daytrades december 3 morning ...

Happy Mufti Day Traders,

DOW Snapshot from the previous trading session

"U.S. stocks rallied 1% Thursday, building on the previous session's big gains, as investors cheered strong retail sales and welcomed the European Central Bank's plan to extend liquidity measures.

Gains were broad-based, with all but three of the Dow 30 rising. Home Depot, Alcoa, and Bank of America led the advances.

Retailers helped prop up stocks as strong chain-store sales rolled in, signaling consumers are loosening their purse strings a bit. Shares of Abercrombie, Dillards, and JCPenney all jumped in afternoon trading.

"This continues the trend we've been seeing in the past couple months of retail sales being better than expected," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist Schaeffer's Investment Research. "It's a very positive signal that consumers are coming back and confidence is coming back with them."

Signs of economic strength sent stocks soaring Wednesday, with all three major indexes surging more than 2%. The blue-chip Dow index added 249 points, its biggest one-day gain since early September.

That momentum continued Thursday after the ECB announced it will continue its stimulus measures and will keep buying government bonds.

"The [announcement] was largely expected, but there's a bit of relief in the market that they aren't withdrawing liquidity," said Ryan Atkinson, vice president at Balestra Capital. "There's a feeling that the monetary authorities can support the [debt] issue, and for the time being that's all investors need."

Recently, investors have worried that Spain will be the next domino to fall in Europe. But Spain does not intend to tap the European Union fund, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said in a CNBC interview Thursday morning."

Economy:

An encouraging report on the housing market helped stocks extend an early rally.

After the start of trading, the National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index surged 10.4% in October after slipping 1.8% in September. The index, which measures sales contracts for existing homes, was expected to be unchanged.

"Economic data is looking better all around," said Atkinson. "Data has continued to beat expectations over the past few weeks, so investors are staying hopeful that the economy will continue to grow." - [Source: cnnmoney.com]

The DJIA Index finished the last trading session Up 106.63; and
The SPI Futures are currently: Up 45 pts atm.

Of note in the US this evening:

Nonfarm Payrolls (Nov) [High volatility expected]

Unemployment Rate (Nov) [High volatility expected]

Average Hourly Earnings (MoM) (Nov) (YoY) [Moderate volatility expected]

Factory Orders (Oct) [Moderate volatility expected]

ISM Non-Manufacturing (Nov) [Moderate volatility expected]

...AND...

Of note in Australia today:

Please note there is no noteworthy 'Economic news' due to be released in Australia today.

[Sources Used: bloomberg.com; dailyfx.com; fxstreet.com; nasdaq.com]

Gold is currently trading Down $1.70 & is sitting at US$1,384.90/oz atm [Source: Kitco]
Oil is currently trading Up $1.25 & is sitting at US$88.00/bbl atm [Source: Bloomberg]
The Dollar: The AUD is currently trading @ 0.9765cents against the US Dollar[Source: Forex. Live]

Have a great day trading today all.

Cheers, Tweets

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