daytrading feb 17 pre-market

Morning traders. Thanks Trees.

Market wrap:

Shares are targetting three-month highs after US stocks neared record levels as a global rebound continued.

The March SPI 200 futures contract jumped 44 points or 0.9% to 5352 as the S&P 500 ended its best week of the year within 10 points of an all-time peak and the Nasdaq hit its strongest point since 2000.

The S&P 500 rallied nine points or 0.5% to 1,838 for a weekly gain of 2.3%. The Dow put on 126 points or 0.79% for the same weekly rise and the Nasdaq added 0.08% for a weekly advance of 2.6%.

Investors remained in a forgiving mood, focussing on positive earnings and economic data, while marking any soft economic figures down to bad weather. Consumer sentiment was steady this month, according to preliminary figures. The UMich/Reuters gauge held at 81.2, better than a decline to 80 anticipated by economists. Industrial production declined by 0.3% last month, with cold weather lowering manufacturing and mining output.

"The weather is so horrible everywhere, much of the data could be very distorted," Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at RW Baird in the US, told Bloomberg. "The Fed is going to wait until the weather clears and until we get some more numbers in March and April to consider the data. The picture will start to clear on how great or how poor the economy is."

With the quarterly earnings season more than three-quarters of the way through, 75% of companies have beaten analyst profit estimates. Cliffs Natural Resources and Campbell Soup were among those to rally on positive earnings on Friday.

Also helping the market mood were gains in Europe after further evidence that Europe is emerging from its long malaise. GDP in the euro-zone grew 0.3% last quarter as Italy ended a two-year recession. The Stoxx Europe 600 index put on 0.56% as Germany's DAX added 0.68%, France's CAC 0.63% and Britain's FTSE 0.06%.

Rio Tinto hit a new one-year-plus high in US trade as a rebound in the price of iron ore continued. Rio Tinto gained 1.25% and BHP 1.05% after spot iron ore for import to China improved $1.20 to US$123.20 a dry tonne.

Gold closed at a three-month high following an eighth straight advance. Gold for April delivery gained $18.50 or 1.4% to settle at US$1,318.60 an ounce.

Tin recorded an eight-week high during an upbeat session on the London Metal Exchange as a weak greenback supported commodity prices. Tin surged 1.8%, copper 0.6%, aluminium 0.2%, lead 0.9%, nickel 0.9% and zinc 0.8%. US copper for March delivery was recently up 0.4% or more than a cent at US$3.26 a pound.

Oil settled above US$100 a barrel for a third session. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for March delivery edged up five cents or less than 0.1% to US$100.40 a barrel after settling at US$100.30.

TRADING THEMES THIS WEEK

REPORTING SEASON: Another big week of domestic interim and full-year earnings includes market heavyweights BHP (tomorrow), LEI, WES and WPL on Wednesday, AMP on Thursday and NAB on Friday. Highlights: AAD, ALZ, ANN, AWC, AZJ, BEN, IMD, LYC, SFH, UGL, WRT (today); AIO, AMC, AMM, ARI, BHP, CCL, CDD, CFX, DCG, EAX, GWA, HIL, MAH, MGX, MRM, ORA, PBG, SAI, SHL, SWM (tomorrow); APN, ARP, BXB, CTX, DLS, DSH, DTL, ENV, FBU, FMG, FXJ, GEM, IAG, IIN, LEI, MGR, MMS, ORG, SEK, SUN, SXL, TME, TOL, WES, WPL (Wed); ABC, AIZ, AMP, EMC, FDC, FXJ, INV, MFG, MND, NPX, OGC, ORG, PNA, PPX, PXU, QBE, SUL, TTS, TWE (Thu); and CWN, DUE, EVN, MFG, NAB and QUB (Fri). (Source: BRR)

US HOLIDAY: Regular trade on Wall Street is suspended tonight for the President's Day public holiday. Electronic trading continues in currencies and commodities

WALL STREET GIVES DATA FREE PASS: A solid week of US economic data is unlikely to have much impact as US traders continue to discount winter figures due to harsh weather. Neat get-out clause! This week's highlights: Empire state index (tomorrow); producer price index/ core PPI, housing starts (Wed); weekly jobless claims, consumer price index/core, Philly Fed (Thu); and existing home sales (Fri).

ECONOMIC NEWS: A light week for domestic data includes: new motor vehicle sales (11.30am EST today); minutes from the last RBA meeting (tomorrow); and a leading index and wage price index (Wed).

Good luck to all.