10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

Mamta Badkar

 Mar. 15, 2013

Reuters/Fred Prouser

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

• Asian markets were mixed in overnight trading with the Nikkei up 1.45 percent to a 4.5 year high, after the parliament approved a new management team for the Bank of Japan. Europe is selling off and U.S. futures are flat.

• The upper house of the Japanese parliament approved three doves to head the Bank of Japan. Haruhiko Kuroda, who had previously received the approval of the lower house, has been appointed the new Bank of Japan governor as expected. Meanwhile, Kikuo Iwata and Hiroshi Nakaso have also been named in the Bank of Japan's management team. 

• Consumer prices for February and the Empire State manufacturing survey for March are out at 8:30 a.m. ET. Consensus is for CPI to rise 0.5 percent month-over-month (MoM), and for the general business conditions index level to decline to 10. 

• Samsung revealed its Galaxy S4 at Radio City Music Hall yesterday. The phone has a 5-inch full HD display and operates on the latest version of of Android called Jelly Bean. The phone is thinner and lighter than the previous model.

• Outgoing Bank of England Governor Mervyn King has said policy makers are not trying to devalue the pound. He did however acknowledge that this had helped boost exports. King also said he thinks a recovery in the UK economy is "in sight" in 2013, according to Bloomberg.

• Euro area consumer prices eased to 1.8 percent in February, from 2 percent the previous month. This was led by a 5.2 percent decline in telecommunication costs.

• Most large U.S. companies and plan providers will pay a total of $25 billion over three years as part of a new health-care law, according to the WSJ. This is aimed at preventing insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

• Industrial production for February is out at 9:15 a.m. ET, followed by consumer sentiment for March at 9:55 a.m. ET. Consensus is for industrial production to rise 0.5 percent MoM and for the consumer sentiment to stay flat. 

• In M&A news, IBM and EMC Corp are in talks to buy Softlayer Technologies for over $2 billion, according to Reuters. Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse have reportedly been hired to make the sale.

• The second round of stress tests showed that the Federal Reserve saw "weaknesses" in the capital plans of JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, and rejected the capital plans of Ally Financial and BB&T Corp. The Fed approved the plans of 14 of the 18 largest banks, to return capital to shareholders.