daytrade diaries... december 22

Morning traders.

Market wrap: Stocks are set to open higher after solid gains in Europe and on Wall Street, but softening commodity prices may restrict gains.

Futures traders expect our market to recover yesterday's losses after analyst upgrades and deals in the mining and health care sectors drove Wall Street north overnight. The local SPI futures index closed 33 points higher at 4654.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 85 points or 0.82 after investment upgrades for Alcoa and Intel. The S&P 500 gained 1.05% and the Nasdaq 1.17%.

Health-care stocks benefitted from progress for the Obama health care legislation. The Senate voted overnight to advance the legislation in an initial procedural vote, placing the bill on track for passage later this week.

There were broad gains across US sectors as stock-specific news boosted overall market sentiment. U.S. oilers resisted weakness in the oil price, rising 1.54%. Banks gained 1.9%, telecoms 1.32%, industrial stocks 1.25% and REITs 1.21%.

European markets enjoyed a strong session. Britains FTSE gained 1.87%, Germanys DAX 1.7% and Frances CAC 2.05%.

A rising US dollar pressured commodity prices. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, was recently up 0.37%. Precious metals fell back as investors returned to the dollar. The spot gold price was recently near a six-week low at $1,091.70 an ounce, down more than $20 for the session. Silver and platinum also fell.

Oil slipped ahead of tonight's OPEC meeting, which is expected to leave production quotas unchanged. Crude futures were recently trading at $72.73 a barrel, down 0.86%.

Base metals continued to buck the downtrend in commodities on speculation about rising Chinese demand. On the London Metal Exchange, copper gained 1.3%. Tin, zinc, aluminum and nickel prices gained. Lead fell.


ECONOMIC NEWS: The Conference Board releases its Leading Index of economic indicators at 10.00 am. In the US tonight: existing home sales, the October house price index, Q3 GDP and regional manufacturing.

Good luck to all.