daytrade diaries... october 15

Morning traders.

Market wrap: A storming session on Wall Street on the back of upbeat earnings reports has set up our market for a strong open.

U.S. financial stocks flew higher overnight after well-received profit outlooks from JP Morgan Chase and Intel. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered the psychologically significant 10,000 mark after a year in the doldrums, rising 1.47% to 10,016. The S&P 500 added 1.75% and the Nasdaq 1.51%. The Dow last closed above 10,000 on October 3, 2008. It fell more than 18% over the following five days as panic swept global markets.

Last night there were strong gains across most sectors. The S&P Bank Index rose 3.87%, airlines 4.03%, REITs 3.75%, transport stocks 2.49%, oilers 2.08% and insurers 1.82%.

European markets bounced to one-year highs after being wrong-footed by Tuesday's early U.S. action. Britain's FTSE added 1.98%, Germany's DAX 2.45% and France's CAC 2.14%.

Crude oil futures rose for a fifth straight session and broke out to a one-year high. The precipitous decline of the U.S. dollar, which marked a new 14-month low against the euro overnight, helped lift crude nearly 1.5% to $75.27 a barrel. Gold eased back from yesterday's all-time high. The spot price was recently trading around $2 lower at $1,061.90.

Base metals were mostly higher. Copper was boosted by data showing Chinese imports of the metal jumped unexpectedly in September. "Much better than expected on the Chinese copper imports," said an analyst quoted on MarketWatch. "Very strong, bullish. For imports to be rising at a time when these purchases were almost certainly made when copper was above $5,000... that speaks volumes about the strength of Chinese demand." In London copper rose 1.3%, lead added 0.67%, nickel 2.12%, and zinc 0.44%. Aluminium slipped 0.37% and tin lost 1.39%.

Futures traders expect a bright open to local trade. The SPI futures index added 49 points to 4886.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

OIL: Oil looks to be finally breaking out of its trading range of the last four-five months. With the US dollar in freefall, OPEC increasingly bullish and a fresh wave of optimism sweeping Wall Street, the short-term outlook is very promising.

COPPER: The September import figures out of China yesterday smashed expectations and point to much stronger underlying demand than industry analysts expected. That should be very supportive in the medium term.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Another busy 24 hours. Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens makes a speech at 10.30 am and the RBA releases its monthly bulletin at 11.30 am. Tonight in the US: consumer price index data, weekly jobless numbers and manufacturing figures.

Good luck to all.