5 Things To Know Before Trading

*Reminder: UK and Europe changed their clocks over the weekend, falling back one hour; the US follows suit this coming weekend.

*Stocks were generally strong in Asian trade. The Hang Seng and Shanghai both managed a gain of about two and a half percent, while Australia added 0.8%. The Nikkei however did not play along as it lost a half percent on the session. European indexes are mixed, but both the Footsie and Dax are currently higher by a third of a percent. US stock futures are higher by about a half percent.

*The October reading of China’s manufacturing sector Purchasing Managers Index rose about one point to 54.7; better than the steady result that was forecast.

*The October reading of Switzerland’s manufacturing PMI fell a half point to 59.2, one tenth below the expectation.

*The October reading of the UK manufacturing PMI rose about one and a half points to 54.9, beating the estimate that called for a fractional decline.

*The September reading of Personal Income and Spending is due out at 7:30am CDT. Income is expected to rise 0.2% on a month on month basis and the estimate for Spending is +0.4%. The PCE Core inflation measure is forecast to be +0.1% on a monthly basis and +1.3% year over year. The October reading of the ISM Manufacturing Index is due out at 9:00am CDT; it is expected to be 54.0, down fractionally from the month before and the Prices Paid component is forecast to be down a half point at 70.0. Also due out at 9:00am is the September reading of Construction Spending, which is expected to be down 0.5% from the month before.

*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasuries today that are due to mature between 4/15/13 and 9/30/14; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CDT.

*The Treasury will release its estimate of its borrowing needs for the next two quarters this afternoon at 2:00pm CDT.