10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

Mamta Badkar

 Mar. 19, 2012

AP Images

Good morning. Here's what you need to know.

• Asian markets were mixed in overnight trading, with the Hang Seng down 0.95 percent after Chinese home prices fell in February. Europe is selling off and U.S. futures are modestly lower.

• Apple's CEO Tim Cook and the company's CFO Peter Oppenheimer will host a conference call at 9:00 a.m. ET to announce what the company is doing with its cash balance. Analysts and investors expect the company to announce an annual dividend between 1 to 3 percent. Based on the last quarterly report, Apple has $97 billion.

• On a month-over-month basis, home prices in China fell in 45 of the 70 cities surveyed by the government. Three cities posted gains, while prices in 22 cities were unchanged. This comes after Premiere Wen Jiabao's press conference last week when he said home prices were far from a reasonable level and cautioned against relaxing curbs on the housing market.  

• Italian industrial orders fell 7.4 percent in January against expectations of a 3.2 percent decline. Meanwhile, December orders were revised down to reflect a 5.2 percent gain, from 5.5 percent.

• The NAHB housing market index for March will be released at 10 a.m. ET. Consensus is for a rise in the housing market index to 30.

• UPS has agreed to acquire Dutch competitor TNT Express for $6.85 billion in a deal that would give it access to TNT's stronger networks in Asia and Latin America. The deal would also make it the market leader in Europe.

• Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney won the Peurto Rico primary by a landslide with about 83 percent of the vote. Santorum was in second place with just 8 percent of the vote. Next up Romney faces an Illinois vote to get the 1,144 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination.

• Eurozone's current account surplus climbed to €4.5 billion in January to its highest level in nearly five years. But outflows of portfolio and direct investment surged for the same period.

• Indian consumer price inflation climbed to 8.83 percent in February from 7.7 percent the previous month. Inflation was pushed higher by the cost of milk and milk products and apparel, while prices of vegetables fell.

• Hong Kong's unemployment rate climbed to 3.4 percent in the three-months through February, from 3.2 percent. Analysts say the weaker global economic outlook is weighing on hiring sentiment and expect it to push the jobless rate higher in coming months.