daytrades april 20 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap: Strong corporate earnings soothed investor jitters in the US overnight, fuelling a rebound in shares and commodities and setting up a positive start to Australian trade.

The June SPI futures contract ended the night session 31 points or 0.65% stronger at 4826 after the major US share indexes clawed back nearly half of Monday's losses and IT bellwether Intel surged nearly 6% in after-market trade after posting earnings. A weakening US dollar helped gold crack US $1,500 an ounce, oil rally and copper improve for the first session in seven.

Wall Street put Monday's credit-rating plunge behind it as the White House pledged to defend the nation's triple-A credit rating, US housing starts topped expectations and several companies delivered Q1 earnings that were better than analysts anticipated. A 3.7% rally in Johnson & Johnson after it raised its outlook for the year helped the Dow recover 65 points or 0.53%. The S&P 500 added 0.57% and the Nasdaq 0.35%.

"This market has been very resilient," the chief investment officer at LPL Financial in the US told Bloomberg. "Things are better than people think as far as the economy goes. Today's housing numbers were pretty good. You've got a bellwether such as Johnson & Johnson coming out with good news. The market is excited to see that."

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner appeared on several business shows overnight to underline the government's commitment to reducing debt after ratings agency Standards & Poor's on Monday placed the nation's triple-A credit rating on notice for downgrade. President Barack Obama declared the nation needed to live within its means.

The US dollar turned lower after a successful bond auction in Greece brought buyers back to the euro. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, was recently down 0.6%.

The S&P's major index of commodities recouped about a quarter of Monday's 1.2% slump. In US trade, Rio Tinto rallied 1.4%, BHP 0.45% and Alumina 1.1%.

Gold hit US $1,500.50 an ounce overnight, an intraday record, and was recently trading $9.70 or 0.65% stronger for the session at $1,496.50. May silver pushed to a fresh 31-year high, recently ahead $1.01 or 2.4% at $43.97 an ounce.

Industrial metals recovered some of Monday's steep fall, with copper rising after six straight losses. In London, copper added 1.7%, aluminium 1.7%, lead 2.15%, nickel 0.25% and zinc 0.8%. Tin fell 0.1%. US copper was recently ahead 1%.

"The market panicked a bit yesterday, and they're feeling a little less panicked today," a BNP Paribas analyst told Reuters. "The reserve requirement rise in China and the S&P move was something [metals] had to react to, but the default position is that things are not as bad as all that."

Riots following elections in Nigeria helped oil turn higher. Light sweet crude for May delivery advanced 71 cents or 0.7% to $108.40 a barrel. Nigeria is Africa's leading oil producer and produces a product very similar to Libyan oil.

The major European markets recovered overnight on low volume ahead of the Easter break as domestic corporate earnings exceeded expectations. Britain's FTSE rallied 0.46%, Germany's DAX 0.18% and France's CAC 0.7%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

BOUNCE THEN PROFIT-TAKING?: The overnight tone on world markets was much brighter as the White House rolled out the heavyweights to calm credit-rating nerves and company earnings mostly exceeded expectations. Our index futures have improved again in the last hour following after-market reports from IT bellwethers Intel and IBM. Shares in Intel were recently up more than 5%, while IBM was off 1.6%, suggesting a generally positive base for tonight's trade in the US. Our market should recoup around half of yesterday's losses at the opening bell but the looming five-day Easter/Anzac break may limit gains in the second half of the session. Liquidity is likely to weaken as traders reduce their bets ahead of the break. Mining stocks should finally see some relief after a rough run lately.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Leading indexes of economic indicators are due here at 10.30 am and from China at noon. Quarterly import prices are due here at 11.30 am. Housing is again the main event tonight in the US, with monthly existing-home sales. Also due: weekly crude oil inventories.

Good luck to all.