daytrading may 21 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap:

Stocks face a subdued start after a sixth losing session in the US on Friday as Facebook fizzled and European markets continued to shudder lower.

The June SPI 200 futures contract closed eight points or 0.2% weaker at 4050 on Saturday morning before the conclusion of a G-8 meeting that underlined differences between political leaders over how to tackle Europe's debt crisis.

US stocks delivered a third straight losing week for the first time since August as Facebook's much-anticipated debt failed to deliver the boost in confidence that some market commentators had been tipping. The Dow dropped 73 points or 0.59% on Friday for its 12th loss in 13 sessions - its worst run since 1974. The S&P 500 lost 0.74% and the Nasdaq 1.24% as Facebook finished just 0.6% above its listing price after its underwriters stepped in to support the market.

"There was way too much hype with Facebook," the chief equity strategist at Federated Investors in the US told Bloomberg. "If it had enjoyed a better move, there would have been some coat-tails for the broader market. There's pessimism related to Greece, there's a G-8 meeting and nobody knows what's going to come out of it."

The G-8 meeting ended with agreement that Greece should stay in the euro-zone but the closing statement highlighted disagreements between Germany and other members over how to handle Europe's debt crisis. The closing statement said members agreed "that the right measures are not the same for each of us".

Most European markets continued to decline on Friday as resource stocks were hurt by a forecast from a Chinese government think tank that annual growth will slow to 7.5% this quarter from 8.1%. That would be slowest growth rate since early 2009. Germany's DAX gave up 0.6%, France's CAC 0.13% and Britain's resource stock-heavy FTSE 1.33%. Greece's Athens General Index bounced 2.51% after a poll showed that two pro-bailout/eurozone parties will get enough votes at June 17 elections to form a coalition government.

A decline in the US dollar for the first session in 15 helped gold and some other metals but oil's slide stretched into a sixth session. West Texas crude for June delivery lost $1.23 or 1.3% at US$91.33 a barrel.

"We have not had any good news in two weeks; everything continues to erode," the managing director at BNP Paribas in the US told MarketWatch. "We are very oversold, though, which tells me to look for a rally."

Gold improved for a second day, paring two weeks of heavy losses. Gold for June delivery rallied $17 or 1.1% to US$1,591.80 an ounce.

Copper lost nearly 5% last week in the US, falling another three cents or 0.9% on Friday to US$3.45 as pound. London trade was more positive, with copper rising 0.1%, aluminium 0.3%, lead 1.8% and tin 1%. Nickel lost 2.1% and zinc 0.4%.

TRADING THEMES THIS WEEK

G-8 DISAPPOINTMENT: Hopes that the weekend meeting of G-8 leaders would deliver a circuit-breaker on Europe's crisis appeared to come to naught, with the closing statement underlining disagreement over differences in approach. Read more here. It's hard to see that outcome doing much to revive world markets this week. Europe will likely remain front of mind. Spanish and Italian 10-year yields remain at elevated levels but Greek polling suggests that voters may pull the nation back from the brink at next month's election.

CHINA SLOWDOWN: Australian share trade has been dominated this month by two related fears: that the euro-zone will collapse, plunging the global economy into recession, and that China's extraordinary growth spurt is fading. The latter concern explains why BHP and Rio Tinto will start the week at three-year lows. China's State Information Center added to concerns on Friday with a forecast that GDP will this quarter slow to the weakest pace since Q1 2009. Read more here. All eyes will be on two pieces of Chinese economic data due this week: a leading index of economic indicators tomorrow and HSBC's preliminary manufacturing index for this month, due on Thursday.

ECONOMIC NEWS: A light week for domestic news offers nothing but rival leading indexes on Wednesday. China has a leading index tomorrow and the monthly flash manufacturing report on Thursday (see above). Highlights in a fairly light week in the US include: existing home sales (tomorrow); new home sales (Wed); weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders (Thu); and consumer sentiment (Fri).

Good luck to all.