10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

Mamta Badkar

Aug. 9, 2012

Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

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

• Asian markets were mostly higher in overnight trading with the Shanghai Composite up 0.6 percent on hopes of more monetary easing. Europe is mostly down, and U.S. futures are flat.

• A massive flurry of data out of China showed that consumer prices climbed 1.8 percent in July, while producer prices fell 2.9 percent. The decline in inflation leaves room for more monetary easing but leaves investors concerned about deflation.

• Meanwhile, Chinese industrial production climbed 9.2 percent in July, slowing to a three-year low. The all-important fixed asset investment climbed 20.4 percent in year-to-date July, and retail sales disappointed climbing 1.3 percent.

• Some mixed data out of Greece, with the nation's unemployment rate rising to 23.1 percent in May, and the youth unemployment rate at 54.9 percent. Meanwhile, industrial production surprisingly climbed 0.3 percent in June. 

• Standard Chartered is reportedly looking into suing the U.S. regulator that accused it of "being a rogue institution which had funded $250bn of Iranian sanctions breaches."

• In earnings news, NVIDIA is expected to report earnings of $0.22 per share. Retailer Nordstrom is expected to report earnings of $0.74 per share. Kohl's missed expectations when it reported second quarter earnings of $1.00 per share, on revenue of $4.2 billion. 

• International trade data for June will be out at 8:30 a.m. ET as will initial jobless claims. Expectations are for the international trade gap to shrink to $47.5 billion, and for a rise in initial claims to 367K. 

• Asian central banks chose not to act, with the Bank of Japan keeping its asset purchase program unchanged at 45 trillion yen. The Bank of Korea kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3 percent.

• Indian industrial production decline again in June, with production at factories, utilities and mines declining 1.8 percent year-over-year. The declining industrial production number added to concerns about the slowdown in the Indian economy.

• The Australian economy added 14,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate declined to 5.2 percent.