daytrades march 8 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap: The local market is set for a big open after a strong end to last week for U.S. equities and commodity prices.

Futures traders expect our market to march higher for the seventh straight session today. The March SPI futures contract closed 65 points stronger at 4840 after U.S. stock indexes ended a strong week with their best one-day gain since February 16.

The S&P 500 rallied 1.4%, the Dow 1.17% and the Nasdaq spiked 1.48% to a new 18-month high as Wall Street cheered evidence of fewer job losses and increased borrowing.

Bank stocks jumped 2.5% as consumer credit recorded its first increase in a year and its largest gain in nearly two years. But the number that really got the markets excited was the jobless rate, which held steady at 9.7% after a much smaller fall in non-farm payrolls than analysts feared. Payrolls fell by just 36,000 in February - much less than the fall of 90,000 expected by some economists after snow storms ravaged the U.S.

"This is a fairly strong employment report," wrote John Ryding and Conrad DeQuadros, economists for RDQ Economics. "There is plenty of evidence that the storms had a major impact on the labour market and, therefore, that this trend-like decline in jobs actually masks a significant increase in employment."

Trading volume improved on Friday as traders bet that the American economy is getting back on track. "I think this number will set the tone for the whole month," the head of floor operations at the New York Stock Exchange for Kabrick Trading told MarketWatch. "I think you'll see volume pick up, and a lot of portfolio managers that have missed out will feel like now is the time to finally get in."

There were significant gains across U.S. sectors. Standouts included: biotechs +4.2%, banks +2.5%, REITs +2.7% and oilers +2%.

Commodity prices benefitted from pressure on the U.S. dollar after Greece approved budget cuts and declared it wouldn't need aid from its European neighbours. Crude oil futures hit their highest level since early January, surging 2% to $81.50 a barrel.

Industrial metals were boosted by optimism about the improving outlook in the U.S. and soothing words out of China about its monetary policy.

"There's a little bit more optimism that China is going to
continue to be a major metals consumer," an analyst at Societe Generale told Reuters. "People are little a bit more positive on comments that the Chinese premier was making about maintaining spending, to maintain economic growth."

In London, copper added 1.9%, aluminium 1.2%, lead 2.3%, nickel 0.5%, tin 0.5% and zinc 3.8%.

Gold rallied on the jobs news but pared gains before the closing bell to finish slightly ahead. The spot price rallied $1.90 to $1,134.40 an ounce.

European markets climbed for a sixth straight day. Britain's FTSE rose 1.3%, Germany's DAX 1.4% and France's CAC 2.1%.

TRADING THEMES THIS WEEK

JANUARY HIGHS IN SIGHT: Global markets are closing on this bull market's January highs. The Nasdaq broke out on Friday and the other two major U.S. indexes are within striking distance after Friday's upbeat economic news. The local index is starting to look pretty extended after six consecutive positive sessions (seven if all goes as expected today), but it's lagging the U.S by some distance, so there could be more to come.

OIL: The year-long up-trend in oil is intact and Friday's upbeat news from the U.S. and to a lesser extent China may be enough to drive the price to a new yearly high in the next week. Bombs in Iraq and attacks in Nigeria add to the upward pressure. The current price is close to the old resistance level, so the next few sessions could be significant.

ECONOMIC NEWS: The week gets off to a quiet start with nothing major scheduled locally or in the U.S. today. It picks up with local business conditions and job ads tomorrow, consumer confidence on Wednesday and unemployment on Thursday. China releases a raft of monthly figures on Thursday and the U.S. finishes the week with a bang with jobless claims and the trade balance on Thursday, then retail sales and consumer sentiment on Friday.

Good luck to all.