10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

Eric Platt

 Sep. 11, 2012

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

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

• Markets in Asia were mixed in overnight trade, with Japan's Nikkei off 0.7 percent. Shares in Europe are moderately lower while U.S. futures point to a positive open.

• New Chinese loans surged above estimates in August, updated data from the country's central bank shows. The country's banks wrote 703.9 billion yuan worth of new loans, or $111.07 billion, during the month.

• The Netherlands sold €2 billion worth of ten year debt at a record low yield of 1.846 percent. The auction comes just a day before the country's general election.

• Germany's Constitutional Court said it would not delay its ruling on the legality of the European Stability Mechanism, the euro zone's bailout fund. The court will rule on the ESM and the regional fiscal compact tomorrow.

• Deutsche Bank said it would cut costs by €4.5 billion as it works to achieve a return on equity of 12 percent by 2015. The bank plans on selling at least 40 properties and will re-review compensation for some employees. 

• Burberry warned that second quarter earnings would come in at the low end of analysts' expectations as sales decelerate, sending shares down 19 percent. Same-store sales were unchanged, with new store openings fueling a six percent growth in retail. 

• The U.S. Treasury sold $18 billion worth of AIG shares at $32.50 a share. The sale pushes the government to a profit of $12.4 billion on its investment in AIG, even as it still owns 22 percent of the insurer. The company purchased $5 billion of its own stock. 

• Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg will speak publicly today for the first time since the company's IPO. The talks will be held at a TechCrunch conference in San Francisco. 

• The key economic announcement of the day is the July Trade Balance report at 8:30 a.m. Economists forecast the trade deficit worsened to $44.0 billion from a deficit of $42.9 billion a month earlier. 

• President Obama jumped to a six-point lead over Mitt Romney in a new CNN poll following his party's convention. The CNN/ORC survey showed Obama leading 52 percent to 46 percent among likely voters.