daytrade diaries... july 15

Morning traders. Onwards and upwards.

Market wrap: Australian stocks look set for another positive start after a strong result from Goldman Sachs helped US stocks inch higher overnight. Also boosting local sentiment is a solid bounce in the prices of base metals.

Goldman Sachs beat analyst expectations with a stunning 65% rise in quarterly profits, but the news didn't translate into huge gains for the share price, the US financial sector or the key indexes. The S&P 500 recovered early losses to close 0.53% higher, followed by the Nasdaq (+0.36%) and Dow Jones (+0.33%).

Goldman finished the day in the red after Standards and Poors said this quarter's profits were unsustainable. Banking indexes drifted lower after yesterday's massive gains, but there were advances for consumer stocks after better-than-expected retail sales figures and energy stocks after a jump in gasoline prices.

Crude oil futures couldn't hold early gains after OPEC said it expects global demand for oil to fall. Oil was recently trading at $59.36 or 0.3% lower, down for the third straight day. Gold futures added $5 to $925.

Base metals rallied strongly as the change in sentiment on global stock markets translated into a greater appetite for risk. Copper prices rose 3.58% overnight to a one-week high after a dip in inventories. Other gains were aluminium +2.82%, lead +2.89%, nickel +5.6%, tin +3.66% and zinc +4.17%.

With 30 minutes left to trade, futures traders expected our market to build on yesterday's 3.5% leap. The SPI was up 22 points at 3869.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

BASE METALS: What a difference a day makes. Yesterday several metals looked primed to break key support levels and tumble; today they look like they bounced more or less where you'd expect and can resume their uptrends. The charts still look "toppy" but there should be money to be made this week in a bounce for some of the miners.

ENERGY: It's early days and highly speculative but oil just might be building a base around the $60 level. At the very least, the heavy falls of the last two weeks have slowed significantly in the last few days. The big US oilers have pre-empted a trend reversal with modest advances over the last two nights. Our energy sector may follow.

PROFIT TAKING: Be wary of reversals today. A lot of traders will be sitting on very tasty paper profits after yesterday's boom day in the market. The opening prices for some shares will be as good as it gets.

Good luck to all.