daytrades dec 6 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap: Gains in key commodities and a last-minute rally on Wall Street on Friday have set up Australian shares for a cautiously positive start to trade.

The December SPI futures contract ended the Friday night session 4 points or 0.1% ahead at 4715 after gains for oil, precious metals and Australian miners listed overseas.

Wall Street spent most of the session in the doldrums after the November jobs report fell short of expectations but broke into positive territory in the last hour following reports that the Federal Reserve may expand stimulus measures to support the economy. The S&P 500 extended its strongest rally in three months into a third day, closing 0.26% higher. The Dow added 20 points or 0.17% and the Nasdaq 0.47%.

The November jobs report showed payrolls growth of just 39,000, against analysts' predictions of a gain of 155,000. Other reports showed a modest uptick in the services industry and a small dip in factory orders.

"The market is looking beyond the current employment conditions and is looking forward to prospects of improvement," the chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management told CNN. "The weakness in the labour market does justify the Fed's decision to keep buying more securities and keep interest rates low, and it gives Congress ammunitions to extend the Bush tax cuts."

The Australian dollar kicked higher and there were gains for local miners listed overseas as oil and precious metals improved. The dollar was recently buying 99.13 U.S. cents. In U.S. trade, RIO added 1.65%, BHP 1.42% and AWC 0.48%.

Oil hit a two-year high as the U.S. dollar weakened, completing a weekly rise of 6.5%. On Friday, crude futures rallied $1.19 or 1.35% to $89.44 a barrel.

Gold just missed a new record high as a weak U.S. jobs report and falling greenback saw investors again seek the relative safety of the metal. Spot gold surged $29.60 from Thursday's New York close to finish the week at $1,414.50 an ounce. Silver for March delivery set a fresh 30-year high, jumping 70 cents or 2.5% to $29.27 an ounce.

Base metals largely bucked the uptrend, with copper the only major metal to close ahead as traders locked in profits following a strong end to the week. In London, copper rallied 0.2%, aluminium fell 0.9%, lead 1.9%, tin 0.1% and zinc 1.5%. Nickel was unchanged.

The major European markets ended mixed in volatile trade as traders reacted to the late-breaking U.S. jobs report. Britain's FTSE fell 0.39% and Germany's DAX 0.14%, while France's CAC added 0.09%.

TRADING THEMES THIS WEEK

TESTING THE RALLY: Last week delivered the strongest two-day rallies here and in the U.S. in three months. U.S. share indexes are now pushing against resistance levels. Some short-term consolidation or modest pullback seems likely in the first half of the week but any break above the early-November highs could trigger another very strong run. Our market has ample space to advance before it reaches significant resistance.

IRELAND VOTES ON AUSTERITY: European debt worries were pushed off business pages in the second half of last week by signs of improvement in the U.S. economy. However, the Irish parliament still has to pass a budget that will impose a tough austerity program in exchange for access to EU-IMF funds. That vote takes place tomorrow night, with a win for the beleaguered government by no means guaranteed. Failure to pass the budget would likely unsettle world markets by underlining difficulties in the European Union's control over member countries.

THURSDAY'S U.S. JOBS REPORT: Last week's global share rally was underpinned by hopes that unemployment has finally turned the corner in the U.S. Those hopes were sorely tested by Friday's disappointing November jobs report, which fell well short of expectations. Investors largely dismissed the report as a lagging indicator, preferring to focus on recent improvements in weekly readings. However, any benefit of the doubt will evaporate if Thursday night's weekly report misses targets.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Another busy week for local news starts today with the monthly inflation gauge at 10.30 am (all times are EST) and monthly job ads at 11.30 am. Traders might also keep an eye on U.S. futures for any reaction to a TV interview with Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke broadcast in the U.S. from 11 am today. Tomorrow brings the monthly construction index and a Reserve Bank rates meeting which is widely expected to leave the cash rate unchanged. Also due this week: monthly home loans (Wed); and employment change and the unemployment rate, Chinese trade balance (Thu). The key reports this week in the U.S. are: weekly chain store sales, consumer credit (Tue); weekly jobless claims (Thu); consumer sentiment, trade balance, import price index (Fri).

Good luck to all.