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- Asian markets largely sold off in overnight trading, with Japan's Nikkei off 0.6 percent. European shares are rallying higher, a day after some markets fell more than three percent, and U.S. futures point to a positive open.
- German factory orders unexpectedly declined 2.7 percent in January, against forecasts for a 0.6 percent rise. That follows a December gain of 1.6 percent, Germany's Economy Ministry said. The drop was largely attributed to a sharp decline in foreign demand.
- Spanish industrial production fell slightly less than expected in January, the country's statistics office said. Output declined 4.2 percent, greater than the 3.5 percent drop in December. Partly leading the fall out was an 8.0 percent decline in durable consumer goods output.
- U.K. shop price inflation fell to its lowest rate in almost two years, new data out of the British Retail Consortium shows. Prices increased 1.2 percent compared to year-ago levels, while non-food prices declined 0.7 percent.
- Societe Generale, Assicurazioni Generali SpA, and UniCredit Spa joined the list of financial institutions that will participate in a bond swap that is crucial to the implementation of Greece's second bailout. So far, major banks comprising the steering committee of the Institute of International Finance will take part in the swap, however headlines yesterday indicated that four Greek pension funds would join a group of hedge funds holding out from the deal.
- Australian GDP grew by 0.4 percent in the final three months of 2011, well below economist estimates which forecast a 0.8 percent expansion. The country's tourism sector contracted by 2.2 percent during the period, weighing on overall results.
- Mitt Romney took six states last night and 211 delegates, as Republicans in 11 states went to the polls to vote for their presidential nominee. Romney won Virginia, Ohio, Massachusetts, Alaska, Vermont and Idaho. However a strong showing by Rick Santorum, who won North Dakota, Tennessee and Oklahoma, and finished surprisingly close in Ohio, will likely gain some momentum out of these contests.
- Apple Inc. is expected to announce the release of its third iPad at 1:00 p.m. today. The device, which reports suggest will be called the iPad HD, for its high resolution screen, will have a faster processor, be slightly thicker than the iPad 2, and work on 4G networks.
- U.S. announcements kick off at 8:15 a.m., with the ADP National Employment Report. Economists forecast payrolls expanded by 215,000 in February, up from a 170,000 gain in January.
- Closing out the day is a reading of consumer credit by the Federal Reserve. The data, which has pointed to a surge in recent months, is expected to grow another $10.45 billion in January.
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