daytrades july 15 pre-market

Morning traders. It's good to be back. Thanks again to PJ, Endless and Tweets for their hard work and insights over the last week.

Market wrap: A flat end to a choppy night on Wall Street and modest falls in key commodity prices point to a negative start to local trade this morning.

The September SPI futures contract closed 16 points lower at 4429 after weak U.S. retail sales and a soft economic outlook from the Federal Reserve saw the benchmark S&P 500 break a six-day rally. Oil, gold and U.S. copper also closed modestly lower.

The S&P 500 ended the session off 0.02%, but the Dow scraped a four-point gain for its seventh straight advance and the Nasdaq rallied 0.35% as Intel's record profit forecast boosted the tech sector.

June retail sales showed further evidence of a slowdown in the American economy, sliding for a second month. Sales at U.S. retailers slipped 0.5%, following a 1.1% fall in May. Also undermining sentiment was the release of minutes from the Fed's last policy-setting meeting, which revealed lower expectations for economic growth.

"It corroborates what we've been seeing in the economic data points over the past month," a U.S. money manager told Bloomberg. "The market's gone up six days in a row and is looking for an excuse to give up some of the gains."

In contrast to recent weak economic reports, Intel continued the positive start to the latest U.S. earning season. The chip-maker rallied 2.6% after beating expectations with its record second-quarter sales.

Key commodities trimmed recent gains. Oil futures reversed direction despite a dip in U.S. inventories and a weaker U.S. dollar after the Fed minutes showed deteriorating growth prospects looking ahead to next year. Crude was recently down 28 cents or 0.36% at $76.76 a barrel.

Gold hovered near the top of its recent trading range but a spike after the Fed minutes quickly faded. The spot price was recently $2.90 lower than Tuesday's New York close at $1,208.40 an ounce.

Industrial metals finished mostly lower. U.S. copper futures slid 0.5%, while lead, nickel, tin and zinc were down in late trade in London.

The major European markets closed mixed after industrial production data disappointed. Britain's FTSE slid 0.33% and France's CAC was off 0.13% but Germany's DAX added 0.3%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

CHINA: It's that time of the month again. Mid-day brings the monthly economic update from the biggest consumer of Australian raw materials. Will we see confirmation that the Asian powerhouse is slowing, or was recent soft data an anomaly? Today's reports include industrial production, retail sales, GDP, CPI and PPI.

ECONOMIC NEWS: A busy 24 hours lies ahead. Local inflation expectations are due at 11.00 am and new vehicle sales at 11.30 am. Chinese data at 12.00 will be the day's main driver (see above). Tonight in the U.S.: unemployment claims, the producer price index, regional manufacturing indexes, monthly industrial production, natural gas storage and Federal Reserve nomination hearings.

Good luck to all.