daytrades feb 14 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap: The share market is set to recoup Friday's losses at today's opening bell after US stocks hit 30-month highs last week.

The March SPI futures contract closed 39 points or 0.8% higher on Saturday morning at 4891 after the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak raised hopes for a peaceful end to the crisis in the Middle East. Oil slumped to a 10-week low but most industrial metals rallied as risk appetite improved.

A rise in US consumer confidence helped the S&P 500 to its highest level since June 2008, up 0.55% on Friday and 1.4% for the week. The Dow rallied 44 points or 0.36% on Friday and the Nasdaq added 0.68%.

"We should be able to forget about Egypt, at least in the near term, and focus on improving [US] economic fundamentals," the chief investment strategist at Prudential International Investments Advisers in the US told Bloomberg. "The consumer confidence report today was just one of a series of very positive figures that show that the recovery is on track. That should bring some short-term relief despite the uncertainties that we may still have about other governments in the Middle East and oil."

Oil futures hit a 10-week low as the danger of supply disruptions receded. Crude oil slipped $1.15 or 1.3% on Friday to $85.28 a barrel, down nearly 4% for the week.

Copper recovered from a two-week low despite tepid demand from China following the Lunar New Year holiday. Tin hit a new record high. In London, copper rallied 0.4%, lead 2.7%, nickel 1.6%, tin 0.8% and zinc 0.8%. Aluminium shed 1.25%.

Metals traders continued to be troubled by Tuesday's interest rate rise in China. "There are concerns that higher interest rates will soon be coming," RBS global head of commodity and strategy told Reuters. "People were expecting that the Chinese would come back from the New Year holiday with a voracious appetite but they haven't."

Precious metals drifted lower as the apparent end to the Egyptian crisis encouraged some investors to move to so-called "risk assets". Gold for April delivery eased $2.10, or 0.15% to $1,357 an ounce. March silver shed 10 cents or 0.3% to $29.86 an ounce.

The major European markets were buoyed by the US reaction to news out of Egypt. Britain's FTSE rallied 0.71%, Germany's DAX 0.42% and France's CAC 0.15%.

TRADING THEMES THIS WEEK

EARNINGS SEASON: The local earnings season is now well underway and may encourage optimism on the share market if last week's action is any guide. Key results this week include LEI, PDN (today); FGL, BXB (tomorrow); BHP, WDC, CSL (Wed); ASX, LLC, STO, WES (Thu); and JHX, BBG (Fri).

INFLATION: Expect to hear a lot about this in the week ahead. One of the reasons China and other Asian nations have underperformed developed markets recently is that they have begun acting to cool inflationary pressures caused by rising food and commodity prices and cheap money from the US. We'll find out how China is faring tomorrow, with the release of the monthly producer price and consumer price indexes at 1pm. Speculation is growing about how long the US itself can wait before it has to act. We'll get a better idea this week with the release of January PPI and CPI data. The PPI is due on Wednesday night and CPI on Thursday. Significant increases would pressure the Federal Reserve to tighten the spigots, with negative implications for equities. The long bull market since the end of the GFC has been fuelled by the superior gains offered by the stock market over other forms of saving while US interest rates are at record lows.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Local news flow this week includes: monthly home loans (today 11.30 am); the minutes from the last RBA monetary policy meeting (Tue); and the monthly leading index, new motor vehicle sales (Wed). There is Chinese data due this week, including the trade balance (tentatively scheduled for today), CPI and PPI (see above, scheduled tomorrow), the leading index (Fri). Last week in the US was slow, but there is plenty in the week ahead to keep traders on their toes. The key releases are likely to be: retail sales, Empire state index, inventories, home builders' index (Tue); producer price index, core PPI, housing starts, industrial production (Wed); and consumer price index, core CPI, jobless claims, Leading indicators and Philly Fed (Thu).

Good luck to all.