Career News 24/7: 10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell, June 20, 2012

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell, June 20, 2012

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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

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

Markets in Asia largely rallied in overnight trade, with Japan's Nikkei up 1.1 percent. Indices in Europe are mixed while U.S. futures point to a slightly higher open.
Greek leaders are expected to form a coalition government tomorrow, missing expectations for that to occur today. PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos told reporters yesterday that his party would "sincerely" support the coalition, but that left-wing party Syriza would not participate in the negotiations. Goldman perfectly sums up the Greek economy in one paragraph >
The Fed is making its next interest rate decision at 12:30 p.m. today, with Wall Street expecting the bank to leave headline interest rates unchanged at 0.25 percent while offering some form of new stimulus or easing. Click here to see what the top economists expect the authority to do >
Minutes from the Bank of England confirmed that the recent decision to not ease further had fallen just one vote short, and that BOE governor Mervyn King was actually in the minority. However, most of the board said quantitative easing would be warranted in the future.
Japan's trade deficit shot above expectations in May to ¥907.3 billion, or $11.5 billion. That was above consensus for a deficit of ¥520 billion. Imports increased 9.3 percent, as exports gained 10 percent, led by a 38 percent jump in exports to the U.S.
Moody's upgraded Turkey's long term debt to Ba1, one grade below investment grade. The ratings agency also gave the country a positive outlook.
Procter and Gamble cut guidance for the second time in two months, blaming slow growth in Europe and the U.S. The company now expects organic sales to rise between 2 and three percent in the fourth quarter, below earlier expectations for a 4 to 5 percent gain. P&G also lowered EPS guidance to $0.75 to $0.79. Here's the outlook for global food production >
H&M said net profit surged 23 percent in the second quarter, hitting $749 million, beating expectations. Sales increased to $4.54 billion from $3.96 billion a year earlier. Shares are up more than 3 percent on the news.
President Obama leads Mitt Romney 53 to 40 percent among likely voters in a new Bloomberg national poll released this morning. The news agency attributed Obama's strength to stronger expected voter turnout. Separately, the Romney campaign said it was still considering Marc Rubio as a potential running mate, denying an ABC News report. And here are the charts that will get Obama reelected...
Egyptian officials say former leader Hosni Mubarak is no longer on life support and that his vital organs are functioning. Mubarak, currently in a coma, was previously pronounced dead by state media agencies, before security officials rejected those claims.