subject: What to Know before Trading Today [print this page] *Stocks in Asia were broadly higher. The Nikkei led the way with a gain of one and a half percent, the Hang Seng was up 0.4% and Shanghai added a quarter percent, but Australia was a rare exception with a decline of a half percent. European indexes are generally a bit lower. The Dax is currently down by a third of a percent and the Footsie is essentially unchanged. US stock futures are fractionally higher as I write.
*The final revision of Japan's Q2 GDP showed that their economy grew faster than previously thought. The annualized rate of growth in the second quarter is now said to be +1.5%, well above the +0.4% growth rate initially reported.
*China reports that in August they had their third straight trade surplus in excess of $20 billion, but at $20.3 billion it was almost seven billion less than forecast. In August China's Exports were up 34.4% on a year over year basis, close to the expectation but their Imports were up 35.2% versus last year and that was about eight percent more than forecast.
*For some reason China is releasing several economic statistics on Saturday, among the data due out tomorrow are: PPI, CPI, Retail Sales and Industrial Production.
*The August reading of the UK Producer Price Index was unchanged on a monthly basis and the annualized cost of goods at the factory gate was 4.7%, the slowest year on year rate in six months.
*The July reading of Wholesale Inventories is due out at 9:00am CDT, it is expected to increase 0.4% on a monthly basis.
