Things to know before trading today

THE DAY AHEAD

August 10

*Stocks were generally weak in Asian trade. Shanghai led the way down with a loss of 2.9%, but the Hang Seng also fell by 1.5%, Australia lost about 1.2% and the Nikkei was fractionally lower. European indexes have more red than green with the Dax off by two thirds of a percent and the Footsie down one third. US stock futures are lower by about two thirds of a percent as I write.

*The July reading of Australian Business Confidence Index is 2, down from four in June, according to the National Australia Bank. This index has now fallen for five months in a row.

*The July reading of China’s Balance of Trade grew to a surplus of $28.7 billion, up from $20.0 billion in June. Exports were up 38.1% from a year ago, which was down from the June increase but above the expectation. Imports however were up only 22.7% from last year, well below the forecast for an increase of 30%.

*The Bank of Japan unanimously decided to keep their key overnight rate at 0.10%, nobody expected them to do anything else

*The final July reading of Germany’s Consumer Price Index was unrevised at +0.3% on a monthly basis and +1.2% year over year.

*The July reading of Germany’s Wholesale Price Index was -0.3% on a month on month basis.

*The July reading of Swiss Consumer Confidence Index rose two points to 16, the best result in a couple of years but below the forecast for 18.

*The weekly report on chain store sales from ICSC showed a decline of 0.2% on a week on week basis for the week ended August 7; that is the second weekly decline in a row; when compared to the same week from a year ago sales were up 3.7%. The Johnson Redbook report on the same thing is due out at 7:55am CDT.

*The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index fell nine tenths to 88.1 with most of the decline coming from a deterioration in the outlook for business conditions in the next six months.

*The preliminary Q2 reading of Non-farm Productivity is due out at 7:30am CDT. Productivity is expected to up only 0.1% on a quarter on quarter basis, which would be the lowest result since Q1 2008. Unit Labor Costs are forecast to rise 1.5%, which would be the highest mark since Q4 2008. The June reading of Wholesale Inventories is due out at 9:00am CDT, it is expected to be +0.4%. The August reading of the IBD/TIPP Index of Economic Optimism is also set to be released at 9:00am, it is forecast to rise three tenths on the month to 45.0.

*The Treasury plans to sell $34 billion 3 Year Notes today, the results will be out just after noon CDT.