thirds of a percent. European indexes are strong this morning with the Dax currently showing a gain of more than one and a half percent and the Footsie up about 0.9%. US stock futures are trading up about one percent as I write.

*The National Australia Bank’s Q2 survey of Business Confidence Index fell sharply, down to 3 from 16 in the first quarter. This is the lowest level in four quarters.

*The May reading of Japan’s All Industry Activity Index was +0.2% on a monthly basis, beating the estimated decline of 0.4%.

*The preliminary July reading of Germany’s manufacturing sector PMI rose about three points to 61.2, a slight decline was forecast. The early July reading of the service sector PMI was up two and a half points to 57.3, better than the expected fractional fall.

*Broad hints have been dropped on the results of the European bank stress tests indicating widespread success. The official release of the results is scheduled for Friday at 11:00am CDT, but this has become a bone of contention. Apparently the French would like to announce the test results before the European markets open tomorrow, others are not so sure that the time should be changed; as of now the time is still July 23 at 11:00am CDT.

*The weekly report on Initial Jobless Claims is due out at 7:30am CDT, it is expected to be 445k. The June reading of Existing Home Sales is due out at 9:00am CDT; Sales are forecast to fall 9.9% from the month before to an annualized rate of 5.10 million units. Also due out at 9:00am are the FHFA House Price Index, expected -0.3% month on month, and Leading Economic Indicators which is forecast to be -0.3%.

*Fed Boss Bernanke is set to appear before the House Financial Services Committee at 8:30am CDT to complete the second part of his semi-annual testimony on the economy and monetary policy. He will likely repeat the exact text that he read yesterday and then will be asked questions by the panel.

*New York Fed boss Dudley is expected to make some remarks at a press briefing on the regional economy at 8:30am CDT.

*The weekly report on inventories of Natural Gas is due to be released at 9:30am CDT, it is expected to show an increase of 51 bcf.