daytrades june 29 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap: Shares are poised to open lower for a sixth day after G20 austerity pledges weighed on Wall Street and commodity markets overnight.

The local September SPI futures contract closed 15 points weaker at 4362 as a choppy session in the U.S. ended modestly negative and oil, gold and U.S. copper fell back.

U.S. investors were briefly cheered by news that consumer spending rose 0.2% last month, but equity gains evaporated as investors factored in the likely impact on the global recovery of the Group of 20's weekend commitment to slash budget deficits. The Dow closed 5 points or 0.05% weaker, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% and the Nasdaq 0.13%.

The G20 meeting in Toronto delivered a commitment by attendees to halve their deficits by 2013 and bring debt under control by 2016. But market commentators fear that ending government stimulus measures will further hamper a global economic recovery sagging under European debt issues and China's efforts to slow its rampant growth.

"We still don't have any housing recovery to speak of [in the U.S.], and we have very little employment recovery to speak of, and that's not typical of a recovering economy 15 months in," a portfolio manager in the U.S. told MarketWatch. "Investors are taking a wait-and-see attitude. They want to see it before they'll believe it."

U.S. investors retreated to the perceived safety of Treasuries and the U.S. dollar. The Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against a basket of six rivals, was recently up 0.44%. However, gold, traditionally seen as a safe haven, was sharply lower. The spot price was recently $17 lower than Friday's New York close at $1,238.70 an ounce.

"We weren't able to punch a new high [on Friday], got weaker, and you are seeing some people taking a little bit of money off the table," a senior market strategist with Olympus Futures told MarketWatch.

The price of oil eased with the outlook for a tropical storm brewing near the Gulf of Mexico. The danger of the storm disrupting oil production and refining in the Gulf sparked a rally on Friday, but the threat abated over the weekend. Crude for August delivery was recently down 76 cents or 1% at $78.10 a barrel.

Industrial metals were mostly stronger in London as European equities rallied, but copper closed lower in the U.S. In New York, copper closed 0.8% lower, while earlier in London copper was ahead 0.7%, aluminium 0.9%, lead 0.5% and nickel 4.5%, while tin was near-flat and zinc slipped 1.1%.

European markets rallied for the first day in six. Britain's FTSE advanced 0.5%, Germany's DAX 1.43% and France's CAC 1.61%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

DOLDRUMS: Another lacklustre night in the U.S., with no real conviction in either direction. No sign of end-of-month window dressing yet. I remain hopeful that we'll see a small pump before close of business tomorrow but it's possible that this quarter has been so grim (first losing quarter in five), that the big boys have simply written it off. Sentiment will turn eventually, but for now the short-term outlook remains negative. Soft overnight oil and gold prices will weigh on our market today. BHP and RIO both lost ground in the U.S., despite earlier rising in the U.K.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Nothing scheduled locally today. Consumer confidence is the main event tonight in the U.S. Also due tonight is the house price index.

Good luck to all.