daytrades dec 17 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap: A bullish night on Wall Street has set up Australian shares for a cautiously positive open, despite falls in key commodities.

The March SPI futures contract ended the night session 11 points stronger at 4793, which suggests the ASX 200 will start the session around 0.2% stronger and at its highest opening level since early November.

A drop in U.S. jobless claims and a rise in housing starts helped the benchmark S&P 500 advance for the seventh night in eight. The index rallied 0.62%, more than reversing yesterday's 0.51% fall. The Dow added 42 points or 0.36% and the Nasdaq 0.77%.

"The news that's out is supportive of an improving economy," the senior investment officer for Chemung Canal Trust in the U.S. told Bloomberg. "It's not an economy that?'s taking off, but in a stable state of growth. There's bullish sentiment on the Street and managers that need to get money to work."

First-time claims for unemployment in the U.S. fell by 3,000 to a three-week low of 420,000, raising hopes that the job market is on the mend. Housing starts ticked up for the first time in three months, also topping expectations. Bellwether stock FedEx caused some early palpitations when its second-quarter profit missed projections but nerves were soothed by an improved outlook for next year.

Australian miners listed in the U.S. advanced despite a soft night for oil and most metals. Rio Tinto rallied 1.4%, BHP 0.6% and Alumina 3.9%.

Gold lost some of its appeal as a hedge as the improving outlook for the U.S. economy raised expectations for the U.S. dollar. Gold for February delivery was recently down $15.20 or 1.1% at $1,371 an ounce. Crude oil futures were recently down 76 cents or 0.9% at $87.86 a barrel.

Early gains in the U.S. dollar, later reversed, sapped overseas enthusiasm for most dollar-denominated base metals. In late trade in London, copper was down 1% to a one-week low, aluminium off 0.3%, lead 2.2% and zinc 1%. Nickel was up 0.3% and tin 1.4%.

European stocks closed mixed as leaders gathered in Brussels for a two-day conference to address sovereign debt issues. Britain's FTSE was virtually unchanged at -0.02%, Germany's DAX added 0.11% and France's CAC 0.21%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

TESTING RESISTANCE: Our market looks likely to open near its highest level of the last seven months, set in early November. The resources sector faces headwinds this morning, following overnight falls in oil and metals, but the overall market should take strength from the resilience in the US. Wall Street just keeps grinding higher. I've been expecting a pullback before a serious run at the overhead resistance but it may not come. On a glummer note, the gold chart does not look pretty following last night's action - a lower high now followed by a lower low. The long-term trend is still very much intact but gold bulls will not want this correction to run much lower.

ECONOMIC NEWS: A busy week glides to a sedate end. There's nothing significant scheduled here today and just the monthly leading index ahead tonight in the U.S. The main overseas action is Day 2 of a European Union meeting to address the debt crisis.

Good luck to all.