daytrades october 13 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap: Shares are set to rebound at today's open after the promise of further central-bank stimulus in the U.S. helped Wall Street reverse early losses.

The December SPI futures contract this morning ended 35 points or 0.8% stronger at 4667 as futures traders bet that yesterday's equity plunge - the worst in two months - was overdone.

The Dow dropped around 100 points in early trade but quickly reversed course, breaking positive after the minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting confirmed the central bank will ease monetary policy "before long". The news helped the blue-chip index climb 10 points or 0.09% to a new five-month closing high at 11,020. The S&P 500 added 0.38% and the Nasdaq 0.65% as tech stocks rallied ahead of this morning's after-market Intel earnings report.

"The minutes supported the general notion that the Federal Reserve will be engaged in quantitative easing," the head of quantitative strategies at Turner Investment Partners in the U.S. told Bloomberg. "There is pretty strong empirical evidence that when there is quantitative easing, the liquidity that's been added to the system finds its way into equities and there is a substantial rally."

Analysts speculated that the wording of the minutes pointed to another round of quantitative easing as early as next month's Federal Reserve meeting. Measures are expected to include buying government bonds.

The release of the Fed minutes snuffed out a rebound in the U.S. dollar that weighed on commodity prices during the session. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell sharply to trade recently 0.16% lower at 77.32.

The fall in the dollar helped oil pare overnight losses. Crude futures were recently down 47 cents or 0.6% at $81.74 a barrel.

Precious metals endured a choppy session but also turned higher as the dollar eased. The spot gold price brushed $1,340 an ounce but was recently trading at $1,350.60 an ounce, just $3.30 off Monday's New York close. Spot silver dipped below $23 an ounce but recovered to trade recently at $23.35 an ounce.

Industrial metals mostly advanced ahead of today's much-anticipated Chinese trade balance data. In late trade in London, copper was up 0.6%, aluminium 1.5%, lead 2.6%, tin 0.5% and zinc 1.7%. Nickel was down 1.5%.

Mining stocks steered the major European markets lower after yesterday's falls across Asia, although all trimmed losses before the close. Britain's FTSE lost 0.19%, Germany's DAX 0.08% and France's CAC 0.52%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

REBOUND: It appears yesterday's steep fall on our market - the heaviest in two months - was largely a delayed reaction to Monday's news that China is again trying to slow its economy by forcing banks to raise their reserves. I'm not sure why it took our market so long to digest the news, but the reaction showed just how quickly profit-taking will set in at the first hint that the recent rally has crested. Fortunately for us, all Wall Street cares about right now is the promise of a free ride from the Federal Reserve. Confirmation that the Fed is ready to act "before long" was enough to reverse last night's losses on Wall Street and set our market up for a nice bounce this morning.

INTEL: The computer chip-maker, seen as one of Wall Street's bellwether stocks, was due to report Q3 earnings just after U.S. markets closed this morning. U.S. futures are likely to respond to any sharp after-market moves in the stock. The result and the reaction should appear here.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Local consumer sentiment data is due at 11.30 am. Chinese trade balance figures are due today, but the timing is uncertain, according to Forex Factory. U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Benanke is due to take part in a panel discussion tonight. Also tonight in the U.S.: the Federal Budget Balance and monthly import prices.

Good luck to all.