3 Things to Know For Today's Trading

*Stocks in Asia were generally lower on the session. The Nikkei lost more than two percent, Australia was down 1.7% and the Hang Seng slipped by a third of a percent; but Shanghai bucked the trend with a gain of about one and a quarter percent. European indexes are broadly lower on the day; the Footsie is currently off by about two thirds of a percent and the Dax is trading lower by a half percent. US stock futures are lower by about a third of a percent as I write.

*There are many reports, none official, that China’s central bank has temporarily raised the reserve requirement ratio by fifty basis points for six of its largest banks, for the next two months.

*Japanese financial officials have reiterated over the last few days that they are prepared to take bold action on the strength of the Yen including intervention. But the dollar/yen remains below 82.00 or about one hundred pips below the intervention levels of early September. Maybe even more noteworthy is the level of yuan/yen, this cross fell as low as 12.20 on Monday, a few pips under the rate seen in early September and a general area that has acted as a floor each time it was tested in the last decade; yuan/yen is trading about 12.27 as I write.

*The September reading of Japanese Consumer Confidence fell one point on the month to 41.4; that’s the third decline in a row and the lowest level since March.

*The final September reading of Germany’s Consumer Price Index was unrevised at -0.2% on a month on month basis and +1.3% year over year.

*The September reading of the German Wholesale Price Index rose 1.0% on a month on month basis, well above the estimate for an increase of 0.4%.

*The September reading of the UK Consumer Price Index was unchanged on the month and +3.1% year over year, both results matched the expectation.

*The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose two tenths on the month to 89.0, missing the estimate for 89.6. The Plan to Hire component fell to -3% from an August reading of +1% and Higher Selling Prices were down three points on the month to -11%. The overall index remains underneath the lows seen at the worst of the last two recessions.

*The weekly report on chain store sales from ICSC showed an increase of 0.8% on a week on week basis for the week ended October 9; sales were +2.6% for the week when compared to the same week from a year ago. The Johnson Redbook report on the same thing is due out at 7:55am CDT.

*The October reading of the IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index is due out at 9:00am CDT, it is expected to fall eight tenths on the month to 44.5.

*Kansas City Fed boss Hoenig is scheduled to speak about the US economy at the NABE conference in Denver at 10:45am CDT.

*ECB member Axel Weber is set to speak in New York City at 11:00am CDT and again at 3:30pm. Also on the calendar today is ECB boss Trichet, he will address the Economic Club of New York at 11:20am CDT.

*The Treasury plans to sell $32 billion 3 Year Notes today, the results of the auction will be announced just after noon CDT.

*The minutes from the September 21 FOMC meeting are due to be released at 1:00pm. Of most interest to the market will be any discussion of the preferred methods and size of any quantitative easing and any confirmation that it could be announced at the November meeting.

*Intel is due out with its Q3 earnings report after the bell today.; estimate is for an eps of +50 cents.