daytrades april 21 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap: Australian stocks are primed for a strong rise today after a bounce in commodity prices and a second night of solid gains of Wall Street.

With 10 minutes left to trade, the June SPI futures contract was ahead 45 points at 4974 this morning as oil, industrial metals and U.S. equities rebounded from Friday's sell-off.

Wall Street was cheered by positive earnings results from consumer companies that suggested spending is on the rise. The S&P 500 pushed back through 1,200, closing 10 points or 0.81% higher at 1,207. The Nasdaq rose by the same percentage, while the Dow lagged at +0.23% as poorly-received results from IBM and Coca-Cola crimped gains.

"Things seem to be pretty good with some of the bigger names. The U.S. consumer is still active," a senior U.S. portfolio manager told MarketWatch.

The energy sector led gains on the S&P 500 as oil rebounded in what market commentators described as "a return of risk appetite". An index of U.S. oil companies bounced 1.6% as crude futures recovered from two days of steep losses. Crude for May delivery closed $1.54 or 1.89% higher at $82.99 a barrel as the contract expired. The June contract was recently trading at $84.03 a barrel.

Financial shares also had a strong session after profit results from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JPMorgan. The S&P Bank Index rose 2.53%.

Industrial metals recovered from what ANZ described as "an over-reaction" to the recent jitters on equity markets.

"Base metals should rebound from an over-reaction to recent U.S. equity wobbles," ANZ said in a note quoted on Reuters. "The market already appears to be moving on, and last week's strong Chinese growth and production numbers suggests still more upside in the offering. A fall in European and Asian LME stockpiles lately also flags the start of seasonal re-stocking."

In London, copper rallied 0.6%, aluminium 0.5%, lead 4%, nickel 0.6%, tin 1.4% and zinc 1.7%.

Precious metals also moved modestly higher but gains were limited by a rising U.S. dollar. The spot gold price was recently ahead $4.20 or 0.4% from Monday's New York close at $1,139.40 an ounce.

European markets bounced back hard from two days of selling. Britain's FTSE climbed 1%, Germany's DAX 1.65% and France's CAC 1.4%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

U.S.EARNINGS LATE MAIL: A couple of big guns reported after this morning's closing bell with mixed results: Apple and Yahoo. Yahoo shares initially rallied 3.6% in after-market trade, but more recently were down 2.5%. Apple shares have just resumed trading and spiked a whopping 8%. The Apple result is the more important of the two and bodes well for tonight's trade in the U.S. Anyone interested can track both shares at MarketWatch: http://www.marketwatch.com/ (Apple code: AAPL, Yahoo: YHOO).

RESOURCES: The market seems to be moving on quickly from Friday's Goldman Sachs fraud jitters and there was relief overnight for battered commodity prices. Our market was cautious yesterday but local oilers should bounce this morning and base metals miners should also receive support.

ECONOMIC NEWS: The Westpac/Melbourne Institute monthly index of leading economic indicators is due at 10.30 am. Earnings reports again dominate the outlook in the U.S. tonight. Also due: weekly crude oil inventories and a speech by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke.

Good luck to all.