subject: 4 Things You Need to Know Before Trading [print this page] Stocks were relatively quiet in Asian trade, especially with a holiday in Japan. The Hang Seng was unchanged, Australia lost a fraction and Shanghai was off by about 0.4%. European indexes are generally higher on the session, with the Footsie showing a gain of about one percent at the moment and the Dax up by nearly a half percent. US stock futures are by about a half percent.
*There were 45k mortgage approvals in the UK during August; that was down 2k from July and 1k below the forecast.
*Moody's, Fitch and SP have all announced that they were assigning a triple A rating to the debt issued by the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). This is the emergency facility that will, if necessary, loan money to EU member states and back those loans with debt issuance. This rating was generally anticipated but will nonetheless be welcome news in Brussels.
*Speaking of the EFSF, there continues to be pressure on the debt of Ireland and Portugal, spreads said to have widened to fresh EMU highs, because of continuing speculation that they will need to access funds from the EFSF and or the IMF.
*The September reading of the NAHB Housing Market Index is due out at 9:00am CDT; it is expected to rise one point on the month to 14.
*President Obama is going to participate in a "town hall" session on the economy on CNBC today, beginning at 11:00am CDT
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