Career News 24/7: 10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell, September 19, 2012

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell, September 19, 2012

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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

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

Markets in Asia rallied in overnight trade, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 1.2 percent. Shares in Europe are flat in afternoon trade while U.S. futures point to a positive open.
The Bank of Japan said it will continue to ease monetary policy as it increases its asset buying program by ¥10 trillion, or $127 billion, to ¥55 trillion yen. Together, with the central bank's ¥25 trillion credit-loan program, total easing now stands at ¥80 trillion. Gold has now hit a 6-month high. Meanwhile, China is hinting at economic warfare with Japan.
The Bank of England voted 9-0 in its September meeting to keep its asset purchase program and headline interest rates unchanged, newly released minutes from the central bank show.
Australia's 'AAA' rating was affirmed by Standard & Poor's. The ratings agency cited the country's strong mining portfolio, which helped offset domestic consumption weakness.
Goldman Sachs will replace its longtime chief financial officer David Viniar with Harvey Scwhartz, the company's global co-head of the Securities Division. Scwhartz will assume the role in January when Viniar retires. Viniar will join the firm's board of directors at that time. Meet Mr. Schwartz >
Heineken says it has won major shareholder approval in its offer for Asia Pacific Brewery shares. Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, whose entities control more than 30 percent of APB, said he had reached an agreement with the firm and backs the deal.
China's ZTE said it would work with Mozilla on creating a new mobile operating system by the end of this year or early next year. Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, will challenge Google's Android and Apple's iOS systems. So far the reviews for the iPhone 5 have been surprisingly positive.
U.S. economic announcements kick off at 8:30 a.m. with housing starts and building permits for August. Economists forecast starts advanced 2.8 percent to 767,000 units while permits fall 1.9 percent to 796,000. Existing home sales follow at 10:00 a.m, with expectations for a 2.0 percent rise to an annual run rate of 4.56 million units. Follow it all live on Money Game >
President Obama strengthened his lead over Republican Challenger Mitt Romney, a new poll out of NBC News and the Wall Street Journal shows. Obama led Romney 50-45 among likely voters as his job approval rating jumped to its highest level since March. These are the big trends that will drive headlines over the next decade >
The Chicago Teachers Union ended its strike last night, allowing the country's third-largest school district to return to classes today. Some 350,000 students were kept out of classes following the union's strike over job security and evaluations.