10 things you need to know before the opening bell

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February 23, 2015

Here is what you need to know.

Work still needs to be done in Greece. While Friday produced the announcement of a four-month loan extension, Greece isn't out of the woods just yet. Prime Minister Alex Tsipras' government still has to announce a series of reforms that must be approved by the country's creditors. Greek bond prices are rallying, pushing the three-year down 240 basis points to 13.91%.

The latest Bank of Japan minutes showed central bankers are worried about inflation. Three members noted the central bank would struggle to meet its 2% inflation target. The yen is unchanged against the dollar at 119.05.

Inflation rates are sliding all over the world. Hong Kong's rate slid to 4.1% year-over-year from 4.9%, while Singapore's fell to -0.4% from -0.2%.

German business sentiment is at a 7-month high. The country's Ifo Business Climate index saw a small uptick to 106.8 but fell short of the 107.4 that had been expected by economists. "The IFO survey is telling a story of stabilization rather than acceleration in the German private sector," Pantheon Macroeconomics' Claus Vistesen said. The euro is lower by 0.6% at 1.1315.

Britain's retail sales plunged. The CBI realized sales index tumbled to 1 (39 previous), matching its lowest reading since November 2013. The British pound is off 0.3% at 1.5360.

Beijing will allow foreign short-selling on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The new rules will begin next month as part of the linking of the exchanges in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Honda is the latest victim of the West Coast port strikes. The Japanese automaker announced that the shipment of 25,000 vehicles would be delayed because of the labor dispute.

A ticket to Walt Disney World now costs $105. The increase represents a 6% jump over the previous cost of $99.

World stock markets are higher. Europe's peripheral markets lead the advance as both Italy's MIB and Spain's IBEX are higher by 0.7%. Britain's FTSE 100 hit a 15-year high before slipping into negative territory. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei added 0.8%, pacing the advance. China's Shanghai Composite and several other markets remained close in celebration of the Lunar New Year.

US data is limited to existing home sales. The latest look into the health of the housing market will cross the wires at 10 a.m. ET.