daytrades jan 12 morning ...

Good morning Traders ... and welcome back Highlandlad. Hope you had a nice day with your visitors yesterday; and no probs ... always got you covered! (:

Firstly, special thoughts & best wishes must go out to all of those affected by those terrible Queensland (& NSW) floods atm. Also Traders, kindly note also that HotCopper has posted a 'Queensland Flood Relief' banner on the HotCopper homepage atm, so for those of you who are in a fortunate enough position to be able to donate atm (no matter how large or small), I would urge you to please click on this banner which will take you directly to the appropriate Queensland Government 'Disaster Relief' website where you can make your donation accordingly. Thanks guys! (:

DOW Snapshot from the previous trading session:

"U.S. stocks held onto gains Tuesday afternoon as investors' attention turned toward corporate earnings. Japan's pledge to buy eurozone bonds helped ease European debt jitters and give underlying support to market sentiment.

Dow component Alcoa kicked off the reporting period late Thursday with better-than expected results. Financial Network market strategist Brian Gendreau said he wouldn't be shocked to see quarterly earnings continue to surprise on the upside, which would push stocks upward.

"We're looking ahead into what seems like it'll be a pretty good earnings season," he said.

Sears Holdings and Apollo Group were the big gainers on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Sears' fourth-quarter and full-year outlook topped analysts' forecasts, while Apollo's quarterly results beat expectations.

While stocks were holding gains, there was some pull back from earlier in the session, which analysts say is to be expected. "There's still a lot of enthusiasm in the market, but we've been rallying for four months now so we may see a bout of weakness," said Steven Goldman, market strategist at Weeden & Co.

Eurozone jitters ease: On Monday, stocks ended just below breakeven as investors worried about a possible bailout for Portugal.

Those concerns faded Tuesday amid reports that Japan will buy eurozone bonds to help prevent the spread of the region's debt crisis, but Gendreau said problems will resurface throughout the year.

"Concerns about Europe's debt problems crop up every couple of weeks, but they tend to get outweighed by U.S. economic or company news," he said. "But I think eurozone issues will weigh on the market for some time to come."

World Markets: European stocks ended higher on the talk about a Japanese purchase of eurozone bonds." [Source: cnnmoney.com]

Market Reflections - Tuesday, 11th January, 2011

"Philly Fed President Charles Plosser, who rotates this year to an FOMC voter, looks to be a dissenting inflation hawk. Using language that's uncharacteristically quotable for a Fed official, he warned today that QE2 could "backfire" if not withdrawn quickly. Markets were quiet Tuesday with the Dow industrials fractionally higher to 11,671. Oil rose more than two percent to over $91 while gold rose slightly to $1,318. The dollar was little changed while Treasury rates slipped several basis points." [Source: bloomberg.com]

Market Focus in the US this evening

"How well did Portugal's 3- and 9-year auctions go? Will Portugal's 10-year yield break beyond seven percent?" [Source: bloomberg.com]

The DJIA Index finished the last trading session Up 34.43 points; and
The SPI Futures are currently: Up 10 points atm.

Of note in the US this evening:

Import and Export Prices [Merits extra attention]

EIA Petroleum Status Report [Merits extra attention]

Beige Book [Merits extra attention]

Treasury Budget [Merits extra attention]

...AND...

Of note in Australia today:

Home Loans (Nov) [Moderate volatility expected]
[The Home Loans released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics presents the number of home loans. It indicates the housing market trend in Australia and a level of consumer confidence as large housing loans are taken out. A high reading is seen positive (or bullish) for the AUD, while a low reading is seen negative (or bearish).]

Investment Lending (Nov)
[The Investment lending released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics measures number of lendings to business enterprises including individual ones. A high reading anticipates growth in the Australian economy, and that is said to be positive (or bullish) for the AUD, while a low reading is seen as negative (or bearish).]

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

Gold is currently trading Up $5.30 & is sitting at US$1,381.30/oz atm [Source: Kitco]
Oil is currently trading Up $1.86 & is sitting at US$91.11/bbl atm [Source: Bloomberg]
The Dollar: The AUD is currently trading @ $0.9811c against the US Dollar[Source: Forex. Live]

Have a great day trading today all.

Cheers, Tweets

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