10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

Mamta Badkar

Jul. 12, 2012

Jason Merritt/Getty Images

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

• Asian markets were mostly lower in overnight trading, with the Hang Seng down 2.03 percent and the Shanghai Composite at a 6-month low. Europe is selling off and U.S. futures are deep in the red.

• Italy sold €7.5 billion of 1-year debt. The average borrowing cost was 2.697 percent, down from 3.97 percent at the June 13 auction. Meanwhile, German two-year notes fell to a record low of -0.026 percent. 

• It's clear the Greek economy is being punished by austerity. The Greek unemployment rate jumped to 22.5 percent in April, from 22 percent in March. Youth unemployment is now at 51.5 percent. 

• Chinese new loans beat estimates coming in at 919.8 billion yuan, against expectations of 880 billion yuan. China has aggressively cut interest rates and pushed growth policies to stabilize its economy. 

• The Bank of Japan expanded its asset-purchase program by 5 trillion yen, to 45 trillion yen ($564 billion). But it avoided major policy moves and marginally lowered its 2013 growth outlook to 2.2 percent. 

• Alcoa has signed a new $1.4 billion agreement to supply Airbus with products. Meanwhile, Japanese advertising company Dentsu has agreed to buy UK's Aegis Group for $4.9 billion in cash.

• Import and export prices for June and initial jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Consensus is for a 0.2 percent month-on-month decline in export prices and 1.9 percent drop in import prices. Initial claims are expected to tick higher to 375K. The treasury budget for June will also be released today. 

• The Bank of Korea cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 3 percent. This was its first cut since 2009. Meanwhile, Brazil's central bank cut its Selic rate by 50 basis points to 8 percent. 

• Indian industrial production rebounded in May, with production at factories, utilities and mines climbing 2.4 percent year-over-year. Industrial output benefited from a prior interest rate cut.

• Industrial output in the euro area unexpectedly climbed 0.6 percent month-over-month in May.