daytrades oct 25 pre-market

Morning traders.

Market wrap: A mixed session on Wall Street and commodity markets points to flat start to the local trading week.

The December SPI futures contract ended 4 points or 0.1% weaker at 4645 on Saturday morning as traders mulled a directionless session in the U.S., a rise in oil and minor fluctuations in metals.

Wall Street tracked sideways on low volume ahead of the weekend G-20 meeting as corporate profits failed to provide a strong lead on Friday. The S&P 500 edged 0.24% higher and the Nasdaq rallied 0.8% but the Dow slipped 0.13%.

"It's a wait-and-see attitude," a money manager at Hennessy Advisors in the U.S. told Bloomberg. "People are concerned about what will come out of the G-20 meeting. We are seeing companies beating estimates. However, there's a lot of that baked into prices. Also, we've had a big run-up in stocks and we'd need bigger catalysts for a rally."

Technology and energy stocks were the stand-out sectors after strong earnings results from the likes of Amazon, Compuware and Schlumberger, but other Q3 reports were less well received. AmEx and Verizon were the main drags on the Dow after reporting.

The U.S. dollar inched up on speculation about currency discussions at the G-20 meeting. The dollar index rallied 0.1%.

Oil ended a volatile week with a rise of 1.4% on Friday as disruptions in Europe continued to offer support. Crude futures rallied $1.13 to $81.91 a barrel but ended the week 0.3% lower.

Precious metals inched higher but lost ground for the first week in six. Spot gold closed $2 stronger than Thursday's New York close at $1,327.70 an ounce. Spot silver advanced 13 cents from Thursday's close to $23.29 an ounce.

Industrial metals were mixed as the U.S. dollar's rebound during last week continued to affect overseas demand. In London, copper added 0.5%, aluminium 0.4%, lead 1.4% and zinc 2.1%. Nickel fell 1.1% and tin 0.4%.

The major European markets ended moderately lower for the first session in three. Britain's FTSE eased 0.29%, Germany's DAX 0.08% and France's CAC 0.25%.

TRADING THEMES THIS WEEK

RARE EARTHS MANIA: Friday's extraordinary action in MTB and CUU confirmed that the current mania for rare earths is at fever pitch. There is good money to be made by the quick and the nimble. However, it's likely we're moving towards the "me-too" phase with rare earths, where any company looking to boost its share price knows that the mere suggestion that it will look for RE will be enough to send the share price through the roof. The useful list of RE companies posted by Poly2006 last week is likely to be considerably longer by the end of the year, but some of the tail-enders will be more interested in mining shareholders' pockets than rare earths. Let's make hay while the sun shines but keep a careful watch on the quality of announcement if you plan anything more than a day trade.

G-20 DECLARES END TO CURRENCY WARS: The G-20 weekend summit failed to produce a strong blueprint for change but may yet mark a turning point in the volatile currency movements that have been driving world markets in recent times. The group agreed to maintain trade balances at "sustainable levels" but could not agree on a measure. The group, including the U.S. and China, also agreed to "refrain from competitive devaluation of currencies". It will be interesting to see how the U.S. dollar responds, given its strong inverse relationship with commodity prices.

U.S. EARNINGS SEASON CONTINUES: The third-quarter earnings season in the U.S. will continue to drive markets this week. Of 159 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results, 83% have beaten analysts' forecasts. That ranks this among the best earnings season in recent times as corporate America continues to defy downbeat domestic conditions. The problem is that much of that strength was anticipated and was largely baked into share prices ahead of this earnings season.

ECONOMIC NEWS: A solid week for local economic news starts today with the quarterly producer price index and a speech by Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens at 11.30 am and continues with: business confidence (Tue); CPI (Wed); leading index, RBA quarterly report (Thu); and private sector credit (Fri). The key reports this week in the U.S. are expected to be: existing-home sales (tonight); consumer confidence (Tue); durable-goods orders, new-home sales (Wed); jobless claims (Thu); and GDP, employment cost index, Chicago PMI and consumer sentiment (Fri).

Good luck to all.