daytrades july 22 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap: Shares are set to extend this week's gains after Wall Street surged overnight on upbeat earnings and growing optimism over solutions for Greek and US debt issues.

The September SPI futures contract ended the night session 45 points or 1% stronger at 4579 as oil hit a five-week high and the big Australian miners advanced in US trade.

US stocks posted their second triple-digit run of the week after European leaders announced a plan to support Greece, and reports from Morgan Stanley and AT&T continued the recent run of strong corporate earnings. The Dow tacked on 153 points or 1.21% despite a mixed night of economic news and yesterday's negative Chinese manufacturing numbers. The S&P 500 rallied 1.35%, with financials once again leading the way, and the Nasdaq added 0.72%.

"It's a sigh of relief," the chief investment officer at Dana Investment Advisors in the US told MarketWatch. "Progress on Europe's debt situation is allowing the market to remain at these levels... It has ramifications for the European banks. It's the framework for a package and the markets have reacted positively."

European leaders unveiled a new 160 billion euro aid package for Greece that included the recapitalisation of banks and the purchase of bonds. The plan is aimed at lowering borrowing costs for Greece and also assisting Portugal and Ireland.

US stocks extended gains after the New York Times said President Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner were close to a deal on raising the US debt ceiling. Both sides later denied the report.

The night's economic news was mostly positive, but the closely-watched weekly jobless claims increased again as unemployment remains stubbornly high. An index of leading economic indicators rose more than expected, manufacturing in the Philadelphia region grew more than forecast and house prices increased 0.4% in May.

Oil rallied to mid-June levels after the International Energy Agency said it had no plans to release any more emergency reserves. The agency had previously released 60 million barrels onto the market following the loss of Libyan output, but said no more is presently needed. Crude for September delivery was recently up 78 cents or 0.8% at US $99.18 a barrel.

Industrial metals mostly back-pedalled following yesterday's sharp decline in Chinese manufacturing. In London, copper dropped 1.1%, nickel 0.7%, tin 0.7% and zinc 0.2%. Aluminium added 0.1% and lead 0.4%. US copper was recently off 1%.

"The Chinese numbers were very negative," an analyst at MF Global told Reuters. "That's what is keeping metals subdued."

Gold declined for a third night as its safe-haven appeal was undermined by optimism over debt solutions in Greece and the US. Gold for August delivery was recently off $6.40 or 0.4% at US $1,590.50 an ounce. September silver eased 20 cents or 0.5% to US $39.36 an ounce.

Banks were the big winners in Europe as traders bet that they will benefit from the new aid plan for Greece. Britain's FTSE rallied 0.79%, Germany's DAX 0.95% and France's CAC 1.66%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

RALLY RESUMES: China be damned - overseas markets have decided Europe and the US are the main game for now, so this week's rally raged on overnight. It was pretty much all good news for local investors, with financials leading the way in the US and BHP adding 1.7%, Rio Tinto 0.5% and Alumina 1.6%. The only weak spots in the US were tech stocks following some patchy earnings and gold/silver miners as traders rotated into riskier assets. Our dollar shook off yesterday's "Chinese manufacturing" weakness and has jumped to US $1.0845 this morning. The market will have to confront the prospect of a Chinese slowdown eventually but apparently not yet. Next week may be interesting when the market takes a more sober look at the detail of the Greek plan - the relatively restrained response from gold and silver traders suggests few think Europe is out of the woods.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Quarterly import prices are due at 11.30 am AEST. With the US's schedule clear tonight, German business climate data are tonight's main interest.

Good luck to all.