The Other Side of Life 24/7: 10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell, October 25

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell, October 25

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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

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

Asian markets closed mixed. The Hang Seng finished trading up 1.1% while the Nikkei was off 0.9%. In Europe, exchanges followed a similar tune, with the German DAX and British FTSE moving up marginally. U.S. futures are pointing to a higher open.
The Reserve Bank of India lowered GDP forecasts and increased interest rates by 25 basis points to 8.5%. The country is trying to limit inflation, which has made basic commodities more expensive. The RBI sees 2011-12 economic growth of 7.6%.
September exports out of Hong Kong fell for the first time in almost two years to HK$271.8 billion, down 3%. Economists had forecast an average growth of 6.5%; none predicted a decline. The government said outlook looked "bleak."
A 60% Greek haircut is looking more and more likely as reports out of the ECB show leaders agreeing to larger write downs. The head of the French Bank Federation and CEO of SocGen, Frederic Oudea, believes that figure will not surpass 50%. Take a look at who is freaking out over Greek debt >
New York Fed President Bill Dudley signaled that the Fed may ease monetary policy. "It's possible we can do another round of quantitative easing," Mr. Dudley told the Wall Street Journal's Michael Derby. Check out the strongest banks here >
Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry unveiled a flat tax plan last night. It consists of a 20% flat income tax and a 20% flat corporate tax. However, it is unclear how Perry plans to make up for lost federal income.
The Case-Shiller home price index will be released later this morning. Nomura expects the 20-City Case Shiller home price index declined 3.8% year-over-year. The data will be released at 10 a.m. Follow the release live here on Money Game.
Netflix shares were sent down more than 30% in after hours trading yesterday when the company announced lower fourth quarter guidance that missed Wall Street estimates. Subscriber count fell 800,000 to 23.8 million. For the third quarter, Netflix earned $1.16 a share.
Deutsche Bank and UBS announced earnings this morning and are trading up on the news. The German firm earned a profit of $1.1 billion for the quarter, beating expectations. UBS reported a profit of $1.2 billion, mostly on accounting gains from its own debt and on the sale of assets. Check out last week's
UPS topped earnings estimates by a penny, its sixth straight beat. The shipping bell weather posted EPS of $1.06. 3M also announced, with a miss for the quarter on EPS of $1.52, nine cents below expectations, while DuPont beat excluding one time charges. Later today, Amazon.com will announce quarterly results. The focus on Amazon will be on Kindle pre-sales as the company launches its next generation tablet. Consensus is for $0.24. See the full list of earnings announcements here >