daytrading feb 14 pre-market

Morning traders. Thanks Trees.

Market wrap:

Shares have a five-week high in sight after US stocks shrugged off soft economic news and extended a week-long rally.

The March SPI 200 futures contract rose 33 points or 0.6% to 5296, pointing to a sixth gain in seven sessions for Australian equities.

The S&P 500 rallied 11 points or 0.59% as US traders continued to mark weak economic data down to poor weather. The index overcame early losses after retail sales and jobless claims both missed economists' expectations. The Dow advanced 64 points or 0.4% and the Nasdaq added 0.95% for its best six-day return in more than two years.

"The market has well discounted weather as the reason for recent economic weakness, and continues to be comfortable with Fed tapering so long as their economic outlook hasn’t changed," Ryan Larson, head of US equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management, told Bloomberg. "Easing stress in emerging markets has also helped. Combined, those factors are helping to overcome the cautious sentiment we’ve seen as of late."

Retail sales dived last month and figures for previous months were revised downwards, the Commerce Department announced. Sales fell a seasonally-adjusted 0.4% during January and the December increase was recalculated as a loss. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a 0.1% decline last month.

First-time claims for unemployment benefits also disappointed, increasing by 8,000 last week to 339,000. Economists had expected the data to hold around the 330,000 mark.

The gloom at the opening bell receded as ComCast announced a deal to take over Time Warner Cable, merging the country's biggest cable operators, and earnings from the likes of CBS, Goodyear and Nvidia exceeded analyst expectations.

Small caps enjoyed a strong session. The Russell 2000, which has trailled the broader market during this rebound, rallied 1.34%. Materials, utilities and tech stocks were th best of the sectors.

BHP and Rio Tinto were mixed but little changed in US action. BHP slipped 0.04% and Rio added 0.33%. Spot iron ore for import to China yesterday continued to rebound, rising $1 to US$122 a dry tonne.

Gold stocks rallied as the metal marked its highest close in three months, settling above US$1,300 an ounce. The NYSE Gold Bugs index of US miners gained 3.73%. Gold for April delivery was lately up $6.80 or 0.5% at US$1,301.80 after settling at US$1,300.10 an ounce.

Copper fell on demand concerns following reports that China has lowered its export targets for the year. Read more here. US copper for March delivery was recently down 0.2% or less than a cent at US$3.25 a pound after earlier falling as low as US$3.22. In early trade in London, copper was down 0.4% and aluminum 0.2%. Nickel also declined. Tin and zinc gained and lead was flat.

Oil held recent gains despite a dive back under US$100 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for March delivery was recently down seven cents or 0.1% at US$100.31 after settling at US$100.58.

European stocks broke a six-session run of positive closes as the US rally came too late to completely erase sharp early losses. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.16% as Germany's DAX gained 0.6%, France's CAC added 0.17% and Britain's FTSE lost 0.23%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND: There seems no end to the unbridled optimism that has swept the market for the last week and a bit. Wall Street has decided any weakness in the economy is just a spot of bother with the weather. China slowdown? Old hat. Australian unemployment at a 10-year high? Who cares! Buy! Consequently the ASX has a decent shot at closing this afternoon at its highest point since the start of the year. Most days bring a potential obstacle to unbridled wealth for traders and investors alike and today's is the 12.30pm EST release of Chinese inflation data. Goldies rebounded overnight in the US and small caps played catch-up.

ECONOMIC NEWS: No significant domestic news scheduled today. Chinese consumer and producer inflation figures are due at 12.30pm EST. Europe has trade and flash GDP figures tonight. US highlights include preliminary consumer sentiment and inflation expectations, industrial production, import prices and capacity utilisation rate.

Good luck to all.