daytrading feb 13 pre-market

Morning traders. Thanks Trees.

Market wrap:

The share market is likely to open slightly higher as bright Chinese trade news offsets a pause in Wall Street's strongest rally in a year.

The March SPI 200 futures contract advanced nine points or 0.2% to 5272 after US stocks closed mixed and little changed but the big two Australian mining stocks extended recent gains.

The S&P 500 fell half a point or 0.04% overnight to break the index's best four-session winning run in a year. The Dow dropped 31 points or 0.19% after Procter & Gamble reduced its sales and profit outlook. The Nasdaq bucked the downtrend, rising 0.24%.

Politicians in Washington averted another damaging stoush over the federal borrowing limit overnight by approving a no-strings-attached bill to raise the debt ceiling. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives had initially demanded additional conditions, but backed down and approved the 'clean' bill demanded by President Obama and the Democrats. The bill cleared the Senate overnight and now goes to President Obama for sign-off.

"We're taking a breather here," Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in the US, told Bloomberg. "Washington has essentially gotten out of the way, Yellen has told us monetary policy will be a continuation of what we've seen and we have a sense of what’s going to happen with the taper."

US stocks recorded early gains after prominent Federal Reserve board member James Bullard delivered an optimistic outlook on the economy. The St Louis Fed President said he expects growth of 3% or better this year, allowing the central bank to end its stimulus program this year.

Industrials, IT and telecoms were the best of the sectors. Resource stocks and consumer staples saw the biggest falls.

Australian shares yesterday rallied for a fifth straight day after China announced upbeat trade figures. Exports increased more than expected in January, surging 10.6% and imports rose 10.0%. The news helped push BHP and Rio Tinto to their highest levels in at least three weeks on the ASX. In US action overnight, Rio rallied 1.15% and BHP put on 0.64%. Spot iron ore for import to China yesterday bounced $1 to US$121 a dry tonne.

Gold gained for a sixth session but struggled to crack the US$1,300 an ounce level. Gold for April delivery was lately up $1.30 or 0.1% at US$1,291.10 an ounce after settling at US$1,292.60.

Oil briefly traded above US$101 a barrel before falling back after the weekly US inventories report came in higher than expected. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for March delivery was recently ahead 40 cents or 0.4% at US$100.34 a barrel after running as high as $101.18 and settling at US$100.76.

A substantial increase in Chinese copper imports helped copper bounce. January copper imports were 53.2% higher than the same time last year. US copper for March delivery was recently up 1.2% or around four cents at US$3.26 a pound. In early trade in London, copper was up 0.9% and aluminium 1.5%.

European stocks marked a sixth day of gains after the Bank of England raised its growth outlook for the UK and generally positive corporate results. The Stoxx Europe 600 index added 0.75% as Germany's DAX rose 0.65%, France's CAC 0.53% and Britain's FTSE 0.04%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

JOBS DATA TO THWART SIXTH GAIN?: Overnight gains in the big two miners have given the XJO a shot at a sixth straight rise for the first time in four months. The extraordinary strength of this rebound means it's a very good possibility. A potential hurdle looms with the 11.30am EST release of monthly employment figures. The expectation is for an increase in the jobless rate to 5.9% from 5.8% on jobs growth of 15,300, according to Forex Factory. However, jobs data tends to be volatile so anything is possible. Several market heavyweights report earnings today, including RIO and TLS. Also reporting: ASX, GMG, GPT, PDN, TCL, TGR and WEB. The Gold Bugs index in the US dropped 2.78% as profit-taking set in around the US$1,300 level.

ECONOMIC NEWS: The monthly inflation expectations report is due at 11am EST, followed by the more important monthly employment data at 11.30am. A solid night ahead in the US includes: retail sales/core retail sales, weekly jobless claims, business inventories and natural gas storage.

Good luck to all.