Things To Know Before The Open

*Stocks were generally very strong in Asian trade. The Nikkei gained almost three percent, the Hang Seng was up 1.4%, so too was Shanghai up that much and Australia was better by 1.2%. European shares however are under pressure. The Footsie and the Dax are essentially unchanged; but some of the peripherals such as Spain and Ireland are down by more than 1.5% on the session. US stock futures a down by a fraction.

*The Bank of Japan kept their target rate steady at 0.10% as expected. They also kept unchanged the size of their credit-loan and asset purchase programs.

*The September reading of German Factory Orders was significantly below the forecast, down 4.0% on a month on month basis, it had been expected to increase 0.4%.

*The October reading of the UK Producer Price Index rose 0.6% on a monthly basis, that is double the expected rate and the biggest month on month increase in six months.

*There is heightened angst in regards to the debt of European peripherals this morning, Ireland in particular in the spotlight, but debt from Greece, Portugal and Spain are also under pressure; debt spreads versus German debt for each of these countries have widened today, rumors of Irish margin calls and concern that Ireland will soon have to tap the EU/ECB/IMF emergency facility. Additionally the Financial Times reports that Russia’s sovereign wealth funds have removed Ireland and Spain from the list of countries in which the funds can invest in an attempt to lower portfolio risk.

*The October reading of the Employment Situation is due out at 7:30am CDT. The Unemployment Rate is expected to remain steady at 9.6%; the total Non-farm Payrolls are forecast to rise 60k and the estimate for Private Sector Payrolls is +80k. The Average Hourly Wages are forecast to increase 0.2% on a monthly basis and the estimate for the Average Work Week is steady at 34.2 hours. The September reading of Pending Home Sales is due out at 9:00am CDT, it is expected to be +3.0% on a month on month basis. The September reading of Consumer Credit is set to be released at 2:00pm CDT, it is expected to fall $3.0 billion.

*The Atlanta Fed is hosting a conference on Jekyll Island, Georgia. The theme of the conference is “Return to Jekyll Island: The Origins, History and Future of the Federal Reserve”. Among the speakers are: Atlanta’s Lockhart at 7:15am CDT; Philly’s Plosser at 7:30am; Dallas Fed boss Fisher 10:15am; St. Louis Fedster Bullard 12:20pm and Richmond’s Lacker at 3:15pm. Also on the Fed speak calendar are KC Fed’s Hoenig at a Realtor’s Convention at 8:30am CDT and Fed boss Bernanke will speak to students in Florida at 1:00pm CDT. Since these appearances come so soon after an FOMC session it is not traditional that any Fedster would say anything of note on monetary policy, but this Fed has not been acting in a traditional way of late, so be aware of the possibility of an errant quote from one or more of these speakers.