daytrade diaries... january 29

Morning traders.

Market wrap: Australian stocks are set to open at their lowest level in six weeks after a volatile night on Wall Street and heavy losses among industrial metals.

Futures traders expect our market to open 72 points lower this morning. The March SPI futures contract closed at 4575 after the Dow fell 1.13% to 10,120, the S&P 500 gave back 1.18% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 1.91%.

Technology stocks led the U.S. down after Apple's new tablet computer failed to inspire investors. Apple shares closed 3.8% off. Also harming sentiment were weak readings on jobs and durable goods orders. Both missed expectations.

"People are applying a little more scepticism to the market right now," the head of investment strategy at BlackRock told MarketWatch. "I think you're seeing a delayed reaction to some of the recent news. The quarterly numbers have been pretty good, but people are wondering whether expectations for the year are a little too optimistic."

A late rally in financial stocks before Fed chairman Ben Bernanke cleared a first reconfirmation vote in the Senate helped the overall market trim some of its losses. The S&P Bank Index climbed 0.4% on expectations that Bernanke will be reconfirmed as Fed chairman later today. Most sectors closed lower, with telecoms (-4.7%), tech stocks (-3.3%), airlines (-2.9%) and transport stocks (-2.4%) among the worst.

A new five-month high for the U.S. dollar maintained pressure on commodity prices. Gold and oil recovered from morning lows in the U.S. but industrial metals slumped to multi-month lows. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, was recently trading 0.3% higher at 78.90.

Crude oil futures touched $73 before recovering with equity markets to trade recently 0.12% higher at $73.76 a barrel. The spot gold price plunged under $1,075 an ounce but bounced hard to trade recently at $1,085.20 an ounce, $2 or 0.2% lower than Wednesday's New York close.

Base metals continued to suffer from rising stockpiles and fears over weak Chinese demand. In London, copper slipped 4.7%, aluminium 3.7%, lead 2.8%, tin 2.2% and zinc 3.85%. Nickel was 0.03% higher.

European markets slumped to their lowest levels since early November. Britain's FTSE lost 1.37%, Germany's DAX 1.82% and France's CAC 1.89%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

WRONG-FOOTED: Our market rallied yesterday on rising U.S. futures after Obama's State of the Union address. Boy, did we get it wrong. U.S. indexes appear to have broken the last remaining support levels last night and look destined to head lower. This is turning into a full-blown correction, so trim your positions and batten down the hatches. Wish the news was better.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Monthly private-sector credit figures are due at 11.30 am. Tonight in the U.S.: GDP, the Chicago purchasing managers' index, quarterly employment costs and revised consumer sentiment and inflation expectations.

Good luck to all.