Morning traders.Market wrap: US markets closed mixed overnight...

Morning traders.

Market wrap: US markets closed mixed overnight as a final-hour sell-off in financials dragged the Dow Jones and S&P 500 into the red. The Nasdaq was narrowly positive for the day, but disappointing earnings reports saw the other indexes fall 0.8% (S&P) and 1% (Dow).

The major banking index lost nearly 5% after Morgan Stanley reported another quarterly loss. REITs were down 4%, but tech stocks held their ground.

Oil recovered from early losses to climb to $48.67 despite a rise in US inventories. Gold has been drifting in a narrow range for much of this month and rose 1% overnight towards the upper edge of the range. Base metals continued to soften as confidence in the global rally wavers, although most bounced off intraday lows to remain near recent highs.

Our market has fallen every day this week and futures traders don't expect a change today. The SPI closed down 17 points at 3662.

I couldn't have been more wrong in tipping REITs yesterday because I'd overlooked the draining effect of the DXS capital raising on the sector. With that out of the way, the sector should see some relief in the next day or two. Biotechs are running hot at the moment (thanks Poly for the tips), but be careful you're not left holding the bag - these sudden rushes of enthusiasm can dry up as quickly as they appeared. There's good money to be made by the quick but don't neglect stop-losses - when the party is over, don't be the last person looking for a taxi.

Good luck to all.