daytrades april 23 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap: Australian stocks face a flat start this morning after overnight falls in Europe and modest gains on Wall Street.

With 10 minutes left to trade, the June SPI futures contract was unchanged at 4907 as local traders digested a mixed bag of overseas leads.

The Dow plunged to a triple-digit deficit in early trade but crawled higher for the rest of the session as investors continue to buy dips in U.S. equities. The blue-chip index closed 9 points or 0.08% higher for its third straight advance, the S&P 500 added 0.23% and the Nasdaq outperformed both at +0.58%.

Wall Street was shaken by disappointing forecasts from health-care and technology companies and more bad news out of Europe. The European Union revealed that Greece's actual deficit was higher than the government's forecast and Greek bond yields jumped to the highest in more than a decade after Moody's cut the country's bond ratings and placed them under review for possible downgrade.

The Greek news sent the euro lower and saw European markets close sharply lower for a second day. Britain's FTSE fell 1%, Germany's DAX 1% and France's CAC 1.3%.

However, financial stocks dragged Wall Street higher after a speech by President Obama eased fears about fresh banking regulations. The S&P Bank Index rallied nearly 1%.

"Obama's speech had an effect on financials," one U.S. chief investment strategist told Bloomberg. "Some people were concerned about stronger regulation after the Goldman Sachs event."

The U.S. dollar moved sharply higher as investors sought a haven from European debt woes. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, rose 0.64%, pressuring dollar-denominated commodity prices.

Gold and other precious metals swooned in early trade but recovered as the session wore on. The spot gold price was recently $5.20 or 0.5% lower than Wednesday's New York close at $1,141 an ounce.

Industrial metal prices were mostly lower as investors fretted about Chinese demand.

"Investors are very worried about China's growth. They've recognised that the level of actual physical consumption has slowed right down," Alex Heath, head of base metals at London's RBC Capital Markets told Reuters. "There is growing worry that the levels of demand will slow in the second half. Quite clearly China is stockpiling at the moment."

In London, copper fell 0.7%, aluminium 1.5%, lead 0.4%, tin 2.3% and zinc 1%. Nickel, which has been supported by claims that a single investor is holding a large "short" position, added 0.2%.

The oil price followed U.S. equities from a deep loss to a modest gain. Crude futures were recently 5 cents or 0.06% higher for the session at $83.73 a barrel.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

U.S. EARNINGS LATE MAIL: Some big names delivered earnings results after this morning's closing bell on Wall Street. American Express was recently up 2% in after-market trade but Microsoft was down 3.9% and Amazon was 5.9% lower. Whether any of this truly matters is hard to say after last night's performance in the US. Wall Street seems determined to rally.

ANZAC DAY HOLIDAY: Monday's public holiday will weigh on local trade today because there are two sessions in the U.S. before our market re-opens on Tuesday. Caution is likely to prevail and this morning's futures reflect that.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Quarterly import prices are due at 11.30 am. RBA Governor Glenn Stevens is due to deliver a speech at 12.50. Tonight's highlights in the U.S. are new home sales and durable goods orders.

Good luck to all.