Day Trading 5 Jan Pre Market

Morning all
Thanks Trees, Shants and Rav

The ASX looks to a soft open despite US markets eeking out a small gain. However material stocks surged which may give our markets some more rope to improve after yesterdays' standout session in the miners.
SPI futures are 14 points softer at 4919

European shares were mixed on Thursday as weak U.S. data fed concerns that the world's biggest economy may be slowing down. Export-oriented auto stocks lead the decline in Continental markets. Credit Suisse tumbled 11% after reporting a full-year loss.
Losses, however, were limited by a rally in commodities which lifted miners and oil sector stocks, particularly in the UK.
STOXX +.25%
DAX -.45%
FTSE +1.1%

In the US disappointing results among retailers dragged consumer shares lower. Kohl's sank 19 per cent after slow sales squeezed profits. Ralph Lauren plunged after the company cut its annual forecast.
Data showed weekly jobless claims rose more than expected while nonfarm productivity fell in the fourth quarter at its fastest pace in more than a year. Orders for US factory goods also fell in December by the most in a year.
"In the short term, we really need to see a decent payroll number tomorrow and for earnings season to conclude with no major surprises," said Bill Merz, investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management. 1
The Dow added over nearly 150 points at session highs, after opening slightly lower. However, the blue chips index struggled to hold those gains, closing about 80 points higher. At its session lows, the index fell 70.5 points, while gaining 149.18 points at session highs.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite closed mildly higher, after gaining more than 0.5 percent at session highs.
"We've seen a few brief moments of de-coupling [between oil and stock prices]," said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab. "I think the key is for oil to stabilize." 2
DOW +.4%
S&P +.15%
Nasdaq +.1%

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, a gauge of the greenback against 10 major peers, retreated 0.6 per cent after sliding as much as 1.9 per cent last session.
The greenback fell against all of its 16 major peers except Mexico's peso and the British pound, which was weighed down by the Bank of England 's unanimous vote to keep interest rates unchanged. Officials signalled borrowing costs will stay low as they cut their growth and inflation forecasts.
The sharply lower U.S. dollar index the past couple days has helped to lift raw commodity markets.


Oil $31.73 -.55c

Gold prices ended the U.S. day session solidly higher and hit a 3.5-month high Thursday. Add the slumping U.S. dollar index to the list of bullish elements helping to drive gold and silver prices higher recently. Silver prices also scored a 3.5-month high Thursday. Safe-haven and technical buying continue to support the yellow metal amid volatile world stock markets that presently still have a downside bias. April Comex gold was last up $15.30 at $1,156.60 an ounce. March Comex silver was last up $0.126 at $14.86 an ounce.
HUI +5.5%
AUD Gold $1600

AUD .72oo

On today
RBA Monetary Policy Statement, Australia December retail sales.
US January payrolls report, US December trade balance;
German December factory orders;
Earnings: BNP Paribas, Volvo, BG Group,

Have a good day