Market wrap: An eighth day of gains may be beyond the Australian market today after a night of mixed signals from overseas.
With 20 minutes left to trade, the SPI 200 futures index was down 7 points at 4030. In the US, a strong result from Apple helped the Nasdaq stretch its winning streak into an 11th day, rising 0.53%, but the S&P 500 was flat at -0.05% and the Dow ended down 0.39% as investors found little inspiration in profit results from Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.
Energy stocks were dragged lower by a slide in crude oil futures. Oil fell for the first day in six as US inventories continued to rise, but recovered well from an early dip below $64 to recently trade at $65.30, down 0.32%. Gold futures finished at a six-week high in the US but recently fell back to $951.30, up just $2 on yesterday's close.
Copper hit a nine-month high on concern that production disruptions in Chile will reduce supplies. Copper futures jumped 3% in US trade. There was also strong buying and gains for aluminum, nickel, lead and zinc in London.
TRADING THEMES TODAY
BASE METALS: The rebound story of the last two weeks remains intact after another strong night on the London Metal Exchange. The old resistance levels seem to be giving way as this long equities rally stretches on.
CONSOLIDATION: There's nothing in the overseas action yet to suggest a major pullback is looming but we could be in for a few days of to and fro as the market digests the strong gains of the last week and a half. Technically, global markets look overbought but a few days of treading water would cure that and create the conditions for further gains.
PATIENCE: I tried to force trades that weren't there yesterday and finished the day with a loss for the first time in weeks. (A loss of $3.09, to be precise.) No damage done but a reminder that sometimes you're better to sit on your hands than to trade just for the sake of it. The SPI action suggests opportunities may be scarce again today until the market chooses a direction.
