daytrades feb 17 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap: Substantial overnight rises in commodity prices and overseas equities point to a big green open for local shares.

The March SPI futures contract closed 61 points higher at 4596 this morning after Wall Street took wing as upbeat domestic news overshadowed dwindling fears over European debt.

The S&P 500 surged 1.8%, the Dow was up 170 points or 1.68% and the Nasdaq 1.4% as traders abandoned the U.S. dollar for riskier assets. Gold, oil and industrial metals all enjoyed boom nights.

Sentiment was boosted by a swag of diverse pieces of positive news: business conditions for New York manufacturers improved sharply in February, pointing to an up-tick in demand; homebuilder confidence recovered from last month's seven-month low; British bank Barclays trumped expectations with its earnings; and Bank of America shares lunged higher on signs that the government's Home Affordable Modification Program is getting traction.

European Union finance ministers cracked the whip over Greece, announcing it has a month to show an improvement in its budget or it will be forced to make further cuts. In a statement after a meeting in Brussels, EU ministers said Greece must "bring its economic policies into line with the [E.U.'s] broad economic-policy guidelines and remove the risk of jeopardising the proper functioning of economic and monetary union."

"The real thing people have always wondered about with Greece is the question of contagion, what does it mean for Italy and Germany and all the other countries," a U.S. market observer told MarketWatch. "It looks like we're getting closer to resolution on that."

There were broad gains in the U.S., with standout sectors including oilers +2.9%, precious metals miners +2.8%, REITs +2.9% and banks +2.1%.

The U.S. dollar index slumped 0.9% as the greenback eased against the euro, sending commodity prices higher. Crude oil futures were recently up 4% at $77.13 a barrel, helped by rising tensions between the West and Iran.

Gold hit its highest level since late January. The spot price was recently nearly 2% higher at $1,118.20 an ounce.

Copper led a major rally in industrial metals in London. Copper rallied 4%, aluminium 4%, lead 7.1%, nickel 4.8%, tin 1.2% and zinc 5.8%.

European markets rallied for the sixth session in seven. Britain's FTSE climbed 1.48%, Germany's DAX 1.47% and France's CAC 1.66%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

RESOURCES: Well, duh. Every man and his dog will be chasing resource stocks this morning after last night's heady gains. The problem for day traders, as always, is finding shares where the day's gains aren't baked into the opening price. I'm interested to hear if anyone out there has a specific trading method for days like this?

EARNINGS RESULTS: Another big day of local reports including some big names. Among those due to report: AAD, ABC, AEO, AMP, ASX, HSP, IVC, LGL, MAP, QAN, STO, SGM, WOR and WES.

ECONOMIC NEWS: The Melbourne Institute's leading index of economic activity is due at 10.30 am. Tonight's U.S. menu includes building permits, housing starts, import prices, industrial production, minutes from the last Fed meeting and the Federal Budget Balance.

Good luck to all.