Market Commentary - 9/11/2012

• Consumer borrowing in the U.S. may have risen to $9.6 billion in July,3 p.m.
• Global central bankers continued meetings in Basel today.
• Chinese imports fell 2.6 percent in August from a year earlier as exports rose 2.7 percent. The median estimates of economists were for 3.5 percent growth in imports and 2.9 percent for exports.
• Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras failed to secure agreement from coalition partners on 11.5 billion euros ($14.7 billion) of spending cuts.
• U.K. business confidence fell to a record low of 89.1 last month from 93.1 in July, according to BDO. A gauge of output dropped to 90.8 from 93.9, indicating that the economy is set to remain weak.
• French business confidence climbed for the first time since March to a reading of 93 in August from 90 in July. The increase suggests the French economy will shrink 0.1 percent in the third quarter, said the Bank of France. Industrial output rose 0.2 percent in July from June, compared with the median forecast of a 0.5 percent decline, a separate report showed.
• Swedish industrial production fell for a fifth month in August by 0.4 percent from the previous year. It was estimated to fall 2.1 percent. Output rose a monthly 0.3 percent, compared with a forecast 0.3 percent contraction.
• Finland’s industrial output gained 0.8 percent in July from the previous month, compared with the median forecast of a 0.2 percent decline.
• Japan’s economy grew by an annualized 0.7 percent in the three months through June, half the pace of the preliminary calculation of 1.4 percent.  The median forecast was for a revised 1 percent expansion.
• Australian home-loan approvals fell 1 percent in July from June, when they rose a revised 1 percent. The median estimate was for approvals to be unchanged.
• Malaysian industrial production growth slowed to 1.4 percent in July from a year earlier after rising 3.7 percent in June. The median estimate was for a 3 percent gain.